Former Sachem teacher and golf coach George Cangero died suddenly from a heart attack this week. He was 72.
Cangero was a Sachem math teacher for 31 years and the boy’s varsity golf coach during one of its most successful eras from 1999 through 2004. He coached at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue and was the golf coach at Farmingdale State at the time of his death.
Sachem won five league championships, two Suffolk County championships and one Long Island championship under Cangero’s leadership. He also coached two individual Suffolk County champions and the Flaming Arrows were 69-3 during his coaching tenure.
“Coach Cangero was a kind, caring and knowledgeable man who was loved and respected by his athletes,” said Anthony Falco, who took over Sachem’s program from Cangero. “I often cross paths with his former players who always speak very highly of him, crediting their love of the game to him as a coach. Having the privilege of replacing him as the Sachem Boys Varsity Golf coach has been an honor.”
At St. Joseph’s, he won three Skyline Conference Championships between 2005 and 2015 and led the Golden Eagles to their first NCAA Division III National Championship. He carried the winning spirit west to Farmingdale in 2016 where the Rams have had two berths to the NCAA Championships and most recently was named Skyline Coach of the Year in 2021.
His teams won often and plenty, yet one of his most memorable moments was when the 16th best player on one of his Sachem teams, an eighth grader, had broken 45 on a nine-hole score for the first time.
“The look on his face and the pure exhilaration for his accomplishment has been and always will be my most satisfying moment as a golf coach,” said Cangero in a Q&A on the Farmingdale Athletics site. “He went on to become a golf professional.”
Many of his former players are still connected to the game as pros, trainers and coaches. The respect and admiration is mutual.
“My proudest moment as a PGA Professional was to host coach and friends,” said Sol Guerrero, who graduated from Sachem in 2001, is a head PGA pro and has been director of golf at The Muttontown Club. “Coach was the best and he taught us so much more than golf.”
Joe Yastrub was one of Cangero’s most accomplished golfers and is one of two that won an individual Suffolk County championship under his guidance.
“Coach was such an incredible mentor to me during high school,” he said. “No matter what was going on, his positive force and light led us to a very successful four years of competitive golf. He was someone I could go to for an unbiased opinion and he played a major role in the direction I went in my life. We kept in touch over the last 16 years and I’ll miss him deeply.”
Asked about his greatest feat in that same Q&A, Cangero said, “I hope that my greatest accomplishment is that my players have learned how to conduct themselves in life by making responsible decisions based on truth and integrity. These are also the values of our program.”
A resident of East Northport and graduate of C.W. Post, Cangero is survived by his wife Katherine, daughters Victoria (Michael) Kapfer, Alexandra (Andrew) Sackman, Jacqueline (Robert) Hillenbrand, grandchildren April, Rocco, Carly, Eleanor, brother Robert, Gregory (Noreen) and sister Dina (Louis) Annunziata.
A wake will be held Friday, November 26 from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m., at Brueggemann Funeral Home in East Northport. A Funeral Mass is planned for Saturday, November 27 at 9:30 a.m., at St. Anthony Of Padua R.C. Church in East Northport. Burial to follow at Holy Rood Cemetery. Donations in George’s memory made to PGA Reach at pgareach.org are appreciated.