Original Football Father's Club
Frank Beraud, Harry Blackham, Jim Campbell, Anthony Dasaro, Frank DeMeo, Robert Eysel, Charles Freund, Robert Grady, Harold Hansen, Walter Kotula, Robert Lane, Anthony Modzelewski, Gerald Nagy, Irwin Newman, Harold Seidenfaden and Ralph Smith
"Our objectives are to encourage all high school sports thereby enabling the students' education to be a blend of academic and athletic accomplishments."
Message of the Football Fathers' Club included in the first Varsity game-day program
In 1968, the Tottenville High School administration approved Coach Marty Spielman's request for starting a football program which would allow, for the first time, Staten Island's south shore students the opportunity to play football at their local high school.
Parents immediately took the lead in raising the $10,000 that was needed to purchase equipment, uniforms and supplies necessary to initiate the football program. The early fund raising efforts included "canning" at local shopping centers and the Staten Island Ferry Terminal in St. George, as well as going door to door throughout the South Shore meagerly asking for donations from local residents. A true grass roots initiative that our parents formed and executed in their spare time was truly the first win in our football program! The efforts of these parents raised over $15,000 and enabled the development of the first Tottenville High School football team which took the field in the Fall of 1969!
This group of parents organized from their grass roots and formed the Football Fathers' Club and immediately became the behind the scenes backbone of the Pirates Football Program! They assisted and supported the coaching staff, continued the fund raising efforts, published and distributed game-day programs, manned the game-day filming endeavors, built bleachers for the Pirate faithful, constructed lighting for night games, provided bus transportation to road games, undertook field maintenance and game-day field preparation, ran the concession stand and planned the year end Awards Dinner - each being performed for the first time. All of these initial efforts are continued to be performed by the current Tottenville High School Football Parents' Club.
Our appreciation recognizes their efforts and has resulted in their well-deserved group induction to the Tottenville High School Football Hall of Fame!
Our thanks to Original Fathers' Club Members: Frank Beraud, Harry Blackham, Jim Campbell, Anthony Dasaro, Frank DeMeo, Robert Eysel, Charles Freund, Robert Grady, Harold Hansen, Walter Kotula, Robert Lane, Anthony Modzelewski, Gerald Nagy, Irwin Newman, Harold Seidenfaden and Ralph Smith.