Coach Artie Wright, 78, patriarch of Nassau County boys soccer

BY TOM ALLEGRA
STAFF WRITER

February 3, 2005

Artie Wright didn't need to organize friendly gatherings. Even though the longtime Oceanside High School soccer coach and physical education teacher had been retired for more than 25 years, his friends could find him every Saturday morning in the corner booth of Pasetti's Lunchnet on Long Beach Road.

"A lot of old gym teachers would come by and talk about the good old days because they always knew Artie would be there," recalled Warren Cadiz, a former student of Wright's who later became his assistant coach and best friend.

Pasetti's will never be so filled with laughter. Wright, a founding member of Oceanside Little League Baseball and the patriarch of Nassau County boys soccer, died Tuesday of natural causes, said his daughter, Jeryl Israel. He was 78.

"He was like a Mark Twain," said Frank Januszewski, an Oceanside coach who worked alongside Wright for 40 years. "He had a billion stories. And he had a way of relating them that would make you laugh."

Perhaps that sense of humor is what encouraged so many young athletes to join his fledgling soccer program in 1953. Wright had only one losing season, his rookie campaign, but went on to win 19 league titles, nine Nassau crowns and four Long Island championships in his final 27 years as coach. Most impressively, his teams won six straight Nassau titles between 1968 and 1973 - a feat that former Garden City rival coach Fred Briller said "won't happen again in any sport." Wright finished with a 315-80-40 record.

He also had a way with kids. He founded Oceanside Little League in 1950 with four teams and little parental support.

Wright also had a way of teaching understudies like Cadiz. "He was not only a pure delight to be aside but to watch how he worked with his players," said Cadiz, who scored the winning goal on a penalty shot in the 1963 Nassau title game.

Wright spent two years in the Navy after graduating from Oceanside in 1944. After the Navy, he obtained his bachelor's in education at Cortland Teachers College, where he was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and baseball. He was best known for playing alongside future NBA star Ernie Vandeweghe in high school and coaching Art Heyman, the 1963 NCAA men's basketball Player of the Year at Duke and an NBA All-Rookie selection with the Knicks in 1964.

Wright was predeceased by wife, Dorothy, and stepson Fearing Armes. Besides his daughter, he is survived by his brother Roger Wright, son-in-law Jack Israel, and two grandchildren.

Visiting will be at Towers Funeral Home in Oceanside from 7 to 9 p.m. today and from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, with interment to follow at Pinelawn Memorial Park.