Islip High School Class of 1973 graduate Matty Nolan is well-known and appreciated for keeping many of his fellow classmates connected.
Matty has always had a special connection with Islip High School; after graduating, he went on to college, where he received teaching degrees in elementary education, physical education and health. After college, he found himself right back at Islip as a permanent substitute teacher.
While there, he became a coach for junior varsity football and junior varsity lacrosse. On both teams, for the few years they were both there, he worked alongside his friend, a well-known Islip Class of 1971 and college star athlete, Ramon “Ray” Mills.
Yes, the Ray Mills, the All-American from Hofstra now in the Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
After a short stint at Islip, both Matty and Coach Mills went on to teach and coach in other districts. As assistant coach, Coach Mills went on to turn Wyandanch from an average football team to a stellar program that could call themselves “State Champs.”
Matty made a few more stops during his long teaching tenure before landing in the East Ramapo School District in Rockland County.
Although living a good distance away, but often home to visit his mom, Matty decided about 13 years ago to start initiating mini-school reunions. Wanting to see old friends, he started simply by picking a date, time and place around Islip, and told as many people as he could to come meet up.
Whoever else wanted to join in did. He has since gone on to do this multiple times a year for many years, and now many fellow Islip grads annually know they will hear from him soon with information about the next meet-up.
Unsurprisingly, and to everyone’s delight, Coach Mills is at every one of these. The gatherings take place at hotspots around town, including Islip Beach, Maxwell’s (formerly Hutley’s), and Lily Flanagan’s (now Harp and Hound) — the same places where the classmates met up many years earlier.
Islip may see changes in names upon buildings, and the hairlines may be grayer — or even gone. But Matty continues to keep everyone connected. He does it for the love of his friends, his classmates, and his students. In fact, he loves reunions so much he recently attended the 50-year reunions of the class of 1970, 1971 and 1972 and is patiently waiting on his own.
The most recent informal reunion was held at Key West Tiki Bar at Islip Beach on September 17, and it was well attended. This year, some new attendees joined in from the classes of 1981, 1982, 1984 and 1985, and Matt, well, Mr. Nolan, or “Coach” to them, remembered them all.
Matt Nolan is currently making plans for a Thanksgiving weekend meet-up. To all you Islip grads out there – look out for the details and know that you are all invited!
