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![Pictured:
Mickey Kwiatkowski, right, was announed in the New York Times as "a proponent of the wing-T formation" when he was hired in 1981 to replace Bill Leete as Hofstra University's head football coach. With him at the Jan. 16, 2010 Save Hofstra Football fundraiser, at the Public House in New York City, is Bradley L. "Brad" Gerstman, Esq., who played for Kwiatkowski from 1986 through 1989.
Reflection: Mickey Kwiatkowski (Head Football Coach, 1981-89)
"I was offensive coordinator at Southwest Missouri State University. Bill Leete and my boss, Rich Johanningmieir, were very good friends. They worked at Vermont together. Bill came out to Springfield, Missouri, to learn more about our offense, and Rich put me in a room with Bill for three straight days. Bill went back and had a great year. Later, when Bill resigned [to become athletic director at the University of New Haven], he told them, 'I got the guy to replace me' and that's how I came to take his place as head football coach. I was 33 years old, the youngest college head football coach, and excited and thrilled to be there."](http://www.mypapernow.com/Other/Save-Hofstra-Football-Movememt/i-JHnxG5C/0/Ti/DSC_0358-Ti.jpg "Pictured:
Mickey Kwiatkowski, right, was announed in the New York Times as \"a proponent of the wing-T formation\" when he was hired in 1981 to replace Bill Leete as Hofstra University's head football coach. With him at the Jan. 16, 2010 Save Hofstra Football fundraiser, at the Public House in New York City, is Bradley L. \"Brad\" Gerstman, Esq., who played for Kwiatkowski from 1986 through 1989.
Reflection: Mickey Kwiatkowski (Head Football Coach, 1981-89)
\"I was offensive coordinator at Southwest Missouri State University. Bill Leete and my boss, Rich Johanningmieir, were very good friends. They worked at Vermont together. Bill came out to Springfield, Missouri, to learn more about our offense, and Rich put me in a room with Bill for three straight days. Bill went back and had a great year. Later, when Bill resigned [to become athletic director at the University of New Haven], he told them, 'I got the guy to replace me' and that's how I came to take his place as head football coach. I was 33 years old, the youngest college head football coach, and excited and thrilled to be there.\"")
![Former Hofstra Football Head Coach Mickey Kwiatkowski, right, recounts seasons past with one of his former players, Bradley L. "Brad" Gerstman, Esq., who played for Hofstra from 1986 through 1989.
Reflection: Mickey Kwiatkowski (Head Football Coach, 1981-89):
"I feel that being part of a team that won 19 consecutive games, which has never been done in Hofstra football history, to think that we don't have a football program anymore, I can't wrap my head around that. I can't emotionally come to grasp with that."
Coach Report:
Kwiatkowski wants to know: "Why do we even have athletics at Hofstra?" His answer: "It's part of the fabric of a university, a place for alumni to get together on any given Saturday there's a game."
Kwiatkowski said he was at work on Dec. 3, 2009, when he received two text messages from friends that the Hofstra University football program, founded in 1937, was not going to be reinstated. It was the end of an era in which Kwiatkowski made his mark as the fourth of seven Hofstra football head coaches. "I was shocked and disgusted, both at the same time," Kwiatkowski said. "Our football program, I believed, was a part of the fabric of university life. Being a part of that, and having it taken away, was just unexplainable."
In fact, Kwiatkowski added, the game that broke his team's streak of 19 consecutive wins "didn't feel as bad as when I found out [Hofstra University] President [Stuart Rabinowitz] had dropped our football program." The news was announced on Dec. 3, 2009, following a text message earlier that day that alerted current Hofstra football players to a "team meeting @ 10 in the Pride lounge." According to a New York Times report, "Hofstra’s president, Stuart Rabinowitz, said the $4.5 million invested annually in football would be channeled to student scholarships and other academic priorities."](http://www.mypapernow.com/Other/Save-Hofstra-Football-Movememt/i-5pbqwNt/0/Ti/DSC_0359-Ti.jpg "Former Hofstra Football Head Coach Mickey Kwiatkowski, right, recounts seasons past with one of his former players, Bradley L. \"Brad\" Gerstman, Esq., who played for Hofstra from 1986 through 1989.
Reflection: Mickey Kwiatkowski (Head Football Coach, 1981-89):
\"I feel that being part of a team that won 19 consecutive games, which has never been done in Hofstra football history, to think that we don't have a football program anymore, I can't wrap my head around that. I can't emotionally come to grasp with that.\"
Coach Report:
Kwiatkowski wants to know: \"Why do we even have athletics at Hofstra?\" His answer: \"It's part of the fabric of a university, a place for alumni to get together on any given Saturday there's a game.\"
Kwiatkowski said he was at work on Dec. 3, 2009, when he received two text messages from friends that the Hofstra University football program, founded in 1937, was not going to be reinstated. It was the end of an era in which Kwiatkowski made his mark as the fourth of seven Hofstra football head coaches. \"I was shocked and disgusted, both at the same time,\" Kwiatkowski said. \"Our football program, I believed, was a part of the fabric of university life. Being a part of that, and having it taken away, was just unexplainable.\"
In fact, Kwiatkowski added, the game that broke his team's streak of 19 consecutive wins \"didn't feel as bad as when I found out [Hofstra University] President [Stuart Rabinowitz] had dropped our football program.\" The news was announced on Dec. 3, 2009, following a text message earlier that day that alerted current Hofstra football players to a \"team meeting @ 10 in the Pride lounge.\" According to a New York Times report, \"Hofstra’s president, Stuart Rabinowitz, said the $4.5 million invested annually in football would be channeled to student scholarships and other academic priorities.\"")
![From left, Keith Butler, Anthony Pecorella, Mario Dicostanzo, Mike Forst, Bobby Keyes, Ted DiPasquale, Bob McKenna, Mike Borges, Emil Wohlgemuth, and Mickey Kwiatkowski.
Fan Report:
"I'm a supporter," said DiPasquale, who noted that he spent eight years of his life with the Hofstra wrestling program, both as a wrestler and as an assistant coach. "I was actually the ball boy [for the football team] while my roommates [Keyes and Wohlgemuth] played. I'm here tonight to support them."](http://www.mypapernow.com/Other/Save-Hofstra-Football-Movememt/i-DPWsbS8/0/Ti/DSC_0362-Ti.jpg "From left, Keith Butler, Anthony Pecorella, Mario Dicostanzo, Mike Forst, Bobby Keyes, Ted DiPasquale, Bob McKenna, Mike Borges, Emil Wohlgemuth, and Mickey Kwiatkowski.
Fan Report:
\"I'm a supporter,\" said DiPasquale, who noted that he spent eight years of his life with the Hofstra wrestling program, both as a wrestler and as an assistant coach. \"I was actually the ball boy [for the football team] while my roommates [Keyes and Wohlgemuth] played. I'm here tonight to support them.\"")
Pictured:
Eddie Wallace, who graduated from Hofstra University in 1980, attended the Jan. 16, 2010 Save Hofstra Football fundraiser at the Public House in New York City. Wallace played football and lacrosse at the university from 1976 through 1979. He was the team's co-captain in 1979.
Reflection:
“Joe Taylor (’77) and I were both art majors and were the only art majors on the football team. Joe used to paint the game balls. Each game ball would be signed by the players, the score and date would be painted on it, and then it was shellacked and presented to the player selected by coaches to win the game ball. After Joe graduated, he passed that tradition on to me and I kept it going.”
Player Report:
Eddie Wallace started playing football in junior high school and before that in unorganized play as an elementary school student. “My high school football coach, Ralph Capozzi, played football at Hofstra and he also taught art and that’s basically what I wanted to do, teach art or math,” said Wallace, who was drawn, too, to how the game of football was played. “There’s 10 guys on the field, 10 one- on-one’s going on at the same time, but you’re all part of a team,” he said. “It’s a great team sport.”
In his senior year, Wallace, one of three co-captains, was asked by the two other captains to attend a special meeting with the coaches that the two co-captains had called. “But they didn’t tell me why,” Wallace said. “We meet with the coaches and the other two co-captains say, ‘We really don’t like the name Flying Dutchmen.We want to be the Rams.” But Wallace was not too happy with the movement to change the unofficial nickname of Hofstra University teams. As Wallace put it: “The Flying Dutchmen is a fighting ship, it’s like the coolest thing.” Besides, he reasoned, “There’s no Flying Dutchmen anywhere. Everybody’s the Rams.’ “
For the record, the Flying Ducthmen moniker came into question and was dropped in 2004 after it became linked to a former slave ship. The official team name instead became the Pride, in reference to the Hofstra Pride branding campaign launched in 1987 to mark the university’s dramatic recovery and growth from its financial crisis in the 1970’s. That revival was credited in part to James M. Shuart, a former Hofstra football standout. Shuart, the university’s president from 1976 through 2001, is the namesake of the university’s 15,000-seat, artificial turf stadium, which was named in his honor in 2002. Since at least the 1940’s, the university has featured a pair of lions on its logo: first, two male lions and, since 1987, both a male (Willy) and female (Kate) lion. Unveiled in 2004, the school’s marketing logo substitutes a shield and the letter H for a pair of lions. Maintained are the school colors: gold, white, and blue.
As for the nickname Pride, Wallace said: “It’s pretty neat what they did but I hated it. You can’t be the Flying Dutchmen for 60 years or so and then all of a sudden change it.” His bigger concern now is the loss of the football team. “Going to homecoming was a major part of the year for me and my family,” Wallace said. “I was part of something that was a 70-plus year tradition, the oldest football team on Long Island, and now all of a sudden, poof, it’s gone.”
Eddie Wallace, who graduated from Hofstra University in 1980, attended the Jan. 16, 2010 Save Hofstra Football fundraiser at the Public House in New York City. Wallace played football and lacrosse at the university from 1976 through 1979. He was the team's co-captain in 1979.
Reflection:
“Joe Taylor (’77) and I were both art majors and were the only art majors on the football team. Joe used to paint the game balls. Each game ball would be signed by the players, the score and date would be painted on it, and then it was shellacked and presented to the player selected by coaches to win the game ball. After Joe graduated, he passed that tradition on to me and I kept it going.”
Player Report:
Eddie Wallace started playing football in junior high school and before that in unorganized play as an elementary school student. “My high school football coach, Ralph Capozzi, played football at Hofstra and he also taught art and that’s basically what I wanted to do, teach art or math,” said Wallace, who was drawn, too, to how the game of football was played. “There’s 10 guys on the field, 10 one- on-one’s going on at the same time, but you’re all part of a team,” he said. “It’s a great team sport.”
In his senior year, Wallace, one of three co-captains, was asked by the two other captains to attend a special meeting with the coaches that the two co-captains had called. “But they didn’t tell me why,” Wallace said. “We meet with the coaches and the other two co-captains say, ‘We really don’t like the name Flying Dutchmen.We want to be the Rams.” But Wallace was not too happy with the movement to change the unofficial nickname of Hofstra University teams. As Wallace put it: “The Flying Dutchmen is a fighting ship, it’s like the coolest thing.” Besides, he reasoned, “There’s no Flying Dutchmen anywhere. Everybody’s the Rams.’ “
For the record, the Flying Ducthmen moniker came into question and was dropped in 2004 after it became linked to a former slave ship. The official team name instead became the Pride, in reference to the Hofstra Pride branding campaign launched in 1987 to mark the university’s dramatic recovery and growth from its financial crisis in the 1970’s. That revival was credited in part to James M. Shuart, a former Hofstra football standout. Shuart, the university’s president from 1976 through 2001, is the namesake of the university’s 15,000-seat, artificial turf stadium, which was named in his honor in 2002. Since at least the 1940’s, the university has featured a pair of lions on its logo: first, two male lions and, since 1987, both a male (Willy) and female (Kate) lion. Unveiled in 2004, the school’s marketing logo substitutes a shield and the letter H for a pair of lions. Maintained are the school colors: gold, white, and blue.
As for the nickname Pride, Wallace said: “It’s pretty neat what they did but I hated it. You can’t be the Flying Dutchmen for 60 years or so and then all of a sudden change it.” His bigger concern now is the loss of the football team. “Going to homecoming was a major part of the year for me and my family,” Wallace said. “I was part of something that was a 70-plus year tradition, the oldest football team on Long Island, and now all of a sudden, poof, it’s gone.”
Save Hofstra Football fundraiser at the Public House in New York City. Wallace played football and lacrosse at the university from 1976 through 1979. He was the team's co-captain in 1979.
Reflection:
“Joe Taylor (’77) and I were both art majors and were the only art majors on the football team. Joe used to paint the game balls. Each game ball would be signed by the players, the score and date would be painted on it, and then it was shellacked and presented to the player selected by coaches to win the game ball. After Joe graduated, he passed that tradition on to me and I kept it going.”
Player Report:
Eddie Wallace started playing football in junior high school and before that in unorganized play as an elementary school student. “My high school football coach, Ralph Capozzi, played football at Hofstra and he also taught art and that’s basically what I wanted to do, teach art or math,” said Wallace, who was drawn, too, to how the game of football was played. “There’s 10 guys on the field, 10 one- on-one’s going on at the same time, but you’re all part of a team,” he said. “It’s a great team sport.”
In his senior year, Wallace, one of three co-captains, was asked by the two other captains to attend a special meeting with the coaches that the two co-captains had called. “But they didn’t tell me why,” Wallace said. “We meet with the coaches and the other two co-captains say, ‘We really don’t like the name Flying Dutchmen.We want to be the Rams.” But Wallace was not too happy with the movement to change the unofficial nickname of Hofstra University teams. As Wallace put it: “The Flying Dutchmen is a fighting ship, it’s like the coolest thing.” Besides, he reasoned, “There’s no Flying Dutchmen anywhere. Everybody’s the Rams.’ “
For the record, the Flying Ducthmen moniker came into question and was dropped in 2004 after it became linked to a former slave ship. The official team name instead became the Pride, in reference to the Hofstra Pride branding campaign launched in 1987 to mark the university’s dramatic recovery and growth from its financial crisis in the 1970’s. That revival was credited in part to James M. Shuart, a former Hofstra football standout. Shuart, the university’s president from 1976 through 2001, is the namesake of the university’s 15,000-seat, artificial turf stadium, which was named in his honor in 2002. Since at least the 1940’s, the university has featured a pair of lions on its logo: first, two male lions and, since 1987, both a male (Willy) and female (Kate) lion. Unveiled in 2004, the school’s marketing logo substitutes a shield and the letter H for a pair of lions. Maintained are the school colors: gold, white, and blue.
As for the nickname Pride, Wallace said: “It’s pretty neat what they did but I hated it. You can’t be the Flying Dutchmen for 60 years or so and then all of a sudden change it.” His bigger concern now is the loss of the football team. “Going to homecoming was a major part of the year for me and my family,” Wallace said. “I was part of something that was a 70-plus year tradition, the oldest football team on Long Island, and now all of a sudden, poof, it’s gone.”" href="javascript:openLB(767054167,'',XLarge,'',1024,726);">
Pictured:
Eddie Wallace, who graduated from Hofstra University in 1980, attended the Jan. 16, 2010 Save Hofstra Football fundraiser at the Public House in New York City. Wallace played football and lacrosse at the university from 1976 through 1979. He was the team's co-captain in 1979.
Reflection:
“Joe Taylor (’77) and I were both art majors and were the only art majors on the football team. Joe used to paint the game balls. Each game ball would be signed by the players, the score and date would be painted on it, and then it was shellacked and presented to the player selected by coaches to win the game ball. After Joe graduated, he passed that tradition on to me and I kept it going.”
Player Report:
Eddie Wallace started playing football in junior high school and before that in unorganized play as an elementary school student. “My high school football coach, Ralph Capozzi, played football at Hofstra and he also taught art and that’s basically what I wanted to do, teach art or math,” said Wallace, who was drawn, too, to how the game of football was played. “There’s 10 guys on the field, 10 one- on-one’s going on at the same time, but you’re all part of a team,” he said. “It’s a great team sport.”
In his senior year, Wallace, one of three co-captains, was asked by the two other captains to attend a special meeting with the coaches that the two co-captains had called. “But they didn’t tell me why,” Wallace said. “We meet with the coaches and the other two co-captains say, ‘We really don’t like the name Flying Dutchmen.We want to be the Rams.” But Wallace was not too happy with the movement to change the unofficial nickname of Hofstra University teams. As Wallace put it: “The Flying Dutchmen is a fighting ship, it’s like the coolest thing.” Besides, he reasoned, “There’s no Flying Dutchmen anywhere. Everybody’s the Rams.’ “
For the record, the Flying Ducthmen moniker came into question and was dropped in 2004 after it became linked to a former slave ship. The official team name instead became the Pride, in reference to the Hofstra Pride branding campaign launched in 1987 to mark the university’s dramatic recovery and growth from its financial crisis in the 1970’s. That revival was credited in part to James M. Shuart, a former Hofstra football standout. Shuart, the university’s president from 1976 through 2001, is the namesake of the university’s 15,000-seat, artificial turf stadium, which was named in his honor in 2002. Since at least the 1940’s, the university has featured a pair of lions on its logo: first, two male lions and, since 1987, both a male (Willy) and female (Kate) lion. Unveiled in 2004, the school’s marketing logo substitutes a shield and the letter H for a pair of lions. Maintained are the school colors: gold, white, and blue.
As for the nickname Pride, Wallace said: “It’s pretty neat what they did but I hated it. You can’t be the Flying Dutchmen for 60 years or so and then all of a sudden change it.” His bigger concern now is the loss of the football team. “Going to homecoming was a major part of the year for me and my family,” Wallace said. “I was part of something that was a 70-plus year tradition, the oldest football team on Long Island, and now all of a sudden, poof, it’s gone.”
Eddie Wallace, who graduated from Hofstra University in 1980, attended the Jan. 16, 2010 Save Hofstra Football fundraiser at the Public House in New York City. Wallace played football and lacrosse at the university from 1976 through 1979. He was the team's co-captain in 1979.
Reflection:
“Joe Taylor (’77) and I were both art majors and were the only art majors on the football team. Joe used to paint the game balls. Each game ball would be signed by the players, the score and date would be painted on it, and then it was shellacked and presented to the player selected by coaches to win the game ball. After Joe graduated, he passed that tradition on to me and I kept it going.”
Player Report:
Eddie Wallace started playing football in junior high school and before that in unorganized play as an elementary school student. “My high school football coach, Ralph Capozzi, played football at Hofstra and he also taught art and that’s basically what I wanted to do, teach art or math,” said Wallace, who was drawn, too, to how the game of football was played. “There’s 10 guys on the field, 10 one- on-one’s going on at the same time, but you’re all part of a team,” he said. “It’s a great team sport.”
In his senior year, Wallace, one of three co-captains, was asked by the two other captains to attend a special meeting with the coaches that the two co-captains had called. “But they didn’t tell me why,” Wallace said. “We meet with the coaches and the other two co-captains say, ‘We really don’t like the name Flying Dutchmen.We want to be the Rams.” But Wallace was not too happy with the movement to change the unofficial nickname of Hofstra University teams. As Wallace put it: “The Flying Dutchmen is a fighting ship, it’s like the coolest thing.” Besides, he reasoned, “There’s no Flying Dutchmen anywhere. Everybody’s the Rams.’ “
For the record, the Flying Ducthmen moniker came into question and was dropped in 2004 after it became linked to a former slave ship. The official team name instead became the Pride, in reference to the Hofstra Pride branding campaign launched in 1987 to mark the university’s dramatic recovery and growth from its financial crisis in the 1970’s. That revival was credited in part to James M. Shuart, a former Hofstra football standout. Shuart, the university’s president from 1976 through 2001, is the namesake of the university’s 15,000-seat, artificial turf stadium, which was named in his honor in 2002. Since at least the 1940’s, the university has featured a pair of lions on its logo: first, two male lions and, since 1987, both a male (Willy) and female (Kate) lion. Unveiled in 2004, the school’s marketing logo substitutes a shield and the letter H for a pair of lions. Maintained are the school colors: gold, white, and blue.
As for the nickname Pride, Wallace said: “It’s pretty neat what they did but I hated it. You can’t be the Flying Dutchmen for 60 years or so and then all of a sudden change it.” His bigger concern now is the loss of the football team. “Going to homecoming was a major part of the year for me and my family,” Wallace said. “I was part of something that was a 70-plus year tradition, the oldest football team on Long Island, and now all of a sudden, poof, it’s gone.”
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