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Gaylardo said she hadn't anticipated her lawsuit becoming public knowledge and quickly dropped it. The suit sought to overturn her ban from teaching in New York City public schools, a measure stemming from a determination she had developed too close a relationship with a student -- an allegation her suit said was false and had come from a supervisor whose sexual advances she had rejected.
When Berne-Knox-Westerlo officials informed boys basketball coach Andy Wright in October that he would not be recommended for reappointment, Tom Galvin resigned as AD in a show of support for Wright.
Others with proven track records were separated from their team pending investigations, then given the OK to resume their duties.
Buffalo City Honors girls volleyball coach Deborah Matos, who has who has led the Centaurs to a NYSPHSAA championship and six Section 6 titles, was reinstated a little more than a week after complaints about her coaching methods came to light -- followed by impassioned defense by her supporters.
"She's very tough and demanding on the girls," supporter Mark Panepinto told The Buffalo News. "She's an old-school coach, and expects them to give 100 percent effort. I think a lot of parents aren't built for that."
At South Jefferson, 14th-year girls basketball coach Pat Bassett, who has won two NYSPHSAA championships and eight Section 3 titles, was restored to his position after a week of uncertainty over undisclosed concerns.
Passings
Besides those mentioned earlier, there were a number of notable deaths throughout the year beginning with
Pine Plains football players Zachary Pruner, 16, and Gian Paolo Stagnaro, 17, in an August auto accident a week ahead of the season opener.
Dean Meminger, a New York City scholastic star who went on to play for the New York Knicks' 1973 NBA championship team, died in Manhattan at the age of 65. Meminger was a star at Rice High in Manhattan before playing for the late Al McGuire at Marquette.
Marcus Henry, a reporter for Newsday whose many duties included covering high school and college sports, died at his home in Hempstead. He was 41. The 1991 graduate of Baldwin High had his football career at Temple cut short by an injury.
Several active coaches passed away, including Jason DeJoy, 40, just two months after his Pittsford Mendon boys rolled to a first-place finish at the NYSPHSAA cross country meet; boys basketball coach Michael Crump, 44, a consistent winner in a decade at Wadleigh; DeRuyter's Steve Camelbeek, 66, who coached track and cross country -- and two of his grandchildren -- over four decades; Huntington fencing coach Alan Kuver, 47; and Greece Olympia boys basketball coach Steve DeRooy, 50.
Section 4 wrestling lost two giant figures -- Frank Sorochinsky, 82, who coached for four decades at Newark Valley and then Union-Endicott, and Horseheads assistant Mark Stephens, 65, a 1966 state champ for Elmira Southside who went on to run several clubs in the sport.
