Sept, 2011 - The Nyack Villager

Remember the days?
by James F. Leiner
Nyack’s Track Coach
I’m sure you’ve taken one of
those personal improvement tests
over the years—you know—the
test where you’re asked to identify
the five people who most influenced
your life. I surmise that
most of us would include one of
our high school teachers on that
list. If you attended Nyack High in the 60s
and 70s, a certain art teacher is probably on a
number of those lists. Oh, not my list, as
many of my readers realize, I don’t have an
athletic bone in my body, but I’ll wager that
Joe McDowell makes many of those lists.
Joseph D. McDowell taught in Nyack for
thirty-one years. He coached cross-country
running in the Fall and track and field in the
Spring for seventy-seven seasons during that
time.
First recruited to coach track in 1959 by Nyack
Athletic Director Rudy Rejholic, Joe often
wondered where Rejholic found the courage
to appoint an art teacher to a position in
sports leadership. You see, Joe McDowell
thought of himself first and foremost as an
artist and art teacher, though his track athletes
often received more publicity. He was proud
of his athletes, but equally proud of the students
to whom he taught a lifetime of artistic
skills. He came to Nyack from Irvington,
after a stint in the Army during the Korean
War. He received his undergraduate degree at
Pratt Institute and a Master of Arts from Columbia
University.
As it turned out, Rejholic’s choice of Joe Mc-
Dowell turned out to be a good one; he is described
by some former runners as one hell of a
coach and by other coaches as the Renaissance
Man of high school track.
During much of the 60s and 70s, Nyack High
School athletes dominated Rockland County
track and much of the credit for their success
belongs to the mentoring provided by Joe Mc-
Dowell. He enjoyed working with sprinters,
especially in the spring relays. His 880-yard
relay teams are legend and still talked about in
the athletic and track meetings today. During
his career he coached five NY State Track
Champions: in 1963, the late Don Clancy,
who ran breathtaking 100 and 220 yard races
against Spring Valley’s premier sprinter Jimmie
Ashcroft and High Jump Champion Ronnie
Edwards; Dave Billings in cross-country in
1971 and who, in 1972, set a NYS record in
the 2-mile run; Jerry Blow set the indoor 55
yard dash record in 1978, and
Darien DeLoach in the 1,600
yard run in 1979. In addition to
the five state champions, his
coaching career included six
Rockland County championship
track teams and eight Section
Nine championships teams. Joe
was named Coach of the Year five
times while compiling an outdoor
dual track meet record of 119-73-1
including a winning streak of 24 straight meets.
Joe also brought his artistic talents to the athletic
fields. He was a master at weaving colorful
threads through art and athletics as he felt
the combination was a natural one. He would
often watch his runners during meets and produce
pencil sketches of the action. Dave
Billings, today a minister at the Alliance
Church in Middletown, talks of his own Mc-
Dowell original that Joe created after his record
breaking run. Indeed many Nyack High
graduates are fortunate to own a McDowell
montage, combining newspaper and magazine
photography along with his drawings, placed
like frames of a movie to create the impression
of motion.
Joe McDowell’s thirty-one year teaching career
at Nyack Schools included 5 years in elementary
art, 2 years at the junior high school and
24 at Nyack High. He also taught art to the
youngsters who attended Nyack’s village sponsored
summer recreation program for 22
years. That is where I spent some time with
Joe. I was impressed with his delight in just
being alive. Simple things like a walk, a run,
visiting an art museum and being with kids
were the joys of his life, along with teaching
and coaching.
He added a dimension to the lives of so many
kids from Nyack and always loved to see how
his work in art and track made a difference in
their lives. He was a gentleman who cared
about kids most of all. He treated them all
the same, a wonderful attribute in the racially
charged atmosphere of the 60s and 70s. He
never called kids by their last name. He had a
marvelous way of bringing the best from all of
his students and athletes.
When today’s coaches and teachers have workshops
on this subject, perhaps they could benefit
by showing a video of how Joe McDowell
related to kids.
The Nyack Villager thanks Jim Leiner for helping us
all ‘Remember the Days.’ ✫
10 The Nyack Villager September, 2011