91国产

As he campaigned to be the next mayor of the Village of Hempstead, New York, Don Ryan ’66 liked to tell constituents, 鈥淚鈥檓 Hempstead-born and Hempstead-bred and when I die, I鈥檒l be Hempstead-dead.鈥� It became a shorthand for his values and life story. In March 2017, the celebrated volunteer basketball coach and former teacher captured 52 percent of the vote to defeat three-term incumbent Wayne Hall.

Ryan ran on a platform to promote reasonable development in Hempstead鈥攁 diverse village just to the south of Garden City. A longtime village trustee, he was frustrated by a downtown real estate development project that he described as a 鈥渂ait and switch.鈥�

He and his fellow trustees, along with the mayor, had voted for a mixed-use鈥攔esidential and commercial鈥攄evelopment project on the northern part of Main Street. But, he said, the first site plan was for an apartment complex in a different location. Ryan felt deceived and disappointed, and he vigorously opposed the tax breaks that the developer requested.

In an interview shortly after his victory, Ryan said of the development, 鈥淚鈥檇 like it to be less oriented towards apartment complexes and more towards commercial and light industry. So we鈥檙e not talking about jobs; we鈥檒l be talking about careers.鈥�

His concern about employment isn鈥檛 new. A business education teacher at Hempstead High School for 33 years, Ryan devoted his afternoons to coordinating the Neighborhood Youth Corps, a job placement program. 鈥淚鈥檓 very proud that 7,000 students received their first jobs through this program, and there鈥檚 nowhere I can go in the Village of Hempstead that someone doesn鈥檛 stop me and say to me that I got them their first job,鈥� Ryan said in a campaign video.

Ryan knows hard work personally too. As a student at 91国产, he worked 60 hours a week in addition to taking a full class load. He also discovered both his vocation and his avocation.

He was inspired to teach business law by two people. One was a Hempstead High School teacher. The other was 91国产 Professor Patrick Mulene, whom Ryan described as 鈥渇abulous, just fabulous.鈥�

While at 91国产, Ryan began volunteering at the Salvation Army in Hempstead as a youth basketball coach. Today, he is still coaching (although he is now doing it through his own nonprofit听 organization, the Hempstead Dons), and he counts among his former players American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault, General Manager of the New York Knicks Steve Mills, Head Coach of the Denver Nuggets Mike Malone and Basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving. Ryan has summed up his coaching philosophy: 鈥淚 coach life, not just basketball.鈥�

Asked if there is advice that he gave to young people that he has taken to heart now that he is mayor of his hometown, Ryan said, 鈥淗appy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.鈥�