Oceanside High School honors its athletes

Oceanside High School’s Athletic Pride Club will host the fifth Circle of Pride dinner on Oct. 27, to honor past Oceanside athletes and coaches, while creating a link to the present and future of athletics.

The dinner, which will run from 6:30 p.m. to 11:30 at the Knights of Columbus O’Connell Hall, will feature 12 honorees: one community member, three coaches and eight athletes.

“The idea of the dinner is to honor past athletes, coaches and community members who made an impact in sports during their time in Oceanside,” said Richie Woods, the co-advisor of the Athletic Pride Club. “If they were athletes, they likely had a good career in college or the pros, and if they were coaches it is usually for long time service or winners of county championships.”

One such honoree is Sal Mignano, who participated on five championship teams while a student at the high school. Mignano participated on the soccer team, the indoor track team and the baseball team. In his later life, he coached baseball in Suffolk County, where he has been added to their athletic hall of fame.

According to Woods, the dinner was first started in 2003 when Sean Keenan and Tony Caiazza, then advisors of the Athletic Pride Club, thought there should be a way for athletes to see what they could aspire to. This year, Woods said, the end-of-year varsity video from the past school year will be shown, “so the older attendees can see what the young kids are doing.”

Aside from teaching science at the high school, Woods is the assistant varsity baseball coach, and runs the club along with fellow teacher Jason Manning.

Tickets are $75 and go to funding the dinner itself, as well as toward the plaques that are bought for the honorees and the journals that are given to all attendees. After the cost of the dinner is covered, the remaining money is put toward the club, which, aside from the dinner, holds fundraisers throughout the year and takes care of the Oceanside Hall of Fame.

“We try to promote sports in the school and also promote the community and try to do charitable causes as well,” Woods said.

Woods said that around 170 tickets have already been sold for the event, and that he expects the final number to be in the 180s. Those interested in purchasing a ticket can contact Woods at justinejaime@prodigy.net or at (516)-510-2739.