Suffolk Sports Hall of Famer James Gilhooley has passed away at the age of 95.
Gilhooley, who was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, was a Riverhead track and field coaching legend and a standout student-athlete at NYU in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
He coached at Riverhead from 1950 to 1976 and won two state championships in 1958 and 1960 and 10 section championships in cross-country. His teams won 16 straight league championships and six section championships in track, where he also won 86 straight league dual meets. His teams were 176-21 record with 86 straight victories from 1958–1974.
In 1949, he set the world record for flat track in the 600-yard indoor run at the Pioneer Club Championships, which still still stands today.
At NYU he anchored two national championship teams. He was five-time Metropolitan Collegiate Champion, three-time Metropolitan AAU Champion and five-time Penn Relay Champion. He was a member of two IC4A championship relay teams. He was inducted into the New York University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.
Gilhooley, who retired as athletic director at Riverhead, also served in the U.S. Army after college.