GLOVERSVILLE - During his tenure as head coach of the Gloversville boys basketball team, Jack Kobuskie touched the lives of many young student athletes.
On Friday night, former players, friends and members of the Gloversville basketball family will pay tribute to Kobuskie with the dedication of a plaque that will hang in the Gloversville High School gymnasium.
"When coach passed back in July, some of his former players wanted to start a scholarship in his name," said Don Landrio, who also coached the Dragons and played for Kobuskie. "Ray Johnson, a former player who was very close to Jack, was key to getting things going. Ray died in October, but we continued developing the scholarship and have expanded it a little bit from the scholarship and we will be putting up a plaque in his honor."
A committee formed to oversee the organization of the scholarship has been contacting former players to participate in Friday's ceremonies or to participate in the development of the scholarship with donations.
"We have had plenty of success contacting former players through the mail, email and by phone," Landrio said. "There has been plenty of interest and a very positive result. We have former players who are traveling here from out of state to participate in Friday night's ceremony."
Players from the teams Kobuskie coached from 1949 to 1981 will participate in the dedication ceremony, which will take place Friday night prior to the tipoff of the Dragons' Foothills Council game against South Glens Falls.
"We are asking the former players to please arrive at the gym before 6:30 Friday night," Landrio said. "There will be a table set up in the lobby for the former players to sign in for the night's ceremonies and game."
The 15-inch-by-21-inch plaque features raised lettering highlighting Coach Kobuskie's career at Gloversville from 1949 to 1981. He finished his career with a 398-215 record along with several Western Conference and Foothills Council titles. His teams made two trips to the New York State Regional Tournament and a trip to the state tournament.
The 2005 inductee into the Gloversville Enlarged School District Hall of Fame is also responsible for bringing the Dragons mascot to GHS.
The Coach Jack Kobuskie Memorial Scholarship will be given annually to a senior varsity boys basketball player who bests represents what Coach Kobuskie stood for. The winner will display character, leadership, sportsmanship and be a role model who is respected by his classmates and teammates and someone who is going to further his education.
The Coach Kobuskie Scholarship Steering Committee, made up of former players, coaches and friends of Kobuskie, will give recommendations to a second committee made up of three to five former Gloversville players of Kobuskie who will be selected by the Steering Committee for final approval of the scholarship recipient.
The first scholarship award, expected to be between $100 and $300, will be presented at the Gloversville High School senior awards night in June.
Although the committee has had success contacting several former players, it also is seeking contact information to invite more people to participate in Friday's events.
Among players being sought are John Albini, Jim Kaminsky, Bruce Vogt, Don Johnson, Len Sweet, Bruce Henry, Bab Fanch, Mark Harris, Dave Ligon, Bob McCloskey, Jack Brunner, Vic Collie, Frank Peris, Tony Basileo, Jim Cromer, Steve Swartz, Kris Kane, Brian Hall, Bill Taub, Rich Bump, Darryl and Jessie Coger, Chuck Fosmire and Bill Muddle.
Contact information can be sent to Landrio at dlandrio@nycap.rr.com or Brian Seeley at BSeeley@PatriotFederalBank.com.
Landrio graduated from Gloversville High School in 1966 and played as a member of a Dragons team that posted an impressive 17-1 record.
"Certainly the term gentleman was always used when you talked about coach," Landrio said. "He stressed character and leadership in our community and emphasized family, which I have tried to emulate in all my teams."
Landrio went on to post 410 victories and multiple Foothills Council and Section II championships in his hall-of-fame coaching career at Canajoharie and Gloversville high schools.
"Over the years as a coach, I received congratulatory notes or just a simple phone call from him, and I know he did that with the other guys, also. In my mind, he was one of the great teachers within the Gloversville Enlarged School District. I hope people will not forget the impact he had on the students and athletes he encountered through the years."
After Kobuskie's death in July, several former players spoke of the influence the coach had on them personally and professionally.
Landrio described Kobuskie's approach to coaching and life as, "he walked it the way he talked. Whatever he taught us, he did himself. That was an important characteristic of his. Most of the players who played for him, when they talk about him, it is still 'Coach' or 'Coach K.' He certainly influenced a lot of us."
Johnson said, "I really feel like a part of my life has been taken from me, but not in a negative sense. Just tonight, I feel hollow. I just feel empty that this guy, this coach, this mentor who touched my life in so many ways is now gone. There is no greater joy or responsibility than to coach a young boy, and if you do it well, you touch their lives forever, and that is what Jack did with me."
Kobuskie also was influential in helping Coach Jim Zullo start his coaching career.
Even with more than 500 wins, multiple sectional and league titles and a state championship to his credit, Zullo still refers to Kobuskie as "Coach."
"He is the coach. He was our coach," he said. "Probably 20 years from now, he will still be our coach. He was a great man."
