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25 Years Ago in Bonac Sports: 02.21.19

The way it was, sports-wise
By
Jack Graves

February 17, 1994

Leroy DeBoard, one of the finest athletes in East Hampton High School history, was inducted on Feb. 4 into the football hall of fame of Benedict College in Columbia, S.C.

DeBoard graduated from East Hampton in 1951. He later worked in the East Hampton and Riverhead school systems and was an East Hampton Town Board member.

He recently said he owed his college education to Fran Kiernan, a former longtime East Hampton High athletic director. “If it weren’t for him,” said DeBoard, “I might have wound up a bitter young man. I’ve often wondered about that.”

A four-sport athlete (football, basketball, baseball, and track) and class and Student Council president, DeBoard seemed about to miss out on a college scholarship. Kiernan popped into the now-defunct Marmador, where DeBoard washed dishes, one evening and “asked me how bad I wanted to go to school,” DeBoard said.

“He told me the good news was that I had a place to go, and that the bad news was that I had to go the next day.”

“I had a mom who always came through,” DeBoard continued. “She bought me a ticket on the Silver Meteor, and the train got into Columbia at 2:30 in the morning. I saw a guy who seemed to be waiting around and when, after the third pass, I approached him, he looked surprised. ‘You’re Leroy DeBoard?’ He was looking for a guy who was 6-2, 190. I was 5-10, 170.”

“They decided to let me stay,” said DeBoard, who played four years as a defensive back. “I had a full scholarship all the way through, except for $200 a year for books.”

Record-keeping wasn’t as thorough when DeBoard played for the Bonackers. “One year, I think I was second in the county in touchdowns and third in scoring,” he said. “When Eddie Ecker, Harry O’Rourke, and I ran we’d make 20, 30, 40 yards at a clip. Eddie was faster than I was. I was quick, but Ed was fast.”

Ecker, a Montauker, later won a scholarship to Syracuse University and became an East Hampton Town supervisor.

Running on the grass of Herrick Park in baseball cleats, DeBoard ran 220 yards in a field day race in a time that held up as the East Hampton High record for almost 25 years.

The second meeting of cyclists who have ideas for good bicycle routes on the South Fork will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Group for the South Fork’s offices on Main Street, Bridgehampton. Scott Lewendon, a professional bike route planner, will be on hand to offer advice and to answer technical questions.

The group’s Mike Bottini will have an update on the proposal to build a bike path along the Long Island Rail Road from Bridgehampton to East Hampton, and there will be a review of a draft bike route map prepared by Bill Webb of Bridgehampton. 


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