Gary Dormandy Announces Departure After 32 Years at Choate, Dormandy Heads to Troy, New York
By Lauren Vespoli ’09
News Associate Editor
Assistant Director of Athletics and Varsity Girls Volleyball Head Coach, Gary Dormandy announced his plans to leave Choate at the end of this year. His departure has already caused students and colleagues to mourn. “I probably should have made this decision five years ago,” said Mr. Dormandy, who will be leaving after he finishes his 32nd year of working for Choate Rosemary Hall. “There are a lot of commitments with this job, and that demand got to be a little much.” Dormandy and his wife, Mary, will be moving back to their old hometown- Troy, NY, in order to spend time with their families. The decision to leave Choate was completely “family-driven,” Dormandy said.
When asked what he will miss most about Choate, Dormandy replied, “My wife and kids say that the one thing keeping me here is volleyball.” Dormandy has spent 24 years as the head coach of the girls varsity team, which under his direction has become one of the most successful teams at Choate. In the past ten years, the squad has won two New England Championships and four Founders League titles. In the 2007 season, the girls finished with a great record of 13-6, with a strong showing in the New England Tournament. The squad lost to the Bearcats from Hotchkiss in the tournament’s semifinals. Dormandy says, long-time faculty member and member of the class of ’52, Tom Yankus sparked his interest in the game, which Dormandy had never played before. “I started the thirds program, which I coached for two or three years, and then the varsity position opened up, and I said I’d love to do it. The volleyball kids I work with mean a lot to me; they are just great kids.”
Dormandy’s love of his volleyball team is certainly mutual. When he announced that he was leaving at the team’s end-of-season party, “everyone started crying; he was crying,” says newcomer to the squad Taylor Elser ’09. Katie Defusco ’09, the elected captain for the 2008 season, raved “he was the greatest, most passionate, and involved coach I have ever had. He loves the sport and the team, and the team loved him.” In addition to creating the serious and high-intensity environment common to most varsity-level teams, Dormandy was also able to joke around with the players. Elser reported that this was “the best team in terms of chemistry and bonding [that I’ve ever been on], and he was definitely an agent of that.” Not only did his players call him “D-Dog,” but Elser recounted one practice where “he punished us for missing a serve by making us listen to Neil Diamond for five minutes.”
Coach Dormandy will not only be missed on the volleyball court, but also in the Athletic Department office. As Assistant Director of Athletics, he is in charge of all the athletic facilities on campus, which include the Worthington Johnson Athletic Center, Macguire Gym, the Larry Hart Pool, and all of the athletic fields. In addition, Dormandy oversees all of the intramural sports and coaches, and organizes events such as playdays and tournaments. French teacher and Girls Varsity Soccer coach Anne Armour, who used to work with Dormandy in the Athletic Department creating team schedules, said: “I do not think most of the Choate community, although they may know him by name and even better than that, knows how hard he works, how carefully he considers how any changes--innovations, money spent or cut, schedule changes--will affect students and their coaches, how cheerfully he conducts himself at a job which keeps him in the office every Saturday of every week, not the occasional Saturdays some of us have to give.”
“They’re going to be fine [without me],” said Dormandy modestly of how the Athletic Department will respond to his absence. “I have everything in place for the next person that comes in, and I’ll be working with them in the spring…there shouldn’t be much of a difference [next year].”
Assistant Director of Athletics, Gary Dormandy, poses in front of the Wild Boar. PHOTO/Ian Morris
