Sayville's Gamboli Top HS Golf Coach with 681 Wins

Every sport has its great coaches. Basketball has Red Auerbach, baseball has Casey Stangel and football has Vince Lombardi. High school golf has former Sayville coach Tony Gamboli, whose 681 wins ranks as the top in high school golf history.

Gamboli attributes the success he had to the student athletes he had the privilege of coaching during his time at Sayville, who helped establish one of the country’s best golf programs.

“Having good relationships with a lot of the kids, a lot of the kids started to come out,” said Gamboli, now retired. “I started to get some good athletes coming out for golf, and I could teach the game. I continued to get good athletes playing the game.”

Golf, though, wasn’t always Gamboli’s plan. After graduating from New Paltz Teacher’s School, he tried out for the New York Yankees.

“I played centerfield,” said Gamboli. “I went to play for the Yankees for two years. I was playing back with Mantle and Marris and the crew, and I probably would have stayed in the minors forever.”

After leaving America’s pastime behind, he began teaching math at Sayville. Gamboli planned on coaching the baseball team, but the position was filled. Golf, however, wasn’t. The rest is history.

He took the position in 1967, and for the next 42 years, led Sayville to 35 league titles, 11 county titles and five Long Island Championships. He had 23 undefeated seasons, including 92 consecutive victories from 1992-2000.

In 2004, he had the honor of being inducted into the National High School Athletics Coach’s Hall of Fame. In the same year, he won the National Golf Coach of the Year award, and the overall top high school coach in America.

“It was all because I was old, I guess,” said Gamboli with a laugh.

Although the records, streaks and accolades are important, Gamboli said they pale in comparison to the other work he accomplished during his time at Sayville, including the Bill Zeller Memorial Tournament, named after former Sayville golfer Bill Zeller, who tragically died after his senior year in an automobile accident in Maine.

 “After 36 years, we have over 200 people coming to the tournament [every year], and have raised over $200,000 for scholarships for kids in our program and kids at our high school,” said Gamboli.

In 1998, Gamboli had a hand in creating a girls golf program at Sayville and Smithtown that eventually blossomed into a county program, which now includes over 50 high schools each in both Suffolk and Nassau counties.

 “That’s really one of the real highlights when I look back,” said Gamboli on the girl’s golf team, who along with the boy’s team, both won championships on the same day in 2007 at the famous Bethpage golf course where the U.S. Open has been played.

“I was blessed to have the opportunity to work with kids,” he said. “I thought of it as I had five classes of math in the classroom and my sixth period was going out and coach. Basketball during the winter, and golf during the spring.”

Gamboli, who retired from teaching in 1998 and from coaching in 2008, always made sure he stood at the door and greeted his students when they arrived in his class, and that he always stood by as they left. The relationships he formed with his players and students have stayed with him longer than any title could.