(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on February, 13, 2024.)
In what remains the last County Championship for Hauppauge, Chris Gannon put together one of the finest seasons in Long Island history. He played CF and batted leadoff – hitting .483 with 5 HRs, 10 triples, 7 doubles, scoring an incredible 55 runs, drawing 27 walks, 42 hits and drove in 32 runs.
The Eagles went 21-5 for the second straight year and successfully defended their title as Suffolk County Champs, this time against future MLB draft pick Tim Layden from Deer Park at Ducks Stadium.
Surely, a player of that ilk would go on to play Division-I baseball before continuing his career in pro ball.
For Gannon, however, his true love was not baseball, but soccer. He also starred on the Hauppauge boy’s soccer team where he was a two-time Long Island Champ.
Ultimately, those two years were the peak of his baseball career. But first, let’s turn the clock back.
Chris was born and raised in Hauppauge the youngest of three children. They grew up on the same block as Mets legend Buddy Harrelson. He has fond memories of waiting at the bus stop with Harrelson. Looking back on it now, he wishes they would have asked him for tickets to the games, but he noted that the parents had too much respect for him to use him for free tickets.
He grew up a Mets fan after watching them win the 1986 World Series.
Baseball and soccer were his favorite sports. The group of players that were on his middle school and JV teams were always talented and he recalls them always winning whatever level they were at.
“We had a good core of players,” he said. In those days, they did not play travel ball, and he said, “We had an allegiance to stay with friends and your town team. Everything was geared towards school ball, unless you were on one of the regional teams.”
After not playing baseball in 1998 to focus on soccer, Chris played varsity baseball in 1999 and made his presence known. After missing the playoffs in 1998, the Hauppauge Eagles were among the best teams on Long Island.
“He was an unbelievable guy to play for. He had a 9-year run that pulled Hauppauge out of a rut. He was so worthy of being a state champion. He was calm and collected and knew how to let us do our thing.”
The Eagles did their thing on their way to capturing the Suffolk County Championship in 1999. Gannon batted .470 with 40 hits, 40 runs scored – a remarkable season that he wound up exceeding the next year.
They were able to defeat Sayville in the Suffolk County Championship, defeating future MLB pick John McGorty – a pitcher that had their number earlier in the year when he threw a two-hit 14 K shutout. Sayville was 22-1, with the only loss coming against Hauppauge. Current Sayville coach Joe Esposito was on that team.
Gannon was named 1999 Suffolk County Playoff MVP.
They advanced to face Nassau County champion Division in the Long Island Championship. They ultimately were defeated, 3-2, against future pro pitcher Ryan Darcy. They played a tough game, putting the tying and winning runs on base in the bottom of the 7th but were unable to get the runs across.
It was a tough way to end the season, but they were able to capture the Suffolk County Championship and were bringing back most of the club for the 2000 season.
Gannon cited Eric Erickson, Mike Joyce and Mark Giardino as some of the key pieces to that team. He called Giardino an “absolute freak his senior year.”
The Eagles were not only able to duplicate their same record in 2000 but they were able to defend their crown as County Champs.
This time, the stakes were higher as they were facing the Carl Yastrzemski Award winner at Ducks Stadium. Layden had utterly dominated them earlier in the season when he fired a one-hit CG shutout with 15 strikeouts.
They were able to pull off the upset victory, 12-8, and advance to the Long Island Championship, where they faced another stiff challenge in Garden City ace RHP Matt Daley – who would wind up pitching in the big leagues from 2009-2013.
Garden City came away with the 2-1 victory, Gannon called it a “devastating loss”. The Trojans advanced to the NYS Championship where they went on to win.
“One game baseball playoff is cutthroat,” he said.
Gannon was one of two Long Island players to be named to the Rawlings All-District 1 team along with Smithtown pitcher Chris Garrick. Other notable names on that Rawling All-District teams list include future big leaguers Joe Mauer, Kelly Johnson, Laynce Nix, Ian Kinsler, JJ Hardy, Adrian Gonzalez, Conor Jackson, Dontrelle Willis, Rocco Baldelli, Sam Fuld, Manny Del Carmen, Stephen Drew, Mike Napoli and Gavin Floyd. He was also named All-State.
Along with all of his baseball accolades, he was a two-time Long Island Championship in soccer as well as a finalist for Suffolk County’s Player of the Year award.
For his achievements, Gannon was later inducted into Hauppauge’s Hall of Fame.
The Next Chapter
Gannon chose to attend Nassau CC and played for longtime Head Coach Larry Minor. In 2001, he batted 3rd and hit .425 and was named to the All-Region XV Team. Despite that success, he chose to sit out 2002 after the UNC Tar Heels Head Coach Elmar Bolowich called his house the day after they won the men’s soccer National Championship in 2001.
“That got the ball rolling with some serious national programs. Ultimately, I chose NC State but I regret not continuing my baseball career at Nassau in 2002 as I believe I would have continued playing baseball at NC State. Preparing for AC soccer seemed like a major task at the time.”
Gannon played soccer in the fall of 2001 and was the Region XV Player of the Year. In his two years at Nassau CC, he was a 2x NJCAA All-American.
He went onto continue his soccer career at NC State where he was a two-year starter at center mid. He was the team captain in 2003 and represented the men’s soccer team on the advisory committee along with Phillip Rivers and other University team reps. They made an NCAA tournament appearance which was the school’s first since 1994.
Following graduation, he became a grad assistant at NC State in 2005 before working what he called some odd jobs the next couple years. Ultimately, he got back into soccer as the assistant boys varsity coach at Smithtown East from 2007-2013. His next stop was Amityville Memorial HS in 2013 where he landed a full-time job as a Health & First Aid teacher.
This began his illustrious run as the assistant boys varsity soccer coach. Since 2015, they have won 7 outright league titles in a row – which is a Suffolk record. They won won five Suffolk County Class A Championships, they have been in 7 of the last 9 title games. They have won five Long Island Class A Championships, made five trips to the NYS Final 4. four NYS Championship appearances, won 3 NYS Class A Championships and was the 2022 Finalist for National Assistant Coach of the Year (he won East Region Coach of the Year.)
Gannon is married with two daughters, the older one is 11 and plays soccer while the younger one is a gymnast. While he is still heavily involved in high school sports, he no longer has a connection to the game of baseball.
Does he have regrets?
Yes, he stated that years later he ran into the NC State coach who told him he would’ve let him pursue playing baseball along with soccer. While hindsight is 20/20, the fact remains that Gannon had one of the best two-year runs at varsity baseball level in Long Island history. The years may go on but the records remain.
