On Saturday, Jan. 12 at 9 a.m. at the Broadway Diner in Jericho (close to the Hicksville border), 11 people sat down for breakfast.

Eleven players constitute a soccer team and soccer was the common, unifying force for this meeting. It was a get-together of former coaches of the Hicksville American Soccer Club. During the 1970s through the early 1980s, these generous people gave of their abundant time and energy to coach the boys and girls of Hicksville in soccer.

Our glorious leader then and now remains Peter Collins. With his patriotic red, white and blue baseball cap, Pete and the group reminisced about the games, tournaments, kids and coaches of days gone by.

Many sentences began "What every happened to ...?" Good humor flowed easily and the conversation centered about coaching, competition and the wonderful game of soccer.

At one end of the oval table were Mr. and Mrs. Ken Graves. They are very English and they follow Southampton in the Premier English Soccer League. An ocean cannot separate a loyal fan from his chosen team. Unlike some of the others at the table, Ken still sports a beautiful head of hair.

On Ken's left was Pat McHugh who coached one of my sons. Born in Ireland, he gave a great deal to the boys he taught and coached. Soccer was new in America in those days and we needed Europeans who knew and grew up with the game.

Alex Sakk, in his 70s, still remembered my son Adam. He has had many operations, but his blue eyes still shine with the same enthusiasm of the old days.

Next was Al Boccafola. Al is a column all by himself. He had a liver transplant 10 years ago and he still referees basketball and soccer games. Al and I coached together for many years. I still remember our long Sunday night discussions about "our boys" and the soccer game we played that morning.

Ginny Smyth was there. She held many positions in the Old Hicksville American Soccer Club and she performed them with a quiet grace. Her son, David, coaches soccer in North Carolina after starring at the university.

Anne Harkins sat at the other end of the table. Her daughter, Denise, was a "soccer whiz" on the field. She ran through the opposition like a bolt of lightning. I miss Pat Harkins, her father. He was a great fan and a great guy.

Marty and Anne Conway completed the oval table. Marty would line the fields with chalk and place the nets at Grumman Field. No game could start without Marty and his early morning chores which he loved. Anne was the consummate fan and she shouted encouragement to her many children who played for Hicksville.

I was a coach for about 15 years, but my readers have heard enough about me in my five years of scribbling at the Anton Newspapers.

I loved the Hicksville Club and its kids and coaches. The Hicksville Soccer has been a nucleus and strong force in promoting the popularity of soccer on Long Island. Our club was one of the earliest. We ran International tournaments with foreign teams from all over the globe. Pete Collins is still president of the Long Island Junior Soccer League and there is no better person than Pete.

The whole breakfast lasted about an hour, but it stirred up strong and vivid memories by unselfish people who gave a lot of themselves to others in years gone by.