Lou Howard

Lou Howard (December 16, 1923 – January 25, 2016) was an American high school football coach and politician. He is the only high school coach in the Long Island Sports Hall of Fame. He was also a newspaper publisher, educator and aerospace instructor.

Early life and education

Howard was raised in Amityville. He went to Amityville Memorial High where he played linebacker and was all-scholastic. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, entering as an aviation cadet and became a pilot. After the war he went to Brooklyn Polytechnic Institue, University of Missouri and University of Nebraska before graduating's from Springfield College in 1948. He later obtained a master's in educational administration from Columbia University and a PhD in aerospace technology from Western Colorado University. Before returning to Amityville, he was director of the McBurney YMCA in Manhattan that was the inspiration for the Village People's song.

Football coach

He was a driver's instructor and football coach 1952–1968 at Amityville Memorial High School, where he used motivational psychology to field his winning teams. He never had a losing season, won nine straight league championships, and has been ascribed as the originator of the shotgun formation. With 82 wins and 15 defeats, he has the highest winning percentage in Long Island history. With his knowledge of sports psychology he was asked to give pre-game talks for several NFL teams, including the Dallas Cowboys. His team used the shotgun formation long before NFL teams. He wrote several books on football, including one on the shotgun. He is an inductee of the Long Island Sports Hall of Fame, Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame, Springfield College Athletic Hall of Fame, Amityville High School Hall of Fame, and several others. In 1969 Howard left Amityville High School for a position as a department chair at SUNY-Farmingdale.

Aviation and educator

He helped develop the aviation studies at SUNY Farmingdale, and in 1969 became the founding department chairman. He flew a plane on his 90th birthday celebration at Farmingdale. President Nixon appointed him to serve on a federal advisory committee to help design the first space shuttle for NASA. Howard authored a book on the usage of the instrument landing system, and it became the standard in the field. He also served as a flight instructor and F.A. A. flight examiner. During his legislative epoch, he continued to work at SUNY-Farmingdale. He considered himself as an educator first, and then a politician; he continued at Farmingdale after the end of his political career. He served on the SUNY Board of Trustees from 1997 – 2003. In 2013 he was inducted into the Farmingdale State College Aviation Hall of Fame. He retired from the Stony Brook Council, an oversight and advisory body at Stony Brook University, shortly before his death.

Elective Office

After coaching he turned to Suffolk County politics. Described as a maverick, he was a "formidable vote-getter," winning 14 times in his 24 years. He served two terms a mayor of Amityville, one term in the New York State Assembly, and 16 years in the Suffolk Legislature. He spent only one term in state legislature. He reported that he did not want to be away from his family, and did not enjoy being a back bencher. When he left politics at age 63, he was the last remaining member of the first Suffolk County Legislature 17 years earlier. During his time as presiding officer of the legislature, he was called "petty, partisan and political." He responded: "I guess they're all true." He was thought to be vulnerable in 1987 and did not seek reelection; "I want to go out a winner," he noted. He was only one of 18 legislators who favored opening the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant, an unpopular position that cost him the presiding post he had held 2 years previously and increased his vulnerability for reelection.

Personal

Howard married Grace Webber on May 15, 1948 in the St. Martin of Tours rectory; they could not be married in the church as Howard was not Catholic. The marriage lasted 67 years until his death. They had seven children. At the time of her death she was the oldest living lifelong Amityville resident. He was an accomplished woodturner and a founding member of the Long Island Woodturners Association. His eldest son, Thomas, was a football coach at Bay Shore High School. Howard was a publisher and owner of the Amityville Record and the Suffolk Sun. Other business interests he partook in included a laminating company, travel agency, driving school, and investment consulting. He was once selected by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association as the "most interesting member."