It is with great sadness that the Long Island Junior Soccer League announces the passing of league co-founder Jack Maher.
A long time resident of Deer Park and volunteer with the Deer Park Celtics Soccer Club, Maher wrote a letter in 1966 to Pat Ryder, then president of the Long Island Football Association, asking for the formation of a junior division for youth soccer players. The two men then set the parameters for the league that would begin play that very year with eight boys’ teams. Maher served as League Commissioner that first year.
Maher was also the founder of the CYO Soccer Program at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Roman Catholic Church in Deer Park, and was a 2007 Hall of Fame inductee of the Long Island Junior Soccer League.
The Long Island Junior Soccer League extends its deepest sympathies to the Maher family.