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Badminton Has Its Place

The original at Forest Hills (AP File Photo, 1929)

By Alan Hahn | Staff Writer

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They talk about badminton in Miller Place as if it were invented by their ancestors. The sport, scoffed at by many as a backyard leisure game, has given the sleepy North Shore town in eastern Suffolk more than an identity.

It has also produced one of the greatest dynasties in all of scholastic team sports.

Former district athletic director Don Pranzo recruited a young physical education teacher named Pat McCarrick to Miller Place in 1970 and asked her to help start up the girls varsity athletic program. Miller Place High School opened in 1972 and that spring, McCarrick coached her first girls varsity badminton game. It became the first of 389 straight wins, a record unmatched in high school sports history, and one that has been documented by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Miller Place has never, ever, lost a badminton match.

``Badminton has put Miller Place on the map,'' said Mark Manha, 21, one of McCarrick's most successful male alums (scholastic competition was opened to boys in the late 1980s). ``What would you know Miller Place from anywhere else in the country? It would just be another small town. A lot of people know about Miller Place because of the record and the badminton.''

It all began when McCarrick left East Islip to accept Pranzo's offer at Miller Place. ``I never thought it would be as good as it became,'' said McCarrick, 53, a New Jersey native who picked up the sport as a freshman at Syracuse University. ``One thing I always remember as a kid growing up, I said to myself, whatever I do I'm going to be the best at whatever it is. I found something and I tried to be the best at it. I think I did pretty good.''

Yeah. Not bad. In 24 seasons at Miller Place (there was no varsity program from 1970-72), McCarrick won 19 straight county titles, four Long Island titles (the tournament was only held from 1980-83) and 117 junior national championships. The biggest feat came on April 7, 1992, when Miller Place posted its 293rd consecutive badminton victory by defeating Smithtown East, 13-0, to set a national record for most consecutive victories by an interscholastic team. The Panthers broke the mark of 292 set in 1978-87 by the girls volleyball team of Sweet Home Central in upstate Amherst.

``That was a big thing,'' McCarrick said. ``I was doing it for so long and my focus was on the future to just keep it going.''

That achievement brought the town national and even international recognition. ``Even the badminton community in Europe knows the name,'' McCarrick said.

Internationally reknown coaches began visiting the school to give clinics and even a U.S. Olympic team member came in 1994 to train for the Atlanta Games. Miller Place's focus on badminton quicky changed from Suffolk County tournaments to national titles and international hopes. Manha, the No. 2 ranked men's player in the nation, is at the Olympic Training Center in Colordao Springs, preparing for the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

It is a sport the children of Miller Place grow up with. During the week, the district opens the middle school gym at 6:30 a.m. for intramural badminton. District athletic director Bill Brown said the gym is always packed. ``I would say half of the kids in high school have played badminton,'' Brown said. ``I was always amazed at her ability to interest kids. These kids just loved to play.''

McCarrick retired after the 1997 season, leaving a legacy that no coach could possibly duplicate. The program was handed over to Patrick Murphy, 24, a former county champion for Miller Place as a sophomore in 1989. ``The foundation is set and so embedded into the Miller Place curriculum,'' Murphy said. ``It's one of those sports that has grown up with the school district.''

And has grown into an international phenomenon.