NYSPHSAA Hall Welcomes Stan Moore, Martha Slack
MASSENA - Over the past 70 years, the high school athletic programs at Massena Central have consistently ranked among the best in the North Country and beyond.
Last month, two architects of that success were welcomed into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame.
Stan Moore, who stood as the winningest varsity hockey coach in the state by the end of his 33-year career behind the Raider bench, and Martha Slack, who honorably followed in the footsteps of her father, long-time athletic director James A. Long, by also serving in the same capacity over a span of four decades along with becoming a driving force the school's creation of its own Athletic Hall of Fame, were enshrined August 4th during a ceremony held at the Inn at Holiday Valley in Ellicottville.
With Moore having passed away in 2009, his former assistant coach Tim Long, who is also Slack's brother, stood in his place to accept the honor along side his sister.
"My dad actually hired Stan as hockey coach. I had a lot of respect for him. In his early years, things were pretty thin. He went through a lot of lean years. Then we were fortunate to get the arena here in Massena and things really took off from there," said Slack, who was athletic director at Massena from 1978 to 2005. "He may not be the winningest coach anymore but as far as I'm concerned he's by far the best coach ever in New York State."
"Stan recognized how important minor hockey was to his program and he really put a lot of time into minor hockey," she added. "It was quite an honor for Tim to be able to stand in his place."
During a career that stretched 33 years from 1961 to 1994, Moore amassed 522 wins while guiding the Raiders to 18 regular season championships, 17 Section 10 titles and two state Division I banners. He also was the school's golf coach for 23 years and served as the Section 10 Hockey Chairman for eight years and the Northern New York Hockey League President for five.
Slack's career at Massena Central began in 1973, the year after her father completed his 31-year tenure as athletic director, when she was hired as a physical education teacher. Five years later, she was named the school's AD, succeeding Pete Carnhart who served from 1972-1977. In her 27 years as the athletic director, Slack helped orchestrate the rise of girls sports programs at Massena Central while overseeing the continued success of the boys teams. She also coached girls soccer, girls swimming and girls softball, helping to lay the groundwork for what would become highly-competitive programs at Massena.
"In the 70's, people had the attitude that girls sports would just be something to humor the girls. It was just one of those girls' things and that eventually it would just go away," noted Slack. "Fortunately there were a lot of women who were involved with Section 10 sports at the same time. Women like Stephanie Putney in Heuvelton, Louise Saunders in Potsdam, Sue Walts in Canton and Bev Griffin at Salmon River. They all did so much for girls sports. We all believed in girls sports in general."
"Once we all got a roll going, we didn't look back and things with girls sports just steamrolled," she added.
While the boys and girls teams have produced numerous league, sectional and state tournament championships over the course of Slack's career as AD at Massena, the 1994-95 school year stands out as the most memorable.
"We had the budget voted down that year. The athletic department had to raise all money on its own and we wound up having a fantastic year. Our football team made it all the way to the state semi-finals. The hockey team won the state championship and we had just about every varsity team win their league and sectionals," she recalled.
"You can say whatever you want about Massena but whenever push comes to shove, the people really come through. I think sports meant so much more to everyone that year because we had to work so hard to have them. People really had a lot of pride in what they were doing," she added.
Slack also takes pride in having played a role in raising the overall status of Section 10 in terms of how its teams match up against the other sections at the state tournament level.
"We've come a long way as a section. We got our foot in the door with hockey. Now we've had baseball teams and basketball teams and soccer teams win state championships. A couple of years ago, we had six teams make it to the state semi-finals in basketball. I think the other sections in the state know who Section 10 is now," she said.
Slack retired from the school district in 2005 but is still active in athletics administration, serving as a member of the NYSPHSAA sportsmanship and championship committees.
"We were very fortunate during my time as athletic director," she noted. "We had good coaches, great kids and a very supportive community."
"I don't miss some things but I do miss others. I go to games, I was raised that way, and I've been fortunate to have people like Larry Jenne and Tim Hayes, who have come along as athletic directors since I left. They've gotten me involved in different things and asked for my opinion which shows respect for the job I did," she concluded.
As members of the eighth class ever inducted to the NYSPHSAA Hall of Fame, Moore and Slack doubled the number of inductees from Section 10. Heuvelton Central basketball and baseball coach John Tehonica was the first, a member of the Class of 2004, and Ogdensburg Free Academy baseball coach Jim Pinkerton, who was enshrined last summer. The other members of the NYSPHSAA Hall of Fame Class of 2010 were Nicholas DeCillis (Administrator), Sally Kus (Coach) and James Tolle (Administrator).
