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OFA grad proposes track and field complex be named for former coach

Posted 5/8/18

By THOMAS LUCKIE III OGDENSBURG – Dr. Diane Para, a 1982 graduate of Ogdensburg Free Academy, submitted a proposal to the Ogdensburg City School District Board of Education suggesting the inclusion …

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OFA grad proposes track and field complex be named for former coach

Posted

By THOMAS LUCKIE III

OGDENSBURG – Dr. Diane Para, a 1982 graduate of Ogdensburg Free Academy, submitted a proposal to the Ogdensburg City School District Board of Education suggesting the inclusion of former coach and teacher Penny Raftis Sharrow’s name to be the official name of the OFA Track and Field Complex at Monday’s meeting.

The proposal follows the board’s approval to dedicate the complex the “Mr. Steven J. Barlow Track and Field Complex” at a meeting on Monday, April 2. At the same meeting, the board also approved the naming of the “Mr. Ronald N. Johnson Football Field” at OFA.

While District Superintendent Timothy Vernsey provided a lengthy list of accomplishments and contributions detailing the careers of Barlow and Johnson at the early April meeting, Para ran down Sharrow’s career highlights included in the written proposal before the board and administration on Monday.

Sharrow, a physical education teacher for the district, coached spring girls track and field at OFA for the entire span of her 33-year career and was a New York State Coaches Association Century Club Award Winner for 100 more or more win, accumulating over 200 meet wins in total.

Sharrow also helped over 100 athletes make it to spring state meet competitions and was named Outstanding Girls Track and Field Coach by the National Federation of Interscholastic Coaches Association.

Heavily involved in the Van Dusen Invitational, which is hosted by OFA and the longest standing track meet in New York State history, Sharrow helped organize and conduct the annual meet until girls spring track and field sections were moved to Saranac Lake on the same day. She also led the girls team to a first place finish to help secure the first Co-ed Van Dusen championship trophy.

“[Sharrow] was a significant influence on the promotion of girls’ events and recognition at the prestigious event,” Para said.

Sharrow also coached girls winter track and field for 19 years, including two Section X Class B Championships and coached athletes to state meet competitions every year.

Her coaching resume also includes 11 years of basketball, where she led the Blue Devils to the first undefeated season in the newly formed Girls Northern League, which was followed by multiple undefeated seasons. Sharrow’s teams also won four Section X Championships and she was a New York State Coaches Association Century Club Award Winner for 100 or more wins in basketball.

Para noted that Sharrow is the only coach in OFA history to earn Century Club recognition in two different sports.

Sharrow also coached eight years of soccer, including six years at the varsity level and three years of volleyball at the junior varsity and varsity levels.

“She helped build the volleyball program and despite having no gym and playing games on the upper deck of the dome, developed a successful program,” Para said.

The proposal also notes that Sharrow “coached and guided hundreds of student-athletes to NAC All-Northern Awards and Academic All-Northern Awards.”

“In total, she has coached 88 seasons of athletic competition in six different sports. To not be overlooked, many of the seasons were at a time when she was performing similar jobs as others while being paid less and required to do more,” Para said.

The proposal also lists Sharrow’s community involvement outside of the school district, including 27 summers working with the Ogdensburg Parks and Recreation Department as Director of the City Beach, City Pool and the City Day Camp.

Sharrow is also credited with helping introduce track and field to city youth by volunteering to run the Hershey Track Meet for kids 12 under for five years and has served as community lifeguard instructor, water safety instructor trainer, and community first aid/CPR instructor.

In retirement, Sharrow coached modified girls spring track and field for four years and has coached the modified boys team for the past three years, including the current season, which marks a 40-year involvement with track and field at OFA.

Formally, the proposal requests that the complex be named the “Steve Barlow and Penny Raftis Sharrow Boys and Girls Track and Field Complex.”

“We believe Coach Sharrow’s tremendous accomplishments, her collective influence and impact on girls athletics at OFA, and on the hundreds of female athletes she coached, her longevity and dedication to the entire athletic program and the school district over a career of 33 years, and her continued contribution and dedication still to this day, has earned her the rightful acknowledgment of honor, appreciation and recognition along with Coach Steve Barlow by dedicating the track complex in both their names,” states the proposal.

While Para, who is currently Program Director/Professor of the Sports Management program at SUNY Canton submitted the proposal to the board, it was also formally submitted by Margaret Langley, OFA Class of 1975, Lisa Boyer, 1975, Dianne McCaffery Jeneault, 1984, Jennifer Stitt McDonald, 1984, Julie Hynes, 1985, and Amy Farrell, 1995.

Boyer is currently Associate Head Coach of the University of South Carolina women’s basketball team and helped the Gamecocks win the 2017 NCAA Division I National Championship. Jeanault and Hynes currently coach girls track and field at OFA and Farrell is a world-class triathlete.

Board of Education member Jim King made a motion to make an amendment to include Sharrow’s name in the dedication of the track and field complex along with Barlow’s, but the motion was tabled by the board in favor of further discussion and the desire to include the amendment as a proper agenda item at a future meeting.