__________________ SEAFORD _________________
HERALD Vol. 72 No. 7
The power of kindness
Defense leads to dominant victory
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Page 6
FEBRUARY 8 - 14, 2024
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Spreading the word with art
Children use posters to raise awareness of blood donations By CHARlES SHAW cshaw@liherald.com
Charles Shaw/Herald
Hempstead Town Clerk Kate Murray, left, U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, Town Councilman Christopher Carini, County Legislator Michael Giangregorio and State Sen. Steve Rhoads with members of the Seaford Lions Club and poster contest winners from Seaford Harbor Elementary School.
To help fight a national blood emergency, the Seaford community came together last weekend to raise awareness of the importance of giving blood — and to donate. On Saturday, the Lions Club hosted its annual community blood drive at Seaford High School. The district’s Harbor and Manor elementary school PTAs co-sponsored the event in a joint effort to encourage blood donations during an ongoing nationwide shortage. According to the New York Blood Center, a low winter turnout has left it with no more than a two-day supply of blood, and the center made an emergency plea last month to encourage people to donate. To promote the Seaford drive, the Lions and PTAs organized their annual poster contest, in which students in kindergarten through fifth grade at the elementary schools created posters that were displayed at local busiConTinUED on pAGE 10
Ralph Rossetti reflects on historic coaching career By CHARlES SHAW cshaw@liherald.com
Not many could lay claim to have coached in the same school district for more than four decades — but Ralph Rossetti could. At 74 years old, Rossetti is completing his 43rd year as coach of the boys’ varsity basketball team at Seaford High School, and he plans to retire at the end of the season. He has accomplished much in his storied career, including 22 playoff appearances and five league championships, and Rossetti said he’s happy the Seaford School District allowed him to
coach for so long. “I’m just very thankful for Seaford to give me the opportunity to do something that I really loved for my whole career,” Rossetti said. His relationship with Seaford began around 50 years ago. After graduating from the University of South Dakota-Springfield in 1971, Rossetti landed a job at Seaford Middle School, where he taught technology. Having played varsity basketball for two years at East Meadow High School and for three years in colle g e, Rossetti coached the middle school basketball team for five years before leading the district’s varsity
team in 1981. Rossetti said his first year as varsity coach got off to a rough start, with nine straight losses. In his first six years coaching varsity, the team made the playoffs twice, and it wasn’t until one impressive student walked onto the basketball court in the 1990s that the program really took off. “When this kid Michael Harrington came into the program, that’s when we really won a lot of games,” Rossetti said. “He was an exceptional athlete at Seaford.” Harrington would go on to become one of three players during Rossetti’s varsity coaching career to have reached 1,000
career points. Rossetti said he has witnessed impressive athletes come through his locker room, but not every season during his 43 years as varsity coach was a successful one. “There were some stretches where we won over 75 percent of our games,” Rossetti said, “and then there were stretches where we won 30 percent.”
In addition to playoff appearances and league championships, his team received two sportsmanship awards and won a county championship in 1998 against Island Trees, which Rossetti singled out as the most memorable moment of his career. “That was a real highlight,” ConTinUED on pAGE 9