Long Island's Dennis Bonn, Frank Luisi and Steve Finnell honored for achievements
From left: Cold Spring Harbor boys lacrosse coach Dennis Bonn, former Sachem and Oceanside football coach Frank Luisi and Garden City boys lacrosse coach Steve Finnell. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.; Luisi family;
Several decades of changing lives and leaving indelible legacies on their communities has brought three Nassau figures some hard-earned recognition.
Steve Finnell, Dennis Bonn and Frank Luisi were each honored by national organizations this past fall, cementing some strong legacies in their trades. Finnell, who has coached Garden City varsity boys lacrosse since 2007, was inducted into the National Interscholastic Lacrosse Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Oct. 18. Bonn has coached varsity boys lacrosse at Cold Spring Harbor since 2000 and was inducted alongside Finnell.
Luisi was presented with the National Football Foundation’s Chapter Leadership Award for its East Region during a dinner at The Bellagio in Las Vegas on Dec. 8. He has spent 51 years between Sachem and Oceanside as a football coach, English teacher and a student advisor. He has spent the last 15 years advising Oceanside students who are going to play college sports after graduating, and he has been the NFF’s Nassau County Chairperson since 1989. This past August, he helped put together the inaugural Nassau football Coaches’ Association Media Day, which was hosted at Oceanside.
One thing that these three men have in common: all of them were surprised by these national honorings.
“I was overwhelmed by it,” Luisi said. “When I went in front of over 2,000 people at that dinner, I felt proud to represent Nassau, Oceanside and my dearest colleagues. We try to teach the athletes that doing something greater than yourself is a tremendous thing in your life, and I felt so blessed to be able to go there and say that I had done that.”
Bonn and Finnell’s inductions completed a full-circle moment in their arcs. Their careers are intertwined by the late Tom Flatley: a state public schools Hall of Famer who coached football and lacrosse. Bonn played both sports under Flatley at Sewanhaka. Flatley then left for Garden City to coach varsity football and junior varsity boys lacrosse, where he coached Finnell in both.
Bonn began his coaching career as a JV lacrosse assistant to Flatley at Garden City in 1991. Finnell’s first coaching gig was as a football assistant to Flatley in 2001 and a JV lacrosse assistant to him in 2002 at Garden City.
The two Flatley disciples have gone on to have head lacrosse coaching careers that are now nationally immortalized. Bonn is 368-89 with 15 Nassau championships, eight Long Island titles and seven state crowns at Cold Spring Harbor. Finnell is 304-61 with 14 county titles, 10 LI titles and six state titles at Garden City.
“People who never had the opportunity to never meet Coach Flatley truly don’t understand what they missed,” Bonn said. “Steve and I were mentored by one of the best men in the world. Everything we know, we stole from Coach Flatley, plus some others. But Coach Flatley is the one who started us down this path, and if it weren’t for him, we would not be the men or coaches that we are.”
Finnell not only credited Flatley to his career success, but also his own assistants.
“It’s quite an honor, and I’ve had such great coaches with me, I wish it was a staff award,” Finnell said. “Many of the coaches who have been inducted I’ve looked up to, so it’s incredible to be a part of this.”
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
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