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CACC MOURNS LOSS OF HALL OF FAME COACH STEVE BAXTER

May 5, 2006

Courtesy of Catherine L. Foley of the Journal News

Blauvelt, NY - Steve Baxter, who was the Dominican College women's basketball coach for nearly three decades, died early yesterday. He was 58.

Baxter's coaching career, which began in 1967 soon after his graduation from Pearl River High School, was marked with distinction.

He coached the girls seventh-eighth grad CYO team at St. Margaret's Parish in Pearl River, where his success got him into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Jackson, Tenn.

Baxter's team had a 79-game winning streak and went to the Archdiocese of New York championships in five straight seasons.

Lorraine Moylan, Pearl River High School girl's basketball coach, lived down the street from Baxter in Pearl River in the 1960s and first met him when she was 12.

"He drove by and saw me shooting at my basket and told me to go out for basketball," she said yesterday.

Baxter coach Moylan for four years at St. Margaret's, and Moylan eventually pursued a career in coaching.

"He loved basketball. He made sure you learned how to play the right way and be a good sport," she said. "He loved to see kids get better. He just made you feel good."

Baxter became the Dominican College women's basketball head coach in 1977, the program's first season, and remained in the position for 24 seasons. In 2001, he became assistant coach, and the Dominican College Sports Camp director.

During his tenure as head coach, Baxter compiled a 361-328 record, and when he stepped down, he was one of the top 15 in career wins among NAIA coaches.

He brought the team twice to the NAIA Division II National Tournament, and 16 times to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Playoffs.

He was named the CACC Coach of the Year three times, most recently in 1998-99.

John Burke, Dominican College Associate Athletic Director and Head Women's Basketball Coach, was Baxter's assistant coach until 2001, when they switched positions.

"He certainly was a person who was bigger than life," he said. "He really cared about the student-athletes here."

Joe Clinton, Dominican College Athletic Director, said Baxter had been one of his best friends from more than 30 years.

"We were calling him 'The Legend' because he's been around so long," he said. "He was a guy you could lean on at all times."

Beyond basketball, Baxter for many years worked as a crisis intervention counselor at St. Dominic's School in Blauvelt, an orphanage school run by the Dominican Sisters.

Baxter was a lifelong bachelor until 2001 when he married Sandy MacNorton, a high school sweetheart. They lived in Cornwall.