Mickey Corcoran gets spot in 'Garden of Champions' in NJSIAA Hall of Fame

PRINCETON — It’s the Garden State, and this was the Garden of Champions.

Those were the words of former New Jersey track superstar Joetta Clark speaking on behalf of the 2022 class of New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Hall of Fame inductees Sunday afternoon in Princeton.

Clark, a four-time Olympian, never lost an 800-meter race while in high school at Columbia. She thanked her parents, including legendary education figure Joe Clark, and said that while she has been inducted in other Halls of Fame in her career, this one was unique because of where it represented, a place that had produced so many outstanding athletes.

It was the first NJSIAA Hall of Fame induction ceremony since 2018 (disclosure notice: this author is on the selection committee). The original event had to be postponed because of COVID restrictions. That fact was recognized right away by current NJSIAA executive director Colleen Maguire as she welcomed the crowd, saying it was the organization’s biggest in-person event in two years.

In the 2022 class, the inductee with the strongest connection to North Jersey was “The Mentor” William ‘Mickey’ Corcoran, who was inducted as a contributor/administrator to the New Jersey high school sports community.

Corcoran attended the now-closed St. Cecilia’s in Englewood, playing football and basketball for coach Vince Lombardi, who of course went on to greater NFL fame.

Accepting the medallion and induction on Mickey’s behalf was his son Rookie.

“Pop was kind of a pioneer in pushing girls athletics back in the 70s and it came to fruition with the people on the dais yesterday and all the accomplishments at Northern Highlands, and watching the growth of women’s sports, he pushed that,” Rookie said. “He said it, and I said it … athletics is probably the best classroom for a kid to learn in. You learn how to lose. You learn how to win, and you learn how to compete, and if you don’t learn those things, you’re in trouble. All those people yesterday. That’s what they embodied. It was really nice.”

Corcoran had a distinguished career in Bergen County, working as coach and athletic director at River Dell and Northern Highlands. At River Dell, he had a young protégé named Bill Parcells.

Somehow, Corcoran found time to officiate hundreds of games and helped developed the Bergen Jamboree basketball tournament. The gym at Northern Highlands bears his name. He died at age 93 in 2015. His beloved wife Dolores (who I also had the pleasure of meeting multiple times) died last month at age 90.

“I was really impressed with who else was there,” Rookie said. “The other inductees, Siragusa and Tippett are on a totally different level, but also Somogyi and what his daughter did was amazing. They led the state in scoring. Both of them! That’s really cool.”

The NJSIAA bridged the generation gap between the athletes by having members of the student ambassador committee officially present and induct the nominees by reading a short synopsis of their accomplishments. Among the presenters were Michael Sarlo from Wood-Ridge and Joe Stern from St. Joseph Regional.

Tenafly volleyball/softball/basketball coach Jeff Koehler was also formally recognized with the NFCA Northeast Sectional Volleyball Coach of the Year award. Koehler was unable to attend, as he was in Florida conducting spring training with the Tigers softball program.

The NJSIAA 2022 Hall of Fame Class:

Robert Auriemma, Brick hockey coach

Joetta Clark Diggs, Columbia HS

William “Mickey” Corcoran, River Dell and Northern Highlands AD

Virginia Duenkel Fuldner, West Orange

Chris Ford, Holy Spirit

Tom Heath, Christian Brothers Academy Track and Cross Country Coach

Kenny Jackson, South River

Thomas Lopes, Contributor/Official

Eulace Peacock, Union HS

Harding William Peterson, Woodbridge HS

Tricia Popowski, Hoffman HS

Tony Siragusa, Brearley HS

John Somogyi, St. Peter’s HS

Steven Timko, former NJSIAA Executive Director

Andre Tippett, Barringer HS

Dajuan Wagner, Camden HS

Don Wieder, East Brunswick gymnastics coach

Nancy Welch Williams, Shore Regional field hockey coach

Darren Cooper is a peachy-keen high school sports columnist for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app.

Email: cooperd@northjersey.com

Twitter: @varsityaces

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJSIAA Hall of Fame inducts 2022 Class, including Mickey Corcoran