Nick DeCillis, longtime HS athletic director, dies at 90

When it came to high school sports, Nick DeCillis saw it all and knew it all. The longtime Middle Island resident was an encyclopedia of both knowledge and experience in the world of scholastic athletics, gained from more than 60 years as a coach, teacher, athletic director, and, finally, administrator at Section XI, the governing body of Suffolk County high school sports. 

“He helped everybody,” said Tom Combs, the current executive director at Section XI. “He sat in on every one of our meetings and, if anybody had a question, [needed] historical relevance to the questions, procedures, or policies, you didn't have to look it up. You’d just say, ‘Nick, what's the answer to that?’ And he knew it.”

DeCillis, who was the athletic director in the Middle Country School District for 35 years and later served in the same position in the Sag Harbor and Center Moriches, Southold and Commack School Districts, died Sept. 10 at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson after a nearly three-month battle with an unknown illness, his family said. He was 90.

“He was so dedicated,” said his son, Nick DeCillis, 60, of Middle Island. “Every Saturday when we were kids, if the weather was [bad], the phone would start ringing at 7 in the morning about cancellations. Every Saturday, he was at a football game. During the Christmas tournaments for basketball and wrestling, he was at those tournaments on the weekends, during the week, sometimes sacrificing vacations with the family.”

Nick DeCillis never retired. He was Section XI’s administrator for fundraising for the past 20 years, helping to build partnerships with local and regional businesses. He used these partnerships to secure sponsorship deals for Suffolk athletics which, in part, helped to pay for neutral-site venues for playoff games, Combs said.

“We have the most sponsorships out of any section within the New York State Public High School Athletic Association,” Combs said. “We have more sponsorship dollars coming in Section XI than all the other 10 sections [in the state] combined. That's all because of Nick's work.”

DeCillis was also Section XI’s representative on state athletic committees for many years, said former Section XI executive director Don Webster.

“Not only did he know the inner workings of Section XI, but he knew the inner workings of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association as well,” said Webster, 68, of Rocky Point. “So, whenever I had a question, or I'm sure any of the other athletic directors or executive directors did, you'd go to Nick first. He could remember. He was probably there when they instituted the rule or when the rule was first brought to people's attention, whether on the state or the local level.”

Born April 10, 1932, in Manhattan, DeCillis went to Seward High School and NYU, where he played football. He served in the Army during the Korean War and, following discharge, was a football, baseball and track coach at Newfield High School, where he also taught physical education. He was the first football coach in Newfield history and went 9-19-2 from 1958-1961, according to Newsday records.

DeCillis was inducted into both the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame and the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. The Newfield High School football field was named in his honor in 1998, as was the conference room at the Section XI offices in Farmingville in 2021. He was named New York State’s Athletic Director of the Year in the mid-90s, his son said.

“Whatever you needed, it was Nick,” said former Section XI executive director Cathy Gallagher, now of Connecticut. “He had the know-how, the personality, and the personal connections to make things happen. You could always count on him . . . There’s no limit to the list of his contributions to Suffolk County athletics.”

In addition to his son, Nick DeCillis is survived by Robyn Eberhard, his wife of over 35 years, daughter Kathy Decho and son-in-law Alan of South Carolina, son Paul DeCillis and daughter-in-law Helene of Setauket, stepchildren Ron Eberhard of Mount Sinai and Robbye Murphey of Coram, four grandchildren and five step-grandchildren. He is pre-deceased by his first wife, Frances DeCillis. 

Visitation will be held 2 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Friday at Branch Funeral Home in Smithtown. Nick DeCillis was cremated, his son said.