Pat Duffy Says Goodbye at Stepinac Baseball Awards Dinner
The 2015 Stepinac High School Baseball Awards Dinner was an emotional event held at the Woman’s Club of White Plains, on Thursday, June 4. Pat Duffy gave an emotional speech, as he held back tears, when he announced that he would be stepping down as the Crusaders Head Varsity Baseball Coach, after 11 seasons.
“Last year, I sat down with Father Tom Collins and explained to him that I was considering stepping down as the Head Baseball Coach at Stepinac, as several new opportunities had been presented to me,” explained Duffy. “I spoke to Principal Carty and Coach O’Donnell as well and we all decided that one more year would be a fitting end. Everything has a beginning and an end and tonight I am announcing that I am stepping down as the Head Coach of the Stepinac Baseball Program,” announced Duffy.
Duffy, a retired New York City Police Sergeant, leaves a legacy at Stepinac, which includes taking over an, 1-26 team and turning the program around, while ending his career with a 205-113 record.
Duffy not only turned the Crusaders into a winning baseball team, he spearheaded fundraisers to revamp the complete Stepinac Baseball Program. Duffy helped raise $2 million to have a new state of the art Sprinturf Field installed at Stepinac in 2012.
The former Head Coach at Stepinac also had new dugouts and bleachers installed and the Coach Joe O’Grady Press Box, Tyler Rush Memorial Plague and convinced Stepinac Principal Paul Carty that an Annual Spring Training Trip was necessary for the team to succeed.
“Traditions are important. None of these things would have happened unless we had Coach Duffy saying I really think this is something that we need, this is something that will be good for the team,” acknowledged Principal Carty.
But what more importantly Head Coach Duffy brought to the Stepinac Baseball Program was good character. The character he brought with him as a retired undercover officer for the NYPD, a good family man, whose stepson Steven DePompeis graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas College this year.
Duffy believed in a clean-cut program, whose players concentrated on maintaining a well balanced diet of good quality academics, integrity, discipline and good sportsmanship. “I love the fact that there are players that I leave behind that play the game the right way, have integrity and a good work ethic, which I hope that I have instilled in a generation of student/athletes,” commented Duffy.
However, not much of Duffy’s attributes and agenda will be missing from the Stepinac baseball program in the future, as succeeding Duffy will be his longtime Assistant Coach Keith Richardson. “We thought about who the next coach should be for maybe 15 seconds and it was clear in our eyes; so join me in congratulating our new Head Baseball Coach Keith Richardson,” announced Principal Carty, at the Awards Ceremony.
Richardson has been by Duffy’s side as his trusted assistant since Duffy was promoted to the Head Coaching position in 2005. Richardson has also tenured as the Assistant Athletic Director at Stepinac for three years.
“There is a lot of excitement about having the position right now but I know that I have a big job ahead of me. I have some really big shoes to fill,” said newly assigned Head Varsity Baseball Coach Keith Richardson. “I feel really fortunate that Coach Duffy allowed me to help him all these years and I feel like I learned a lot under his tutelage,” said Richardson.
Nonetheless, as Duffy steps down from his Head Coaching duties, he will continue to be employed at Stepinac, as a Physical Education Teacher and Special Advisor to Coach Richardson, while he explores other opportunities.
“Patty will be sorely missed, he was the heart and soul of the baseball program, and he did an unbelievable job “said Athletic Director Mike O’Donnell. “He was one of those guys that I could always rely on to make really good decisions and being a role model for the students. Pat Duffy made the baseball program at Stepinac into a Championship Program,” said O’Donnell.
