Richard began as a recreation coach in New Rochelle, and he subsequently coached a travel team in the WYSL. His travel team regularly won its own age group, and moved up and played against older teams. He was elected a Board Member of the New Rochelle Club, and a delegate to and Board Member of the WYSL. At the WYSL he was responsible for the registration of teams and the scheduling of all games, which was done by hand in the days before computers.

 

Richard subsequently became the League’s delegate to the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association. After several years on the ENYYSA Board, he became the Administrator for the Olympic Development Program, where he was responsible for the selection of coaches and players from all the leagues in ENYYSA. 

 

  

 

Bruce was a soccer player in New York City when he was growing up, and was a star when he played for Stuyvesant High School, City College of New York and Blue Star in the Cosmopolitan League. He became involved with the WYSL when he moved to Edgemont in 1978, where he contacted the soccer coach and athletic director at Edgemont High School, Jim San Marcos, and asked how he could help. Jim steered Bruce towards refereeing, and the rest is history.

 

Since 1978, Bruce Nagler has served as a referee, and as a referee mentor, assessor and instructor. He has served at over 2,000 youth, high school, college and professional games. In 1987 he was selected to serve in Brazil at the first “Pele International Soccer Tournament”. Beginning in 1979 he was asked to help teach the Laws of the Game to new coaches attending the WYSL coaching course, and has taught this course every year from 1979 to the present. It is estimated that more than 4,000 WYSL coaches have attended this course and learned from Bruce over the past 28 years.

  

  

Carmine was the founder of the Eastchester Youth Soccer Association and was an officer of the WYSL in its formative years. In 1976 Carmine had the vision to bring soccer to the Town of Eastchester, and due to his untiring efforts and leadership the EYSA began playing youth soccer in 1977. The following spring, Carmine entered six teams of older players in the WYSL, and he became a Vice President of the WYSL and served on the Board during its early years.   

 

Since then, Carmine has spent over 30 years guiding the EYSA, as both its President and later as a Lifetime Member of its Board. He has been its chief fundraiser and has served as the chair of the Nominating Committee, ensuring that the club has had the financial and human resources to meet the growing needs of youth soccer in Eastchester. In the early 1980s, Carmine helped build FC Westchester, and in 1986 he was the host and chaperone of an FC Westchester trip to his native Italy, serving as a leader and interpreter. This was the first time a youth team from the Westchester area beat European teams in competition, by registering victories over teams from Italy and England. 

 

 

Charles “Chuck” Blazer- Chuck started in the New Rochelle Soccer Club coaching his eight-year-old son. He subsequently was elected New Rochelle’s Vice President, and then was elected to the Board and became the Vice President for Westchester Youth Soccer League. Within WYSL he administered the Select Team Program. He represented the League as the first President of Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) where he ran the Olympic Development Program.

 

Chuck became involved the Region and was one of the early members of the United States Soccer Federation. But Chuck did stop there. He is currently the Secretary General of CONCACAF, the regional governing body of FIFA covering North American, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the 1^st Vice-President of FIFA, the World Governing Body of Soccer.

Albino Guimaraes- In 1957 Albino was one of the founding fathers that helped form the Mamaroneck Soccer Club, which was an adult-only club at that time, and played on one of its team for 28 years.  Albino became its president and then president of the adult league known as the Eastern District Soccer League. He has been the vice-president of ENYSASA for the past 20 years. 

 

Albino was also involved in the formation of the The Mamaroneck Junior Soccer Club, which was set up to provide soccer opportunities for Mamaroneck youth. The Mamaroneck Junior Soccer Club, under the guidance and tutelage of Mr. Guimaraes, took part in the original formation of the Westchester Youth Soccer League, which took place in the late 1970s.

 

Elizabeth “Biffy” Halliday – Biffy served as the Larchmont Junior Soccer League’s Registrar from 1979 until 2002 – with a brief respite for a couple of years.   As the mother of five, three of whom played in the LJSL, she felt she could contribute her administrative skills, and added the duties of WYSL registrar from 1980-1982. At that time the Travel League played only in the spring season, so the work load was manageable for a volunteer. She also assigned Referees and received the game scores from the coaches and referees during a portion of that period.   

 

When WYSL continued to grow, it added a Fall Travel Season, took in more teams and Clubs, to the point where it needed an office and paid personnel. Realizing that the new Soccer League Registrar needed support and assistance, Biffy helped by creating and maintaining the WYSL computer database of players and coaches from 1995 to 2003. Her assistance was critical to helping the WYSL transition from a purely volunteer organization to a more professionally managed organization that now serves over 12,000 kids.

 

Sue Magnotta - Sue began her soccer career by being called upon to help count money from the White Plains Youth Soccer Association travel leagues’ fundraiser in the fall of 1985. This was the humble beginning of a long soccer career which eventually led to her becoming Registrar, Treasurer, and then President of the White Plains Club in 1989.

 

In her spare time, after receiving her coaching license, she coached the girls 1979 team for numerous years, and subsequently managed the girls U-19 team which played in the East Hudson League.

 

During Sue’s tenure as President, she re-wrote the bylaws for the White Plains Club. She also was involved with the preparation and selling of books at the yearly soccer dinner with sponsor’s ads to help defray registration costs for players requiring financial assistance. 

 

After a brief absence, Sue was called out of retirement to take over again as President from 1992 until 1996, even though her children were long gone from the program. She continued to coach a team at White Plains High School for several years, and also served as a member of the Board of Directors for WYSL.

 

Marianne Mileno – Marianne became involved in Pelham Youth Soccer in 1984, but thanks to Al Pastore, the then president of Pelham Travel Soccer, she became more involved. Al was moving out of town, so he appointed Marianne to be his successor.  The next season, Al volunteered her again, this time to take the WYSL volunteer Registrar position from John and Nancy Steger of Scarsdale Youth Soccer.  She stayed in that position for about 7 years - her registrar’s office was her dining room table and her living room was the League’s waiting room.  She often had coaches waiting at her front door on a Saturday night before Sunday’s games, begging for that one last card.  She rarely (if ever) said no...couldn’t do it to the kids.  She took the cards, typewriter (no computers back then)and laminating machine away on summer vacation with her.

 

Marianne was among those volunteers looking to expand WYSL. She was a formidable and respected presence and could hold her own, and then some, with the best of them. At the games she was often consulted by the referees to settle disputes.  One of her claim to fames is her participation in the promotion and growth of the girls teams in the League. She says she learned and grew plenty during her tour of duty, that It was fun, and that she would do it again, citing, “What a great group of people to work with!”

 

Al Pastore -  through his son’s participation in the Pelham Youth Soccer Recreation Program, Al become progressively involved with soccer.  Al was instrumental in Pelham’s joining the WYSL in its early days, and served as the League Scheduler.  He subsequently was elected WYSL President, and over an eight year period led the league’s efforts to include additional communities, establish coach education, youth referee certification and the WYSL Select Team Program.  Al was also elected Vice President of ENYYSA, and was one of the pioneers in the founding of the Region One Premier League.

 

John Steger - John started as a recreation soccer coach in Scarsdale, and became involved in the forerunner to the WYSL in 1978/79, where he coached both Scarsdale boys and girls travel teams for the Scarsdale Youth Soccer Association.  He was subsequently selected to coach the girls WYSL select team for four years. For several years both he and his wife served as Scarsdale Youth Soccer’s President and Registrar respectively.

 

John also served on the WYSL board for a number of years and then began his next soccer career as a referee, which he continued to pursue for a decade. Being a natural leader, John was elected the Westchester Soccer Referees Association’s President for five years.   The WYSL and several generations of kids benefited from John’s contributions as a Coach, Referee, Board Member, and Administrator.

 

Joram Warmund - Joram began his involvement in the New Rochelle Youth   Soccer Club when he son started playing travel, and he stayed involved in as a Vice-President of the Travel division long past his son’s high school graduation, coaching many New Rochelle players/teams over the years.

 

Joram was elected to the Board of the Westchester Youth Soccer League and served as League Vice President. As a member of the Board of Directors, he chaired several committees, including the Rules and  Disciplinary Committees. Never one to fade in the background, he led many a lively discussion, and made numerous invaluable contributions to WYSL.

 

 

 

The WYSL Hall of Fame was created in 2005 to recognize the dedication of volunteers who have contributed many years of service to improving soccer opportunities for the youth of our communities. 

 

 

Tom Munno -  Tom Munno has been a pioneer for youth soccer in Westchester County.  He began coaching in the Larchmont Recreational Soccer Program in 1981 when his son began to play.  As his children progressed in soccer, Tom progressed as well and he became a Larchmont travel soccer coach in 1984 and continued to coach through 2002.  Tom is one of those volunteers who offers to get involved in soccer at all levels, and he also became the Larchmont Travel Commissioner and joined the WYSL Board of Directors in 1984.

 

Because of his contributions as a Board Member, the WYSL elected Tom as President in 1986, and he continued to serve in this capacity for 8 years through 1994.  Since Tom had boundless energy for serving the youth soccer community, he also served as the President of the Larchmont Junior Soccer League for 14 years from 1987- 2001.  Not one to entirely retire from youth soccer, Tom has continued to participate as a Referee at WYSL soccer games and as a coach for first and second graders in the Larchmont Junior Soccer program. 

 

Tom Rabstenek - Tom Rabstenek was a pioneer for youth soccer in Manhattan.  Tom was one of the founders of the West Side Soccer League.  From its humble beginnings with his original team, he helped build the West Side Soccer League into a recreational program that has provided the opportunity for thousands of Manhattan kids to play soccer.  From there he broadened the opportunities for these kids by creating the Manhattan Soccer Club and affiliated this club with the Westchester League, an affiliation which improved soccer for thousands of Westchester as well as Manhattan players.

 

Never one to settle for something that was only good, Tom volunteered his time to make organizations great.  As a Board member he brought the qualities of compassion, fairness and discipline to the organization.  He was a magnet for people of good character, he attracted and surrounded himself with other great volunteers both within the Manhattan Soccer Club and the Westchester Youth Soccer League.  Many of the best practices of the WYSL were created or fine-tuned by Tom in his capacity as League First Vice President and Chairman or member of the Arbitration, Seedings and Sportsmanship Committees.