Sports

To say that the entire town turned out for John Ryan Sr.’s surprise 90th birthday party at the St. Luke’s parish hall Saturday may be a bit of an exaggeration. Say half the town then. You could be forgiven for gate-crashing a party to honor Big John Ryan, the guru of lifeguarding here.

Built nearly 25 years ago in Arichat, a small village on Isle Madame off Cape Breton Island in eastern Nova Scotia, the Rock Water is a stout craft and has served me well over the years. But my luck finally ran out last year, and it seemed everything was breaking down on a weekly basis. First was the demise of my fish finder, followed by my GPS/radar. Then the oil cooler went kaput. Next to die was the alternator.

No sooner had Trevor Meehan pitched the first no-hitter here in 30 years than he turned around a week later and pitched another one.

The news I read from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration a few weeks ago made me recall great times pertaining to the most iconic fish in the world.

When the record-breaking big-wave bodyboarder Andrew Karr opened his surf school in the summer of 2021, the name came naturally. “I have always called people ‘legend,’ like affectionately. And I’ve done that since I was a kid,” he said. So when a student’s father suggested he name his company Legend Surf Co., he didn’t think twice.

Check out the week ahead, sports fans.

East Hampton High’s softball team “mercied” Harborfields in both ends of a doubleheader here Saturday, thus clinching a berth in the AA playoffs with a 10-6 record.

East Hampton's Trevor Meehan pitched a no-hitter versus Half Hollow Hills West on April 30, apparently the first here since Guy Ficeto pitched one on April 3, 1995. 

Kieran Hildreth of Montauk, a 15-year-old at Burke Mountain Academy, finished the season last month as 2025’s top U-16 male alpine skier in the country, while his siblings, Baron and Audrey, are also making their mark in U.S. and Canadian competitions.

While my boat is still shoreside, I want to remind motorboat owners that as per 2025 law they need to attend and pass a New York State safe-boating course.

The Ross School boys tennis team routed two large school division leaders last week, Ward Melville, which was the county tournament runner-up to Commack last year, and Connetquot. 

The East Hampton native Ryan Fowkes, 24, has qualified for the U.S.A. Track and Field Nationals in Eugene, Ore., an Olympic-level competition in July that is a qualifier for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

The weather having cooperated, Sunday’s May Day 5K road race in East Hampton Village attracted a huge crowd of all ages with Tim Lynch, 39, of Greenlawn, winning in an eye-popping 15 minutes and 41.97 seconds.

East Hampton High’s baseball team won all three games of its series last week with Harborfields, thus improving its League V record to 6-3. Plus tennis and lacrosse updates.

A player finds a renewed passion for tennis at East Hampton Indoor Tennis’s 105 doubles clinics, overseen by the club’s longest-serving pro, Dennis Ferrando.

Like the passing of Vincent (Butch) Maher, whom I wrote about last week, I was equally saddened to learn of the recent loss of Helen S. Rattray. She was a local legend in so many ways.

This week's contests for athletes of all ages.

East Hampton’s boys and girls track teams each enjoyed wins over their Comsewogue opponents last week, the boys winning 82-33 and the girls winning 86-58.

At her father’s Body Tech fitness studio on Pantigo Road the other day, Alyssa Bahel said she’d run the Paris Marathon in 3 hours, 10 minutes, and 15 seconds — her best time to date.

Despite keeping fishing notes in my logbook since 1975, I can’t precisely determine the exact date I first met Vincent (Butch) Maher, but I do know it happened at some point in May of 1986, according to my haphazard writings, when I climbed aboard the Lazybones.

The week ahead in local high school sports action.

The Pierson Whalers defeated Elwood-John Glenn 8-6 Saturday before some 250 Mashashimuet Park spectators who had earlier seen Kyle McGowin, a Pierson grad and former Washington Nationals pitcher, presented with a plaque that is to be displayed in the school’s trophy case.

A push for a bike path and a plan for a recreational park. This is how it was.

Last winter and the one just passed have proved less daunting for some here than in the past thanks to the presence of the Hamptons Run Club, which is overseen by Edwin Garcia, a Montauk personal trainer.

Anyone who has played a racket sport — tennis, platform tennis, squash, racquetball, pickleball — will be able to pick up padel readily, and it’s popularity is surging.

Your weekly list of high school sporting competition coming down the pike.

This week, the Bridgehampton School varsity baseball team will rally around Michael DeRosa, the school’s athletic director and gym teacher as well as a coach of the Killer Bees baseball team. DeRosa underwent emergency surgery last week to remove a cancerous tumor in his brain.

East Hampton capped a three-game sweep of Hauppauge with a 3-1 win here on Sunday afternoon in a game that had been twice-postponed because of the damp, dreary weather.

The latest on Bonac softball, boys and girls track, flag football, lacrosse, swimming, and boys tennis.

The week ahead in local action on the fields, courts, and track.