For that, no one has to look past the school’s athletic facilities which Sweet shepherded to its current state even when it meant battling the City University administration, contractors, and even the school’s own administration. Even when it would cost him the friendship of a couple of more impatient colleagues. But that was Ira who never took his eye off the ball ... the student‐athlete. Need a basketball coach for a men’s team which doesn’t even have a court of its own? No problem. Ira took the team for 10 years beginning in 1961, practicing and playing at now‐deceased Cromwell Center. And then he persuaded another of last night’s inductees, Evan Pickman, to replace him. Need a men’s soccer coach? No problem. Ira took the team for three years beginning in 1960, even though it meant doubling up for two of those years. The trainer quits just before the start of the 1994‐1995 academic year. Give the job to Ira. After all, he’s been the unofficial trainer before. Move the athletic program from its Sunnyside campus, now the Michael J. Petrides School, to Willowbrook, replace retiring Joe Barresi as athletic director and hire a director for the new sports and recreation center. Ira will take care of the logistics – and both jobs. The CUNY budget eliminates the physical education department and provides no money to utilize the gym at the new campus. The facility will have to be self‐supporting. Ira will take care of it. Or, when Georgetown University basketball coach popularized the position of academic advisor to athletes by sitting her on the team bench, he was well behind CSI. By then, the Dolphins had an unofficial academic advisor for two decades. Ira Sweet, of course. And, not surprisingly, more than a few times, Ira took his unofficial academic advisor’s job to a new level by taking student‐athletes home with him when their personal or financial ship was sinking. No surprise. Not from a man who never took his eyes off the ball, the student‐athlete. In addition to Sweet and Pickman, who had a 127‐42 record as Dolphin basketball coach, the inductees included three athletes and two coaches. Jeff Benjamin was the school’s first truly outstanding distance runner. John Cali was the point guard who was the glue for two CUNY championship basketball teams; and Jaclyn Rock was a 5‐foot‐8 post player who played as if she were 6‐3 while setting CSI records for single‐season rebounds (450) and single‐ game rebounds (30). Two coaches were also honored. Sebastian (Sonny) Grasso, a member of the Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame and CSI’s first intramural coordinator, coached baseball (1978‐1981) where his teams won two CUNY championships and softball
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