Thomas Tierney

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - He was a Staten Island sports legend.

"If you got to know him past the baseball diamond, he had a heart of gold," College of Staten Island baseball coach Mike Mauro said of former Tottenville High School baseball coach Thomas (Tom) Tierney, who died yesterday at Staten Island University Hospital, Prince's Bay, at the age of 82.
"He was as genuine and as generous as a person could be. There was way more to him than just baseball."
But when your name is synonymous with the sport - and with winning, something the Staten Island Sports Hall of Famer did with alarming regularity, compiling a 940-120 record over 33 seasons at the helm of the city's top program - you can forgive people for missing some things.

WINNING TEAMS
Mr. Tierney's Tottenville teams won six PSAL city championships, the first coming in 1986 and the last in 1998. After the following season, he turned the reins over to his son, Tom Jr., who has continued the tradition with five more city crowns, the latest coming last year.
"My dad really loved his teams," said his son. "And he had fond memories of so many players, it was ridiculous."
Born in West Brighton, Mr. Tierney attended Curtis High School, where he was a three-sport star. He then enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he played for the service's traveling baseball team that put on exhibition games.
After the Army, Mr. Tierney attended the University of Vermont on a football scholarship, earning a bachelor's degree in economics. He starred at the college in football and baseball - he was twice named to the All-Yankee Conference team twice in both sports; was the baseball team's captain in 1958; and would eventually be inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. He would later earn a master's degree in education from New York University.


DRAFTED BY NFL
Mr. Tierney was drafted by the NFL's Baltimore Colts and by a Canadian Football League team, but embarked on a pro baseball career beginning with the Milwaukee Braves' Class AA Atlanta Crackers in 1959.
After his playing days ended, Mr. Tierney would begin a 38-year career as a teacher at Tottenville HS in September of 1963 - the same school year he first crossed paths with Doris M. Mayer of Port Richmond.
"We were both history teachers at the time and he subbed for my American History class," she recalled. "I was never absent, except for that one day. It was fate. I remember returning to school the next day, a few of the girls in my class were telling me, 'You're going to marry him.' I didn't even know him."
As it turned out, Mr. Tierney and Mayer would marry at Our Lady of Good Counsel R.C. Church on Aug. 29, 1965. The couple initially resided in Westerleigh but would move to Prince's Bay where they lived for the past 40 years, raising son Thomas and daughter Colleen.
In 1965, Mr. Tierney took over as Tottenville boys' tennis coach and started the school's track team in 1966. Later on, he would coach the boys' bowling team for 10 highly successful seasons.
Then in 1967, Mr. Tierney took over the baseball team from Walter Stolzenthaler, whose 30-year run as Pirates manager ended with the school's first Staten Island PSAL title.
"It was a decent program when he got there, but Tom built it up," said long-time friend Bert Levinson, who coached the Curtis baseball team from 1957-74. "He worked hard."
Mr. Tierney's teams had some close calls - losing in the bottom of the seventh inning in the 1973 championship game, and falling in the 1975 semifinals - before finally winning it all in 1986. Five more city titles followed, as Tierney's Pirates became the gold standard for the city and beyond, with Tottenville often ranked by national publications.


PLAYED TO WIN
"He played the game to win, and instilled in us a workman-like attitude," recalled current Washington Nationals right-hander Jason Marquis, now in his 12th Major League season, who pitched Tottenville to the city crown in 1995 and '96. "There wasn't one specific moment; it was more his overall demeanor that stuck out. It was the way Coach Tierney went about trying to win games. He would make sure everyone got better, that everyone put their work in.
"Off the field, he was easy-going," added Marquis, one of several former Tierney players who reached the Majors, including Rich Scheid and Tom Gregorio. "But between the lines, Coach didn't mess around. He shaped us to be successful in our future life, whatever that would be."
Mr. Tierney was singled out countless times, cited for honors both on and off the diamond. In 1986, he was selected National High School Baseball Coach of the Year by the National Coaches Association. Mr. Tierney also coached baseball in the Police Athletic League and American Legion; and was involved in various youth football, basketball and golf programs. When it came to sports, golf was his second love - he was a member of the Silver Lake Men's Golf Club, the South Shore Golf Club and played in the Staten Island Amateur tournament. He also golfed at the renowned Pebble Beach golf course in 1995, and founded the annual Bill Tierney Memorial Scholarship Golf Tournament in honor of his brother. That tournament, according to Mrs. Tierney, has given out over $100,000 in scholarship money.
"In going through all my dad's stuff, I'm finding out things I didn't know he did," marveled his son, Tom Jr., who was a standout golfer at Tottenville who was taught the sport by his father. "We spent a lot of time together on the course. It gave me a way to be closer to him."
On Feb. 1, 1990, Mr. Tierney underwent quintuple bypass heart surgery, though he didn't miss coaching any games that season. He also underwent two hip replacement surgeries and a serious liver transplant 10 years ago.
"But he never complained about anything," Mrs. Tierney said. "He just did what had to be done. He was an incredible man."
Aside from his wife and son, Mr. Tierney is survived by his daughter, Colleen Tierney, and four grandchildren.

The funeral will be Saturday at 10 a.m. in Messiah Lutheran Church, Annadale. Burial will follow in Ocean View Cemetery, Oakwood. Arrangements are being handled by the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, Tottenville.

Services: Messiah Lutheran Church Saturday, April 16,2011- 10:00AM

Visitation: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home Thursday, April 14,2011 & Friday, April 15,2011 2-4 & 7-9PM

Cemetery: Ocean View Cemetery

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: Messiah Lutheran Church