Mineola’s lacrosse legacy was on full display Friday night.
The high school’s athletic hall of fame held its seventh induction ceremony before the Sept. 26 football game, honoring eight athletes who the institution’s committee deemed deserving to grace the halls.
“It was a beautiful night,” said Gerry Kowalski, the brother of inductee Stanley Kowalski, who accepted his brother’s posthumous award. “The only thing that would have been better was if he had been around to receive the recognition himself in person.”
Stanley, an All-American lacrosse player and 1965 Mineola High School Graduate, died unexpectedly in 2017 at 68. Also a former Mineola High School athlete, Kowalski said accepting the award for his brother was a powerful moment.
“When we were in school, it was an extremely tight-knit community,” Kowalski said. “The fact that the people who organized the event were honoring my brother 60 years after he graduated was a true honor for our family. I felt like it was very important for us to be there to receive his recognition.”
Kowalkski said he traveled up from his home in Georgia to accept his brother’s award because it felt important to recognize his accomplishments.
“I appreciate the fact that the legacy of players connected to Mineola are being recognized. It is really important,” Kowalski said. “I applaud [the hall of fame team] for what they’ve done over the last several years to make this an opportunity for individuals and their families to be recognized.”
Six All-American lacrosse players were inducted alongside Stanley Kowalski, including fellow 1965 graduate Kevin O’Connor, 1969 graduates Dwight Blomquist and Gary Besosa, two 1972 graduates Rich Meade and Bob Guido and 1979 graduate Jeff Homire. Doug Szigethy, an undefeated Mineola High School quarterback, was also inducted at Friday’s ceremony.
Kowalski said he had personal connections to four of the other men and knew of almost all the others as the “legends” from his childhood.
“The other people I knew because they were the sports legends of Mineola. They were our heroes, the people we looked up to when we were younger,” Kowalski said. “It was absolutely just a delightful way to celebrate not only eight outstanding athletes and coaches, but eight outstanding individuals.”
Dan Guido, one of the hall of fame’s organizers, said inductees are chosen based on their athletic accomplishments in high school and college, awards they won and contributions they made to their sport. He and his team have been working since 2021 to identify people who should be recognized and added to the display wall.
Guido said all of the men inducted on Friday had significant accomplishments to their names: Kowalski played on elite lacrosse teams after high school, including the Long Island Athletic Club and the World Team. He was a high school and college lacrosse coach. Mead was named the National Division One Lacrosse Coach of the Year, and Homire scored the winning goal in multiple national lacrosse championships.
Some inductees also made contributions outside of winning games, said Guido, who included his older brother, Bob Guido, on that list. Daniel said his brother helped lead his Nassau Community College lacrosse team to two national championships, started the Mineola Alumni Lacrosse Game and helped raise over $150,000 in scholarships for Mineola students.
Kowalski said he was glad to see the players recognized for their accomplishments and Mineola’s lacrosse legacy highlighted.
“This year there were eight recipients and all but one of them had a connection to the sport of lacrosse, which was very important to my family,” Kowalski said. “It was really cool to see how many people were incredible athletes when they were in high school and their post-college accomplishments, which were all related to lacrosse. It was a wonderful statement to me about what a hotbed for lacrosse Mineola had been for a very long time.”
The Mineola High School hall of fame currently honors some 30 individuals and 10 teams.
