By Angela Marshall
Tighe was one of four Rockville Centre soccer coaches killed when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. The field was named in memory of Tighe but dedicated to all four coaches, Tighe, Jimmy Geyer, Ed Geraghty and Jim Cove.
Today we remember four wonderful men who have established themselves as role models for our children, said Rich Pollio, club president. They were kind, gentle and loving men who could always be counted on to do something extra when others had gone home.
The idea for the renaming came from Jim Graham, Tighe's assistant coach in the fall of 2001. For Graham the loss is still fresh, the pain still at times unbearable. We spent a lot of time down here, Graham said, looking out at the field, blinking back tears.
Tighe and Graham met on the field years ago when both were coaching different teams, and they developed a great friendship. His love of the game was unbelievable, Graham said.
When a player made a mistake, Tighe didn't yell or get upset; he simply said, Unlucky. But when a player executed a new skill correctly, Tighe would call out, That's magic.
For him, soccer was about the kids, about having fun. He hated bureaucracy. I would watch Steve sit at the end of the board table, getting more and more irritated as we talked about what we couldn't do as opposed to what we could do, Pollio said. Steve's soccer philosophy was very simple: Love the game and love the children who play it.'
Graham and Tighe split the responsibility of coaching the Rockville Centre Revolution soccer team in the fall of 2001. Both had other responsibilities, but they wanted to be there for each other and the kids.
Tighe had just started a job coaching the JV soccer team at Kellenberg. He had to miss the beginning of the Revolution's game the Saturday before the 11th because of a Kellenberg game, but he promised to relieve Graham as soon as possible. Graham wanted to watch his son play in another game. While Graham waited for Tighe to arrive, he talked with fellow coach Ed Geraghty. Graham and Geraghty worked together in the New York City Fire Department.
When Tighe finally arrived, later than he thought he would be, Graham asked him who won. Tighe said, It doesn't matter. As he walked off the field, Graham called back, See you guys Monday. But on Monday it rained, and he never saw Tighe or Geraghty again.
After Sept. 11, a lot of big-name coaches offered to take over the Revolution. But Graham didn't feel that was Tighe's style. Instead two players from Tighe's first team, John Joyce and T.J. Santos, shared the role and led by his example.
Many of the players from that first team, and the many that followed, came back for the renaming ceremony. He was more than a coach. He was a friend, a teacher, said Mike Lucchesi, who came home from college for the ceremony. He always cared about us. He just wanted us to have fun win or lose.
Tighe's wife, Kathy, and their four children, Lindsay, Michael, Patrick and Elizabeth, attended the ceremony along with other family members, including his parents. It's definitely a fitting tribute to a guy who gave his all, Kathy said.
Cathy Geyer said her husband would have been honored. The soccer club meant a lot to him, she said. Geyer coached all of his children Michele, Matthew and Laura on soccer teams over the years. It was always fun and from the heart, his wife said during an interview soon after the terrorist attacks. Whole weekends during the soccer season were spent at one Rockville Centre field or another.
Geraghty was a soccer commissioner and coach for the kindergarten boys' team and the under-12 B travel team. He and his wife, Mary, have three sons, Connor, James and Colin.
Cove was also dedicated to teaching his children, Michael, Ryan and Gregory, how fun soccer could be. His wife, Theresa, has said he was involved in every part of the boys' lives, from diapers and baths as infants to sports and schoolwork as they grew up.
