Section V Athletics

              In 1962 Dennis graduated from Aquinas Institute and for seven years pursued studies at St Andrews/St Bernard’s Seminary earning a Bachelor of Science degree in philosophy and completed two years of graduate studies in Theology.  He attended SUNY Brockport on a part time basis to earn permanent certification in health education, a master’s degree in Education, a Certificate of Advanced Studies, an SDA and SAS.

            He taught at St Augustine’s Junior High School from 1969 to 1972.  In 1972 Dennis was hired by Aquinas Institute to teach Health Education and Theology.  In 1978 he was appointed the school’s athletic director. Two years later he was selected by the governing body (athletic directors) of the Monroe County High School Hockey League which consisted of 14 schools to succeed Roger Bunce as league chairman. The MCHSHL was founded in 1968 and grew from the original six schools (Aquinas, Brighton, Fairport, Irondequoit, McQuaid and Monroe) and eventually became Section V Ice Hockey. One of his first responsibilities was to coordinate facility use as the league contracted use of all rinks. This was a challenge as two of the rinks, Minett Hall and Lakeshore Ice Arena, had recently closed and it would be difficult to complete an 18 game schedule. Dennis worked with Bruce Rizzo, the new manager of the Lakeshore facility, to accommodate a large number of league games and practices.  He also worked with other local rinks to continually expand facility use and to showcase play-off games. To assist with daily operations of the league Bill Quinlan (league commissioner), Dan Barrows (league statistician and historian), and the Machucki, Derbini families coordinated consistent game procedures at each of the rinks and represented the league at all contests.  In 1989 Dan Barrows wrote a twenty year history of the MCHSHL (1968-1988).

            In 1993 Dennis succeeded Paul Swancott (Section 3) as the second state coordinator of NYSPHSAA  Ice Hockey. During regional playoffs each year Dennis traveled to a number of game sites to get a clearer understanding of each sections operation and available facilities. The Utica Auditorium became the permanent home for state ice hockey semi/finals and on a number of occasions the arena filled for playoffs. Semi/final pre-game locker room meetings with each team included the section coordinators, on ice officials, referee in chief, and Dennis to set the stage for sportsmanship expectations.  At the end of each championship game the coach introduced each member of his team and presented the awards on ice. This was a clear example of sportsmanship and respect for each team.

            After serving as athletic director for eight years and assistant principal since 1982 Dennis left Aquinas in 1995 to become an assistant principal at Gates Chili High School. He retired from Gates Chili in 2005 and returned to Aquinas as principal.  In 2011 Dennis retired as principal of Aquinas Institute and continued as State Ice Hockey coordinator for two more years.  In 2013 he retired after serving 20 years as State Coordinator and an additional 13 years as MCHSHL/Section V ice hockey coordinator. That year he was inducted into the NYS Ice Hockey Coaches’ Hall of Fame and the Aquinas Institute Hall of Fame .

            Dennis and Karen celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary in April of this year.  They have 6 daughters, all who graduated from Aquinas, Tricia, Jennifer (Dave Kasanov),  Katie, Carrie (Mark Thering), Kelly (Mark Murrell), Tracy (Nick Bodyk) and 8 grandchildren.