L.I. Lacrosse Hall of Fame names coach from East Meadow

Business and law are two important parts of Alan Hodish’s life, and many people in East Meadow know him from the Law Offices of Alan B. Hodish, in Garden City, or his involvement in the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis.

But Hodish is also dedicated to the sport of lacrosse. The East Meadow resident was welcomed into the Long Island Metropolitan Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame at its 35th annual induction ceremony on Jan. 25 at the Long Island Marriott in Uniondale.

This is the second time the foundation has honored Hodish: He was presented with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

Hodish was the head coach of the Hempstead High School lacrosse team for over 20 years, and also coached in the East Meadow Police Athletic league for several seasons. A number of his former players attended his Hall of Fame induction, including Hempstead High alumnus Aaron Jones, who went on to play lacrosse at Cornell University.

“We galvanized a big group of alumni to come out and pay homage to a great man,” Jones said.

The foundation described Hodish’s Hempstead High Tigers teams as standouts for their “fast-break offense and a hard-hitting, physical zone defense.” Under Hodish, they captured league championships in 1983 and 1985. He is also member of the U.S. Lacrosse Century Club, having led his squads to more than 100 wins in his 11-year career at the high school.

“While wins are great, I’m more impressed by and exceptionally proud of our lacrosse alumni, many of whom have become very successful in business, in the military and in law enforcement,” Hodish said. “Even more impressive is the fact that many of our guys have gone on to become good fathers and exceptional family men.”

Hodish earned a degree in history education from C.W. Post in 1968. He began teaching elementary school in 1971 in the Hempstead School District, and became head lacrosse coach at the high school in 1975. He earned the district’s Coach of the Year award in 1982 and 1983, and served as president of the Nassau County Lacrosse Coaches Association from 1984 to 1985.

Hodish also coached lacrosse in the East Meadow Police Athletic League from 1995 to 2000, and was head coach of the Long Island Metro Pilots, an elite youth team, from 2001 to 2007. As a “strong believer in diversity and inclusion,” he said, he returned to Hempstead as director and coach of its PAL program in 2012.

Hodish earned a law degree from St. John’s University School of Law in 1989, and in 1993 he opened his law office in Garden City. He is a past president of the St. John’s law school’s Alumni Association, and was named one of New York State’s top personal injury lawyers by New York magazine in 2018.

He served two terms on the Nassau County Bar Association’s board of directors, and founded and chaired the organization’s Mentor Program, in which local attorneys and judges mentor middle-school students across Nassau County. For his efforts in the program, he was awarded the bar association’s Directors Award in 2008.

An at-large officer in the Long Island Metropolitan Lacrosse Foundation, a chapter of U.S. Lacrosse, Hodish chairs both the appropriations and scholarship committees. He has also done color commentary for high school and college lacrosse games televised by Landers Sports Productions.

Hodish was president of the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce in 2003, the chamber’s Businessperson of the Year in 2008 and Man of the Year in 2014. He is also a 25-year member of East Meadow Kiwanis and a three-time member of its board of directors.

Alan and his wife, Denise, have been married for 43 years, and have three children, Megan, Kristen and Steven.