Hall of Fame
Tom Flatley is recognized as one of Nassau County’s most successful head football coaches. A graduate of Garden City High School and Lehigh University, he began his career teaching social studies and coaching lacrosse at Sewanhaka High School in 1964 then became an assistant junior varsity football coach at Sewanhaka starting in 1965. As the varsity head lacrosse coach at Sewanhaka he won over 80% of his games from 1979-85 which included a Long Island championship in 1981.
Following the 1982 season, he left Sewanhaka and became a defensive coordinator for the varsity football team at Garden City in 1983. In 1985, he was appointed the head coach and began a highly successful career at Garden City accumulating a 246-40-7 career record—the best win percentage in Nassau County history. He was named Nassau County Football Coach of the Year four times and led his teams to 18 Nassau County Championships and five Long Island Championships. Coach Flatley’s football teams also recorded a Long Island record of 30 straight victories from 1990-1992.
In addition to 48 seasons of coaching football, Flatley coached high school boys lacrosse for 50 seasons including junior varsity at Garden City where he has won over 90% of the team’s games since 1988. Beyond coaching high school lacrosse Tom also led the Long Island Lacrosse club to three national titles. In 1982, Tom was named Head Coach of the US National Lacrosse team which won the ILF World Championships. He was appointed General Manager of the Under 19 US Lacrosse team for seven world tournaments starting in 1988 through 2012. All the tournaments were won by Flatley’s teams.
Coach Flatley is currently a member of the Long Island Metropolitan Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Garden City High School Hall of Fame and Sewanhaka High School Hall of Fame.