{"id":6790,"date":"2025-10-17T19:17:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T19:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/6790\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T19:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T19:17:07","slug":"carmine-ragucci-to-be-honored-with-the-annual-john-tobin-memorial-service-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/6790\/","title":{"rendered":"Carmine Ragucci to be honored with the annual John Tobin Memorial Service Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Going into St. Peter\u2019s Boys High School in the mid 1960s, Carmine Ragucci had no interest whatsoever in running\/track & field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to get on the baseball team,\u201d said Ragucci. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I was already hanging around kids I shouldn\u2019t have been with.\u201d<\/p>\n

That association and the accompanying delinquency led to Ragucci getting caught by a plain clothes staffer who also happened to be the school\u2019s freshman track coach.<\/p>\n

It was through this incident that Ragucci would meet head coach John Tobin.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the greatest men I\u2019ve ever known.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LegendsTwo-time cross country world champion Craig Virgin, right, is joined by the late John Tobin, left, and Bill Welsh at The 2019 “Run For Your Coach” 5K At Clove Lakes Park.<\/p>\n

Now Ragucci will be cemented alongside his late coach\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family and I are proud to be awarding Carmine Ragucci with the annual John Tobin Memorial Service Award,\u201d said Tobin\u2019s widow, Alice.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarmine has passed through different stages of athletics and careers which John no doubt was proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CarmineSt. Peter’s Boys High School’s vaunted 1967 4X400 relay team consisting of top row Ken Brown and Bill Bates and bottom row, Carmine Ragucci and Greg Werner. Courtesy of Denise Boccia<\/p>\n

Ragucci, along with other honorees in the local community, will be honored at the Staten Island Running Association\u2019s annual \u201cMarathon Week Legends\/Youth Gala\u201d on Wednesday evening, Oct. at Li Greci\u2019s Staaten.<\/p>\n

For Ragucci, that lifetime relationship with the Staten Island Sports Hall of Famer transformed him both on and off the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarmine improved so much that he ran varsity relays as a sophomore and then varsity XC his junior and senior year where he placed in top five both years, including winning several championship meets with his teammates at Van Cortlandt Park as well as the CBA Christian Brothers championship and the Island Champs at Clove Lakes,\u201d said teammate and friend Billy Bates, who was honored in 2024 with the inaugural Tobin award.<\/p>\n

\"CarmineCarmine Ragucci (left) in Cross-Country season with teammate and friend Billy Bates.Courtesy of Denise Boccia<\/p>\n

Bates also recalls Ragucci\u2019s finest high school performance, where he anchored his undefeated 1-mile relay team, running a scintillating 49.5 second 440 yards split on the old cinder track, coming from behind to take the victory from New Dorp High School. <\/p>\n

Former Eagles teammate Kenny Brown also recalled Ragucci as a great college competitor, starting first at Ohio and then going over to Temple University.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Ohio, Carmine won with his team at the Drake Relays,\u201d recalled Brown.<\/p>\n

After college, Ragucci returned to Peter\u2019s as a teacher and then joined Ed Gorman in the late 1970s in coaching the XC\/Track Team.<\/p>\n

\"EdSt. Peter’s head track coach Ed Gorman with assistant Carmine Ragucci.Courtesy of Denise Boccia<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to bring things back to when Tobin was there,\u201d said Ragucci, and they sure did, producing top athletes like Steve Mahoney, Rich Oetting, Darren Dotson, Joe Napoli and Sal Della Croce, who were all part of the school\u2019s first-ever Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) outdoor track championship team, which barely beat out Bishop Loughlin by the slimmest of margins.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not only because of Ragucci\u2019s successes that he\u2019s being recognized, but also his devotion to those young athletes and to the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a St. Peter\u2019s track product myself who came after Carmine Ragucci\u2019s coaching days, one couldn\u2019t help but be in awe of his athletic accomplishments as well as his teaching and coaching and where he was known for quite a few times covering the track kids out of his own his own funds,\u201d said SIRA President Michael De Vito Jr.<\/p>\n

\"CoachCoach Carmine Ragucci with his track charges at St. Peter’s Boys High School.Courtesy of Denise Boccia<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an athlete, educator and coach his service to the school and the sport has closely mirrored that of Coach Tobin!\u201d continued DeVito Jr.<\/p>\n

Ragucci still feels, like many Eagle tracksters, a great debt to the coach who molded and shaped them. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am very humbled and honored to receive this in honor of Coach John Tobin,\u201d said Ragucci.<\/p>\n

Spoken like a true honoree!<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Bell Lap: To register online for the 10\/29 gala, go to: MarathonLegends2025.eventbrite.com \u2026 For further info, contact Benjamin at 917-692-8922<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"2025The 2025 Staten Island Running Association’s “Marathon Week Legends and Youth” gala will be taking place on Wednesday evening, October 29th, at LiGreci’s Staaten.Staten Island Running Association<\/p>\n

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