The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Remembrances of Kohs heartwarming
Hundreds celebrate the life of the former Xavier AD, coach
With Art Kohs’ legacy, the recollections from folks from all corners were heartwarming and lasting as hundreds gathered to celebrate the life of the former Xavier athletic director and coach, who died Sunday at age 84.
They were as subtle as the one relayed by Robin Kohs, who is married to Art’s son Mike, the current Xavier basketball coach. There was also the elementaryschool student taught by Art Kohs 60 years ago in the HaleRay system who just had to be there to pay his respects to the family.
Gary Palladino, one of Connecticut high school basketball’s coaching giants, told a cool story about Art Kohs’ thoughtfulness and their enduring friendship.
Palladino first opposed Kohs’ Falcons at St. Paul of Bristol. Palladino won back-to-back state titles at St. Paul before getting the job at his alma mater, the University of Hartford.
Soon after Palladino was fired following the 1981-82 season, his phone rang. Kohs was launching the Fundamental Basketball Camp with local legends Wally Camp of Coginchaug and Jake Salafia of Cromwell and was hoping Palladino would impart his wisdom on the camp’s kids.
“I didn’t think anyone wanted to listen to someone who just got fired,” said Palladino, who went on to coach the Notre Dame of West Haven program to 412 wins over 31 seasons. He would be a camp speaker for the next three decades.
“What stands out to me was Art was a very loyal friend and a very competitive coach,” Palladino said.
Marty Ryczek, also a student in Kohs’ physical education classes way back when, was a twosport star at Hale-Ray in the late 1960s. He went on to an outstanding soccer career at Division I Stetson University. In 1979, with Xavier’s program in a hiatus, Kohs hired Ryczek to jumpstart the Falcons in the sport. Three years later, Xavier won its first Hartford County Conference championship.
“I am grateful for the opportunity he provided me,” Ryczek said, “and for the relationships I was able to make.”
Kohs’ legacy around these parts is simply awesome. He was lured away from Hale-Ray, his alma mater, as Xavier High School was being built to be its
first athletic director when the doors opened in 1963. Charged with hiring, he was an impetus for the coaching careers of many, including Larry McHugh, Bob Michalski, Rich Magner and Tony Jaskot — men whose legacies at the school and beyond it are apparent to this day.
“He was a father figure to a lot of us,” said Jaskot, who, like Magner, graduated from Xavier. “We were kids when we were with him initially. We had him for gym class. Rich succeeded him as basketball coach. Artie loved that and he was proud of us.”
Jaskot was Kohs’ assistant AD and took the baton from him in 1997. The two maintained a partnership thereafter because of Kohs’ involvement with the Southern Connecticut Conference as its schedule savant. He and Jaskot shared car rides over the years to meet with fellow SCC athletic directors, with Kohs front and center explaining his formulas and strategies for creating schools’ schedules in every sport across the three seasons.
Kohs worked in that capacity up until a couple of years ago.
“When you’re dealing with 20-plus ADs and so many sports, you can’t please everyone,” said Jaskot. “The ADs would go back to the coaches, but they at least had an explanation from Artie as to why he matched these teams up and why it was a good matchup. He knew. He was the guru.”
The Kohs and Jaskot families were tight as well. Some of the time away from work, they spent together.
“We not only had a strong connection through the school but with family, too,” Jaskot said. “Our kids are close to this day. (Jaskot’s sons) Dan, Greg and Matt were not only close to Artie, but very close especially to Tim and Michael. Todd has lived out of state a lot of years now, but they’re friends too. They get together every so often and talk and text. Artie was part of our extended family and his to us.”
When Xavier first opened, Jaskot noted that Kohs was instrumental in building a bridge between a new school and a Middletown community that had two entrenched public high schools in Woodrow Wilson and Middletown with well-supported fan bases.
“Even though he was living in Higganum, he bought into what Middletown was all about,” Jaskot said. “He enjoyed a relationship with the ADs from Middletown and Wilson High. He knew people. I’m proud of him because he bought into the whole “Xavier is Middletown, too.’”
To a young and wideeyed reporter just starting out in the business in the early 1990s, Kohs was larger than life in terms of Xavier’s accomplishments in athletics. I remember him as approachable, a bit bombastic, welcoming and always generous with his time. And he was a fantastic storyteller. You couldn’t get through an Art Kohstold story without missing something because laughter usually got in the way of his words.
The sporting community lost Wally Camp in 2017 and Jake Salafia in 2021. And now Art Kohs is gone.
To another Middletown coaching legend, role model and a loved human being, rest in peace.