Hall of Fame
Dr. Thad Mularz was a long time administrator in Smithtown School District in Section XI spanning over four decades.
He began his career in 1950 in the Smithtown Branch School District where he spent 37 years as a teacher, coach and administrator. While at Smithtown he coached varsity soccer, basketball and baseball and assisted in football. His basketball teams won the Class A Championship in 1953, 1956, 1959, and 1960. At Smithtown he also co-founded the school’s booster club in 1951 and today it remains a strong and stable organization.
Born in Rochester, Thad was heavily involved in the administration of athletics beyond Smithtown. He served as Section XI President in 1965 and headed NYSPHSAA as President from 1990-1992. For 23 years, he was Section XI’s Executive Committee Representative as well. He was a member of the AAHPERD, NYSAHPERD, NIAAA and NYSAAA for the duration of his career and into retirement.
After his retirement from Smithtown in 1987, Thad taught certification courses at SUNY Stony Brook for ten years and had been an instructor at the Long Island Institute of Professional Studies for over 20 years. He continued to serve NYSPHSAA as a past president seldom missing an Executive Committee meeting until his death in late 2006.
Dr. Mularz has been inducted into the Brockport Hall of Fame as well as the Smithtown Schools Hall of Fame and the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame.
Before receiving a bachelors from Brockport, masters from Columbia University and a doctorate from University of New Mexico,
Dr. Mularz served in the US Marine Corps from 1943–1946. He participated in the Iwo Jima operation landing on February 21st—just two days before the famous flag raising. In 1995, he celebrated the 50th anniversary of Iwo Jima by re-visiting the site and receiving a unit of citation with his company.