Harold "Harry" DeCook (Contributor)

Harold “Harry” DeCook graduated from Geneseo before becoming a teacher at Lyons Central School. Harold taught math for 24 years before going back to school to earn his administrative degree. He then became the principal at Lyons for the next 10 years before retiring.

Harold was the varsity softball coach at Lyons and his 1989 team was inducted into the Lyons Hall of Fame. The team had an undefeated 21-0 season and won the Wayne County League Championship. His teams won 3 league titles in a row during his stint as head coach.

Harold was an original member of the Lyons Athletic Hall of Fame Committee. After Ron Smith came up with the idea for his senior project, Harold researched how other schools ran their ceremonies. He took great pride in helping run a great ceremony as well as honor the former athletic players and teams from years past. He was the chairman of the committee for several years and helped turn the Lyons Athletic Hall of Fame into one of the most prestigious in the area.

After retirement, Harold and his wife Carol often still attended numerous Lyons athletic events. They spent winters in Florida and enjoyed time traveling to see family. Spending time with his family always brought him great joy. He also continued to chair the Lyons Athletic Hall of Fame Committee.

He was a proud father of Doug, Tim, Stacey, and Ed, along with grandchildren Kaia, Maddox, Jackson, Dekota, Emily, and Alexis.

Cesar Ortiz (Contributor)

Cesar Ortiz has been a valuable community member and promoter of Lyons athletics for several years. A lifetime Lyons resident, he has and continues to be a valuable resource for all Lyons sports and a fixture with the Lyons Community Center.

In High School, Cesar participated in 4 years of baseball and won the Sportsmanship Award as a Senior. He was the equipment manager for the football team and kept the scoreboard and book for volleyball and basketball games. If a game was taking place, Cesar was either working it, playing in it, or attending as a fan.

Cesar is best known as the director of the Lyons Community Center. He developed the inhouse basketball and indoor soccer programs with Junior Kemp and Sue Mack. He currently runs the Little League program and plays a major organizational role with the Youth Football Program.  He also runs and organizes youth camps and presided over the summer program.

As a community member, Cesar leads the Cardinals at the Little League level. His teams have won multiple championships and Cesar has also run the entire league for over a decade. He has coached indoor soccer, inhouse basketball, travel basketball, travel baseball, as well as travel soccer throughout his career.

He was named Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 2012 and became a Certified National Youth Sports Administrator in 2018.

At the high school level, he has been an assistant for Varsity Baseball and Modified Basketball. Over the years, he has served as the Varsity Bowling coach and the Girls Modified Basketball coach.

Cesar continues to live in Lyons with his longtime girlfriend Laura Frere and his children Elizabeth and Dezmond Ortiz. He continues to be involved with his community as well as continuing with his role as the Director of the Lyons Community Center.

Phil Rice (1978)

Phil Rice was a three-sport athlete who excelled in the sports of track and field and football. Phil was a four-year member of the varsity track and field team and a three-year member of the football team. He also played varsity basketball his senior year.

In football, Phil played wingback and quarterback. He was the starting quarterback in his junior and senior years, leading his team to a Sectional Championship in his senior year and League Championships in both seasons. His team was undefeated in his senior season and suffered only one loss in his junior year. Phil was named First Team All-Conference his senior year and was also named a captain of the team. Phil scored the winning touchdown over rival DeSales with less than two minutes to play in a memorable moment for the squad.

Phil also excelled in Track and Field. He held the record for the mile and 880 yard run as well as being part of teams that had records in the mile and two mile run. In his first attempt at running the mile in a meet, he broke the school record with a time of 4 minutes and 44 seconds. He suffered only three defeats in the mile during his entire career. He was named Sectional Champion in the mile in his sophomore season and also was a part of a Sectional relay that year. Phil was awarded the Most Valuable Player as a Senior and also earned the Superior Track Performance Award as a sophomore.

Phil is recently retired and enjoys spending time with his wife Joyce and three boys, Preston, Liam and Aidan.

Amy "DeSain" Shaffer (1988)

Amy “DeSain” Shaffer was a four-sport athlete at Lyons Central School. While at Lyons she participated in Varsity soccer, volleyball, basketball and softball earning 14 varsity letters during her career.

A four-year starter in softball, Amy helped lead her team to league titles in 1987 and 1988. She was named a second team Wayne County all star as a freshman and was selected for the first team her sophomore, junior and senior seasons.

A three-year starter in soccer, Amy was named Honorable Mention her freshman campaign and earned second team status her sophomore and junior years.

She also was a three-year starter for basketball and volleyball during her athletic career. Amy was named the Female Athlete of the Year in her senior year.

Amy has two beautiful adult children, Michaela and Caitlin. She has been married to her high school sweetheart, Paul, for 29 years. Amy worked in the financial service industry for 26 years and now proudly serves as the Town Clerk for the Town of Lyons. Amy has coached Little League Softball along with dedicating her time coaching youth soccer and basketball at the Lyons Community Center.

Jacqueline C. Tricarico (2006)

Jacqueline Tricarico was a two-sport athlete who excelled in the sports of volleyball and softball. She had an accomplished high school career and carried her athletic ability into numerous endurance events as well as body-building competitions as an adult.

In softball, Jacqueline was a three-year starter who played numerous positions. She had a batting average of .437 her senior year with 11 RBI’s and 20 runs scored. She had a slugging percentage of .690 that season. In her senior campaign, she batted .368 for the season.

In volleyball, Jacqueline was a two-year starter. As a junior, she was named 1st team All-League and led the team in assists. She was a member of the Class C All-Tournament team and helped lead Lyons to its first ever Sectional Championship.  Named captain her senior year, Jacqueline again led the team in assists and helped lead the team to back-to-back Sectional Titles. She was named the Class DD Sectional MVP as well as first team All-League. In her two years as a starting setter, the team was 45-3 and 24-0 within the league. Two of the three losses were to the eventual State Champions. Coach Matthew Barr would say, “Jacqueline is the toughest athlete I have ever coached.  She was the ultimate teammate who made everyone around her better.”

After high school, Jacqueline has quite an impressive athletic resume as well. In endurance sports, she has completed many half and full marathons in Chicago and qualified for the famous Boston Marathon. She has competed in 200-mile relay races, 10K’s and endurance obstacle events. Recently she finished two half ironmans and is training for a full ironman. She has also placed in the top of several body building events for her weight class.

Jacqueline’s athletic accomplishments are more impressive since she is totally blind in her left eye. She was told at a young age that she would not be able to play sports due to her diagnosis of reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome. Jacqueline has and continues to be a true inspiration for all.

1995–1996 Boys Bowling Team

The 1996 Boys Bowling team won the only bowling Sectional Title in school history. Led by Coach French, the team steadily improved throughout the season before coming home with the championship.

The team finished third in a very competitive league. The high average was 184 by D.J, Litchenwalter and high series of 676.

Members: Thomas Hunt, Jamie Wagner, Scott Raes, Brian Carnevale, Andrew Lowe, DJ Litchenwalter, Coach Mike French.