{"id":37167,"date":"2025-11-12T15:45:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T15:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/37167\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T15:45:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T15:45:09","slug":"capt-john-drennan-field-house-project-finally-set-to-commence-with-groundbreaking-ceremony-at-tottenville-hs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/37167\/","title":{"rendered":"Capt. John Drennan Field House: Project finally set to commence with groundbreaking ceremony at Tottenville HS"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Three decades after plans were first hatched to build a field house in memory of hero FDNY captain John Drennan, the project will finally get underway with a groundbreaking ceremony at Tottenville HS on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Capt. John Drennan Memorial Field House, of course, will be named after the former Tottenville varsity football coach who perished from injuries suffered while fighting a fire in Manhattan in 1994.<\/p>\n

\"Artist'sArtist rendering of the John Drennan Memorial Fieldhouse by architect-alum Jose Reis was designed in 1997.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)<\/p>\n

The groundbreaking ceremony, which will feature purple shovels symbolizing Tottenville\u2019s primary color, will take place at 12:30 p.m. in the area between the Huguenot school\u2019s tennis courts and football field.<\/p>\n

The ceremony will be hosted by the Tottenville Football Alumni Association in conjunction with the NYC Department of Education, Tottenville HS and the FDNY.<\/p>\n

\"PurpleThis is one of the shovels that will be used during Thursday’s Capt. John Drennan Memorial Field House groundbreaking ceremony at Tottenville High School.(Courtesy of Tottenville Football Alumni Association)<\/p>\n

A light lunch will follow inside the school. Afterwards, a celebration will take place at Vini Divino Winery & School of Wine (42 Industrial Loop, 10309).<\/p>\n

All are welcome.<\/p>\n

Prior to being a hero firefighter, Drennan had an extensive coaching career with the Pirates. He joined the program as an assistant coach in its infancy in 1969 before serving as head coach between 1972-75. He was only 25 year old when he took over the program and he boasted a solid 23-11 record during his tenure as head coach.<\/p>\n

\"Capt.John Drennan was not only a hero captain in the FDNY, but served as Tottenville High School’s varsity football coach during the mid-1970s.(Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

Drennan died a hero in 1994, along with firefighters Chris Siedenburg and Jimmy Young, when the brave men got trapped in a Manhattan apartment stairwell while battling a blaze.<\/p>\n

Almost immediately after the tragedy, plans were underway to build a field house at Tottenville HS in Drennan\u2019s memory. According to Advance\/SILive.com records, initial plans called for the facility to be built with private funds and later maintained by the Board of Education.<\/p>\n

Then-City Councilmember Vito Fossella and ex-Borough President Guy Molinari allotted significant funds toward the project.<\/p>\n

\"FollowingThe undated photo above includes some of the 65 FDNY firefighters who played football at Tottenville HS. The smoke eaters and former Pirates got together to honor Drennan after his death in 1994.(Courtesy of Pete Moog)<\/p>\n

Advance\/SILive.com records further stated that preliminary designs drawn up by volunteers called for a 6,000-square-foot building. The two-level structure would accommodate 180 lockers to be split between male and female athletes. There would be a weight-lifting room, offices for equipment storage and a concession stand.<\/p>\n

In part because the Board of Education didn\u2019t initially approve the volunteers\u2019 designs, the project was stuck in a holding pattern for what seemed like forever.<\/p>\n

Until now. <\/p>\n

Thirty years after many individuals, most notably Drennan\u2019s former players, pushed for a field house to be built in memory of the man they adored, it\u2019s finally going to happen.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Three decades after plans were first hatched to build a field house in memory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-37167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}