By Rob Potter
SULLIVAN COUNTY — July 2, 2002 – Local coaching legend Paul Zintel recently earned another honor.
Zintel was presented with the Dr. William Moran Service Award June 18 at a Section IX meeting in Montgomery.
Moran, who served as superintendent of Valley Central School District for a number of years and was very active on Section IX athletic committees, presented the award to Zintel.
This is the third year that the award has been presented. It recognizes service and dedication to Section IX athletics.
The first recipient was former longtime Middletown athletic director Dean Oderkirk and last year’s honoree was former Ellenville athletic director Ken Ralph.
“I appreciate it,” Zintel said. “It is a nice honor.”
Zintel received a small plaque at last month’s ceremony. A larger plaque will be kept at the Sullivan West/Jeffersonville-Youngsville campus for the next year, as J-Y was the school where Zintel became a coaching legend.
Fred Ahart, longtime coach and athletic director at Roscoe Central School as well as a Section IX committee member, noted that Zintel was instrumental in instituting a state championship for New York State scholastic hoops teams.
“He was one of the people who worked to create a state tournament and helped make it a reality,” Ahart said.
The first New York State Public High School Athletic Association basketball tournament was held in 1978.
“It was a big accomplishment,” Zintel said. “Before that, we just had sectional championships, then regional and inter-regional championships.”
Zintel was the Section IX basketball chairman for 25 years and served for many years on the Eastern New York basketball committee.
He was also one of the most respected and successful coaches ever in the now-defunct Western Sullivan League (WSL).
In 25 years of coaching boys’ basketball at Jeffersonville-Youngsville, Zintel never suffered a losing season. During those years, his teams had a 348-126 won-loss record. Under Zintel’s guidance, the Trojans won eight WSL titles, six Section IX championships and a regional championship in 1976.
Zintel also coached the Trojan football teams for 18 years, winning six league championships. The 1974 team did not give up a single point enroute to capturing the title.
In 1966, Zintel coached the J-Y track team to the WSL title.
Zintel retired from J-Y in 1986 and now lives in Alabama.