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NY Hall of Fame inducts Beach resident

By Staff | Apr 28, 2009

Fort Myers Beach resident Dean Schott was recently inducted into the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame.

Schott, who has lived on the Beach for six years, coached at Lyons High School in the Rochester, N.Y. area for 21 years and won 80 percent of his games while compiling 417 victories. His teams won the 1989 state and federation championships, collected nine Section V titles and three regional titles during his reign.

Other accolades for Schott include receiving several league and Section V Coach of the Year awards; 1989 Basketball Coaches Association of New York High School Coach of the Year; and the 1982 all-Greater Rochester Coach of the Year. He was a BCANY Officer for 25 years where he served as chair of committees.

Schott admitted to having a bout of pregame jitters when he accepted the award in Glens Falls, N.Y. in late March.

“I hadn’t spoken in front of anyone for several years since I retired from teaching, and there were over 600 people there,” said Schott. “It was a tremendous honor and I enjoyed it.”

Schott’s favorite team was his state championship squad in 1989. But, the celebrated coach said he chooses that group of players for a more personal reason -coaching his son and his close friends- than a state title.

“That’s the highlight,” said Schott. “The kids that (my son) played with that year were all friends, they all grew up together and you could almost see at an early age that this was going to be a special group. That group certainly went beyond my expectations.”

Schott’s first official team at Lyons H.S. finished the season with a 25-1 record, recording their only lost in the state finals in 1983. His 1996-97 team also advanced to the state title game and was honored as the squad with the highest cumulative academic average in the whole state of New York.

“We were the highest-ranked team academically for any basketball team in the entire state,” said Schott. “They were good kids who not only could play basketball but they also could hit the books pretty well.”

Dave Archer, the executive director of the Basketball Coaches Association of New York which operates the state Hall of Fame, had high praise for Schott.

“Dean is the quintecential scholastic coach,” he said. “He’s what every young coach aspires to be. He taught well, his teams won games and championships, and he provided service to the game. That’s the key we look for.”

Archer added that Schott is still involved in the basketball community in New York.

“He still drives up to our fall and spring meetings almost every year,” he said. “That’s the kind of guy he is. Whenever we have a Hall of Fame induction, I wish all of our young coaches can be there to see what these guys have done because he is the perfect example.”

Schott joins fellow Lyons, N.Y. native and prestigious Syracuse University coach Jim Boeheim in the current 104-member NY State Hall of Fame.

The 60-year old retired coach lives on Donora Street with his wife Suzanne. They have three children: Dean Schott II; Kristin Schott Shelton; and Allison Schott Zappia.