By Eileen Flood O’Connor
My father, Ed Flood, carried around what seemed like hundreds of keys. As the athletic director and basketball and tennis coach at St. John’s Prep, a large Catholic high school in Astoria, Queens, he had the keys to the front doors, the side doors, classrooms, the theater, and a third-floor chapel. But most importantly — and impressively to an impressionable young athlete — my dad held the key to the school’s massive gymnasium.
A quiet, unassuming man, my father, who passed away in 2019, would have been humbled by, and likely disapproving of, a recent ceremony dedicating the school’s basketball court to him. While he would have been thrilled to welcome back so many former players and colleagues, he no doubt would have used one of those keys to slip out a backdoor before seeing his name etched into a court that was a home
away from home for him, and seeing so many so-called “gym-rats,” who couldn’t get enough of a place and a coach that welcomed, nurtured, and encouraged with care and kindness.
At 6-foot-4, my dad, who was a forward in college, was a gentle giant who had a hard time saying no to students who wanted extra time to complete an assignment, to practice fadeaways, or who needed a ride home. Countless nights, he’d walk through our back door in Forest Hills well after dark, having dropped a player off anywhere from Corona to Jamaica. He also rarely said no to my siblings and me when we asked to tag along to practices, games, and pep rallies, watch college teams warm up before the Holiday Festival, or see Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comaneci practice with her Romanian teammates in 1976 in his gym.
Through the school’s tiled hallways, we’d slip and slide after him like a Pied Piper as he happily greeted colleagues and students — always with one hand in his pocket jingling his keys. At the dedication ceremony, school president Nuala Martinez recited the words of one of my dad’s idols, John Wooden: “A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life.”
My dad was a great coach who, for over 50 years, gave selflessly to a community he loved. He touched and shaped countless lives on this court, but I know he considered every minute of coaching and carrying those keys as one of the greatest gifts and joys of his life.
Eileen Flood O’Connor is the daughter of Ed Flood, who coached basketball at St. John’s Prep in Astoria for over 50 years. Her mother, Maureen, is now the vice principal at St. John’s Preparatory School after teaching there for 50 years.
