Dear Editor:
I’m writing today about a great friend Dennis Cooney of Ridgefield Park. He died Feb. 15, 2018 at the age of 68, from the terrible disease of diabetes.
Dennis gave 25 plus years to the children in West New York as a volunteer football and basketball coach. He also played Santa Claus for the kids at the annual Christmas show plus the school and hospitals. He gave seven days a week, 365 days of the year helping mold young girls and boys.
I should know. Dennis helped me (William Renner recreation director from 1970 to 1980). If not for men like Dennis there would be no recreation programs for children. If he wasn’t volunteering as a coach, Dennis would referee games, work the press box, collect money for fundraisers, buy things for the kids out of this own pocket. He was 6’5” but he was a big man in many other ways. He was truly a man to look up to!
You read about famous players like John Elway and Larry Bird going into halls of fame, for their sports. If not for guys like Dennis Cooney there would be no Elway’s and Bird’s.
William Renner
