The first thing I thought about when I heard that Coach Tom Hoke passed away was the word “winner.” Whatever team or sport he took over, he made them winners. As a football coach, over the course of a 27-year career at Rome Free Academy, Coach compiled an astounding record of 210-41-4, for a winning percentage of 824. Rome to the Dome was automatic. Coach Hoke led the Knights to 19 league titles, eight Section III championships, two regional titles, and the 1981 New York State championship as voted on by the New York State Sports Writers Association.
His teams were ranked in the Top 25 in the state in 19 different seasons. He qualified for the Section III playoffs 22 consecutive years and appeared in 13 section finals.
Coach was all about repetition and mastering each play. Anyone who played for him would remember the term “run it again.” - He was a stickler and wanted to make sure we all knew the play down to a tee. Sunday night film sessions were always the same. If you made a mistake, he would find it. It would take at least 2 minutes for him to break down one play. Most players really wanted to hide that clicker he had in his hand.
I was fortunate enough to have played for Coach Hoke in 1983 & 84 and he called me Mangicaro. I didn’t know why at first but then I learned he called me that because of the Liverpool Football Coach George Mangicaro. That team was one of our rivals back in the day and he stuck with it. He would always apologize for it, but he continued to keep doing it. I accepted it after a while. Whenever I saw him in the years after I graduated, he would always call me Mangicaro and then give me a big smile.
Coach Hoke was the kind of coach you wanted to win for. You wanted to please him and hated to let him down. I remember his hatred of West Genesee. This team was his Achilles Heel. After we lost to them in 1984, he took the Syracuse paper where the sportswriter mentioned how West Genesee had our number, tore it up, chewed on it, and spit it out in front of us. This was a team that he always wanted to beat. Coach Hoke had an incredible staff, but he was in control and held them as accountable as his players. For Coach Hoke, a season with a loss was not a successful season. He built his program to be perfect and that is what he and his other coaches expected. It didn’t always happen, but it was expected. He was also a very caring man who treated every player with respect. He expected, no he demanded, the same in return. There is an old saying that you shouldn’t get upset when your coach is yelling at you, that means he cares and is trying to make you a better player, be nervous when he stops yelling at you, then he has given up on you. That was Coach Hoke.
What a lot of people don’t know about Coach Hoke is that he wasn’t only a great football coach. He ran the Junior High Track teams for years that helped prepare those athletes for our powerhouse varsity program. He also took over our girls’ basketball program that was struggling and turned them into a great program during the 80’s and 90’s winning 3 league championships in 87, 88 & 91.
He will be missed by all but he is honored on the scoreboard at Rome Free Academy Stadium where it is named Tom Hoke Field so he will never be forgotten.
--Carl Manganaro, class of 1984
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