Former Southampton Athletic Director Makes State Wall of Honor

Kathleen Cooney has impacted local and Long Island athletics in more ways than one, and last month, she made history as she was enshrined on the New York State Athletic Administrators Association Wall of Honor.

“Finally, women in sports in Suffolk County are being recognized,” Cooney said of the March 14 recognition, during a ceremony in Saratoga. “We’ve made a lot of advances, and we’re still not equal for some reason, but we’re getting there. I was pleased. Finally, we’re coming around.”

Cooney served as Southampton School District’s athletic director from 1997 to 2000, and prior to that, worked in the same capacity within the Hauppauge School District. While there, from 1979 to 1995, she became the first full-time fully-certified female athletic director in Suffolk County.

“Southampton was a very different community with lots of cultural diversity, and I think I really enjoyed that,” Cooney said. “It was really very interesting. And the coaches were great. They were really good people to work with.”

She received the distinction just one year after her husband, Richard “Dick” Cooney, a longtime East Hampton athletic director, received the award. The pair are the first couple to be added to the Wall of Honor that celebrated those who left footprints in their school community and impacted the lives of thousands of students-athletes and hundreds of coaches.

“It’s pretty special,” she said of the induction alongside her husband.

Cooney graduated from Lowville Academy in 1968 and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education, cum laude, from the State University of Buffalo in 1972. She graduated from Stony Brook University with a master’s degree in liberal arts in 1976, and New York State school administrator/supervisor (SAS) certificate from Hofstra University in 1978.

During her time in Hauppauge, she delivered equality in sports, adding 11 male and female athletic teams. When she took over in Southampton, she was able to revamp the entire athletic program, as well as redefine the physical education curriculum.

She worked with longtime coaches Richard “Juni” Wingfield and Herm Lamison, and was there when the latter brought home the Mariners’ first state championship, with the boys basketball team in 1999. The field hockey team earned the same honor earlier that year in the fall.

“She was tough, but she was great. I wished she stayed longer,” Lamison said. “She was personable, 100 percent behind the coaches and took care of all of the necessary needs. She was class personified.”

In Suffolk County, Cooney served as vice president and newsletter editor of the Suffolk zone of the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, as well as secretary of its Council of Education. As part of Section XI, the governing body of public school athletics in Suffolk County, which is a member of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, she was president of Conference II, vice president and then president of the Junior High Athletic Council and NYSPHSAA safety chairperson for Suffolk County.

While serving on the Athletic Council, she chaired boys volleyball and girls track and field. She was also secretary of the Suffolk County Athletic Directors Association and its first female president, working in that capacity from 1984 to 1985.

Kathy Masterson, a Southampton High School alumna who coached under Cooney before becoming an athletic director herself, first in Westhampton Beach and now in East Hampton, said she was thrilled to receive her Section XI Athletic Director of the Year award the same week Cooney was bestowed her honor. She said her former leader was just the type of athletic director coaches and teachers need.

“Kathy was an incredibly supportive and no-nonsense kind of administrator,” Masterson said. “She worked harder than anyone just to make sure the kids had everything they needed. She was a huge factor in Southampton. She and her husband are two of the most incredible role models in athletic administration.”

This isn’t Cooney’s first recognition. She received the New York State Coaches Association Special Honor Award in 1986, NYS AHPERD Suffolk Zone Award in 1989, NYS Athletic Administrators Chapter Athletic Administrators’ Award in 1993, Hofstra University Women in Sports Foundation Award in 1994 and NYSAAA Service Award for her 21 years of dedication to athletic administration in 1999.

Masterson said Cooney helped pave the path for her and so many others in so many ways. The athletic director is currently the president of Section XI, which in turn makes her president of its Athletic Council, and is a member of its eligibility, finance, seed and modified committees, the latter of which she is also a co-chair of, and has been the county’s boys volleyball chairperson for 15 years.

“She’s just a great all-around person. I learned a tremendous amount from Kathy,” Masterson said. “She really helped me understand the role and the position, and I still consider her a great friend today. I’d like to say Kathy had a huge impact on my life and the direction of my life, playing a part in where I sit now.”