Mickey Corcoran, right, with his son Michael at the YMCA Dinner in 2013. Mickey Corcoran, long-time coach and Athletic Director in Bergen County died Sunday afternoon at the age of 93.
Mickey Corcoran coached me once.
I was at the BCCA/BCWCA Coaches Symposium and assigned a story on Tim Higgins. Higgins, a pretty fair Bergen County icon himself, was the keynote speaker that night. But the long-time basketball referee had just gotten in some hot water over a missed call in the Big East basketball tournament.
Before the night’s events, I told Mickey I was nervous about asking Higgins about the mistake pretty sure that Higgins would duck me or something, and Mickey was like, ‘You have a job to do, and you’ll do it right!’
And sure enough, I approached Higgins who was honest, open and friendly with me and I wrote my story.
Of course, looking back on it now, Mickey probably told Higgins that I was going to be there and would have to answer questions, so the fix was in. I didn’t know that at the time though. Typical Mickey, smartest guy in the room.
Wow, the Mickey Corcoran stories are endless, but his beautiful, wonderful life ended today. He was 93.
I went to see Mickey in his Dumont home earlier this year, it was Jamboree time, and he had been at some games of course, not looking quite as spry as usual, but still pretty sharp. I sat on his couch while his lovely wife Dolores (they were married for over 80 years) waited on us as former Demarest AD Jerry Emison.
We talked about all the issues of the day in high school sports, public/non-public football. We talked about officials, athletic directors, there was a big sign hanging up in the den from the Corcoran twins at Demarest (Veronica & Victoria) wishing him well.
When I asked him about his health, he was coy, “I got a thing, you know,” and I just nodded. For 92 at the time, he was sharp. His opinions were nuanced, he wasn’t black/white, this was the only way. He saw all sides.
It’s hard to explain Mickey Corcoran to the high school athlete of 2015. Maybe they saw him at the Jamboree. Maybe they heard other coaches call him “The Mentor” which became his nickname in athletic circles.
I guess maybe the best way to put it is, you can’t write a book about North Jersey athletics without putting Mickey Corcoran in the first chapter, maybe the first page.
Mickey was coached by a young Vince Lombardi at St. Cecilia’s and played in a famous 6-1 basketball game won by St. Cecilia’s in 1939. Mickey is quoted extensively in the Lombardi biography, “When Pride Still Mattered”. In the 2014 Parcells autobiography, “Parcells: A Football Life” Mickey is in it throughout, even pictured. Mickey coached Parcells at River Dell High School and Parcells gave Mickey a lot of credit for instilling the values he carried with him throughout his career.
There’s no Bergen County Coaches Association without Mickey, although one of my favorite Mickey stories was how the BCCA shunned the coaches of female sports at first when they wanted to run their own events. “We messed that up,” Mickey told me years ago. So maybe, there’s no Bergen County Women Coaches Association without Mickey either.
Somehow Mickey stayed relevant even in 2015. He was never on Twitter, never on Snapchat, but he had a social currency you couldn’t count. I was at the YMCA dinner last week and they passed out the Corcoran award, and the MC, Tom Curry, asked everyone to pray for Mickey because he was ailing and unable to come. The room got quiet.
A few years ago, Mickey had a chance encounter with the Corcoran twins (Victoria and Veronica) from Demarest. They became fast friends, laughing at how they shared the same last name, and love of competition. He went to as many of their games as he could. They have dedicated their basketball season in his honor.
Pascack Valley girls basketball coach Jeff Jasper has too many good Mickey stories to count, like the time PV didn’t really have uniforms (this is like the stone age of female athletics) and, by the book, got technical fouls. When Jasper complained when the foul shots were being taken, Mickey winked at him and said not to worry, he would get them back.
He was there for volleyball coach Beth Powell at Demarest, there for former Demarest AD Jerry Emison, there for Ramapo boys soccer coach Evan Baumgarten, there for the new coaches coming up, and the old coaches still willing to learn.
It’s hard to believe Mickey won’t be here any more. He won’t be sitting on the baseline at the Jamboree. He won’t be getting calls (still) from Parcells and a legion of friends and admirers.
Mickey Corcoran was here, and we were all better because of it.