Congratulations are in order again for Coach Bill Cherry, his staff and players on the MHS Indians varsity football team for yet another outstanding season. The team finished the season with a strong 6-3 record and made another run at a conference championship by reaching the semifinal game in the playoffs.

In lacrosse obsessed Manhasset, it is sometimes easy to overlook the football program's successful heritage and more importantly the contributions of the program to the student body learning experience at MHS and its role as part of the fabric of the community. We should all recognize and be proud of the way our terrific coaches and student-athletes in this fall program year-in and year-out enthusiastically dedicate themselves to represent Manhasset with fine sportsmanship, teamwork and a high level of skill. For decades the entire Manhasset community, parents and thousands of student-athletes that have passed through the program, have been fortunate to benefit from the leadership and selfless dedication of Cherry and his predecessors while extending the football program's more than half century tradition of excellence dating back to the days of Jim Brown.

Which also leads us to remember one particularly memorable coach whose name graces our terrific field - Ed Walsh. Walsh, who coached Jim Brown and is now 93 and lives in the Syracuse area, suffered significant damage to both legs in a recent car accident. Please keep Walsh in your prayers as he begins a difficult recovery.

With Cherry as head coach for the past 24 years (30 years overall on the staff), the team has accumulated 107 wins within an extremely competitive conference and has qualified for the playoffs nine of the past 15 years. Not to be overlooked, the success of the varsity program would not be what it is without the fine coaches of the up and coming players on the middle school and junior varsity football teams who should also be applauded for their respective outstanding seasons this year. No doubt this bodes well for success at the varsity level for many years to come. Although this year's varsity team fell just short of its ultimate goal, next year's team will return many excellent players and we should look forward to another playoff run to take care of unfinished business next fall.

Michael Zimm (MHS '82)