Thursday, December 12, 2024
As captain of the varsity football and basketball teams at New Hyde Park High School in the late 1990s, Tom Catapano demonstrated leadership, motivation and communication skills. He understood the importance of guiding his teammates to meet their seasonal goals.
So when Catapano, who’s now 42, was offered the job as head coach of the Baldwin High School girls’ varsity basketball team in 2010, it felt like a full-circle moment for him. This time he would lead as a head coach rather than a captain.
“I knew that I’d love to be a coach when I finished playing,” he said. “Sports was very good to me, and it was something that I was able to enjoy growing up.”
Having led the Lady Bruins for more than a decade, while making the transition from special education social studies teacher to phys. ed. teacher at Meadow Elementary School, Catapano was recently inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame at a ceremony at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.
Nominees for the Hall must demonstrate sportsmanship, ethical conduct and moral character. A 10-member screening committee determines which nominees are considered, and five anonymous committee members vote on the inductees.
Over the course of 15 seasons, Catapano has led the Baldwin program to 12 Nassau Class AA conference titles, six Long Island championships and two state titles. Baldwin is the only Nassau Class AA school ever to repeat as state champions, in 2017 and 2018.
In 2018, Catapano led the Lady Bruins to a win over then undefeated Christ the King High School — at the time the top-ranked team in the country — at the State Public High School Athletic Association Federation Championship.
“Mr. Catapano is an exceptional coach with a proven track record of success, a dedicated teacher as well as an overall kind and compassionate human being — all of which make him an outstanding candidate for the Nassau County Hall of Fame,” Shari Camhi, Baldwin’s superintendent of schools, stated in a news release. “We are extremely proud to have Mr. Catapano as part of our ‘Baldwin family’ and congratulate him on all his latest accolades and ongoing recognition.”
Before he became the head coach of girls’ basketball, Catapano was an assistant varsity football coach.
“We at Baldwin always talk about working hard, showing up on time and being selfless,” he said. “Giving your best effort to be a great teammate. We really focused on these things.”
When he took over the basketball program, Catapano brought in Anthony Bolden, a former Baldwin High student-athlete turned educator, as his assistant coach. Bolden died due to complications with pulmonary fibrosis in September 2021, at age 40, just before the start of the basketball season, and Catapano said it was the most difficult challenge he’s ever had in his coaching career.
“He was with me up until three years ago,” he said of Bolden. “That was a huge blow to everybody, so that was by far the biggest obstacle that we had to overcome.
“It was tough — I won’t lie,” Catapano added. “We tried to come together. He was irreplaceable. We moved on, but in a different way, and carried him with us every day, knowing he’s looking down on us.”
That season, the Lady Bruins rallied to secure the Class AA County championship, dedicating it to Bolden. Throughout the season, Catapano wore a Tulsa Talons jersey, representing the semi-professional football league where Bolden played for several years. He wore no. 99.
“He was our inspiration,” Catapano said. “We still talk about him constantly.”
Asked to recall a standout moment in his coaching career, Catapano cited defeating Christ the King in 2018. But he also emphasized the pride he takes year after year in seeing the athletes he has coached go on to play in college and emerge as leaders on their teams.
“I think that the student-athletes are prepared for the next level,” he said. “You know, just through our preparation. It’s an all-year-round commitment to our program, so it transitions very well to the next level.”
When Catapano sat among the other Hall of Fame honorees at the ceremony on Sept. 25, he reconnected with Ed Ramirez, the former Baldwin athletic director who now is in the Garden City district. In 2010, Ramirez helped persuade Catapano to coach the girls’ team.
“It was a very humbling experience to be honored with so many great people in Nassau County on that stage,” Catapano said. “It felt surreal, and I’m extremely grateful for the people that I’ve been around. I feel very blessed to have landed in a place like Baldwin.”
