The 500-plus people who found a space in every possible nook and cranny of St. John the Evangelist Church in Spencerport on Saturday, January 28, or the too-many-to-mention Facebook messages in tribute to him show how much Scottsville resident Mike Skivington was thought of by students, colleagues, friends, neighbors and the community in general.
Skivington, the Wheatland-Chili boys varsity soccer coach for the past 13 seasons, lost his battle with brain cancer on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at age 61.
Steffen Domina, whose two younger brothers played for Skivington, or “Skiv” as he was known, wrote on Facebook “A great man who coached with such love for the game and such love for the players he coached. RIP Coach Skiv.”
Sheila Bonanno wrote: “Skiv coached all three of my sons. I am forever grateful for his positive role modeling.”
Under Skivington, W-C’s soccer team won two Section V titles, in 2006 and 2008, four league championships, in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2015, and went to the state semifinals in 2008. He was an assistant under previous coach Tim Day from 1998-2003 and coached modified girls soccer at the school prior to that.
“When I was athletic director, I knew Mike’s wife Sharon when she was the Sports Booster Club President,” retired Wheatland-Chili Athletic Director Tom Dooling said. “She mentioned to me that Mike wanted to get involved in helping coach and was there an opening anywhere. I said there was a modified girls soccer coach opening and, if Mike was interested, have him come talk to me. He came in, we talked and I hired him. I was fortunate to have him work for me; he was such a pleasure.”
Skivington’s effect on his players was evident as many alumni came to his funeral and his entire 2016 team came in with W-C boys varsity basketball coach Scott Lund. It wasn’t just X’s and O’s that Skivington taught them; he also imparted life lessons like optimism even in the face of hardship such as his battle with brain cancer that first reared its head in September of 2015. He had surgery in November 2015 to remove a brain tumor and recovered enough to resume coaching soccer and other things he loved such as playing soccer in a men’s league, golfing, hunting and fishing. The cancer came back this past fall, but Skivington maintained an upbeat attitude.
“Mike lived life with eternal optimism,” Dooling said. “Even with the cancer, he thought he could beat it. Two days after his surgery in 2015, he was out running. When I was AD, he and assistant coach Steve Call would come into my office after the league season was over with and we’d talk about sectionals. No matter what the team’s seed was, he’d always say he believed it had a shot at winning sectionals and he instilled that optimism in his players. His death is a big loss to the community.”
Dooling said Skivington always had a smile on his face and coached with class, passing on his love of the game.
Skivington’s love for soccer was evident when he was a player at Spencerport High School. He graduated from Spencerport in 1974, playing on two Rangers’ teams that won sectional titles in the early 1970s. He played forward and midfield at Monroe Community College for the late legendary coach Joe Mancarella and then went on to Cortland State where he helped the Red Dragons become the national runner-up in 1977 and where he received All-Conference honors.
Although Skivington did not work for the school district, the retired truck driver for Coca Cola was very involved in the school community.
“When there was a faculty hoops game for a fundraising cause, Mike would come and play,” said Steve Call, a friend and teacher at the school who has known Skivington since 1996. “He and I would golf together in a league during the summer. He would do anything for me and I would do anything for him.”
Call also mentioned Skiv’s sense of optimism, noting that every year he believed the team could win a sectional title and how he always set a goal of earning a top four seed for the sectional tournament so that the school would get a home game.
Skivington also had a knack for putting players in the right positions to help the team succeed.
“Skiv would persuade kids who might be reluctant to move to a certain spot that they could do it and it would be best for the team’s success,” Call said. “Mike’s view of the skills that a player possessed enabled him to put that student in the right position to succeed. But, it wasn’t just about soccer. When it got close to the end of a grading period, usually coinciding with the start of sectionals, Mike would always say how important grades were and if he saw that a student-athlete was headed down the wrong path in any way, he would talk to that student about how to make better choices. He was always level; he never got upset with the kids during a game or with the officials. If an official made a call that he didn’t agree with, he might shake his head but he would say to the kids ‘okay let’s move on from this’.”
Skivington was gracious in victory and defeat and demanded no less from his players. By any measure, he was a successful coach as he compiled a 150-69-14 record at the varsity level and earned four Genesee League Coach of the Year honors, his last in 2015. But, he never looked for accolades for himself.
“When he’d come back from a league meeting where league all-stars and coaches were named, I’d always ask him about who was named and, if it was him, he would always say ‘we got the award’ not ‘I got it’,” Call said. “It was always about the players. He was a good man, friend, mentor and role model for his student-athletes.”
Skivington is survived by his wife, Sharon, his son Eric Skivington (Nicole Truax), his daughter Jena Skivington (Rob Pagani), his soon-to-be-born granddaughter Aubrey, his sisters, Karen (Marc) McCrea and Nancy (Guido) Barbone, his brother Patrick Skivington (Pamela Levitt), his brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, Michael (Debbie) Mancuso and Michele (Jack) Mancuso-Modrack and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents, Thomas and Mary Skivington.
Interment was private. Arrangements were by DiPonzio Funeral Home.
Those wishing may donate to the Mike Skivington Memorial Scholarship Fund, PO Box 155, Scottsville, NY 14546 in his honor.
