By Anonymous (not verified), March 21, 2024
From ENYYSA
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
March 21, 2024-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) is mourning the passing of Howard Rubenstein, a former Rockville Centre resident, who died on March 19.
Howard was last seen by many in the soccer community when he received our Distinguished Service Award and a standing ovation at Eastern New York’s Hall of Fame Banquet which celebrated our 50th anniversary in 2022. He was an irreplaceable and enthusiastic volunteer during the five decades of our existence. He was a member of the
Halls of Fame of Eastern New York, the US Amateur Soccer Association and the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL).
Howard’s name keeps coming up in the long history of both the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association and Eastern New York State Adult Soccer Association. In fact, the Eastern New York name comes from Howard.
As new leagues were created, both the youth and adult associations started admitting clubs north of Albany so our original name of Southern New York was obviously no longer appropriate. Since our geographic area encompassed clubs from Long Island to the Canadian border east of Route 81, which connects Binghamton and Syracuse, in 1984, Howard and the incoming President, Peter Masotto, changed the name to the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association. Howard and Costas Mallios made the same name change from Southern New York to Eastern New York with the adults in 1988.
Howard served as ENYYSA President from 1980 to 1984 and as Vice President of the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (CJSL) in the late 1980’s and then became Treasurer of the Eastern New York adults. In the early 1990’s, Howard and Alfonso Mondelo were in charge of the Eastern New York coaching. Howard was also in charge of refs, serving as State Youth Referee Administrator (SYRA) for a decade around the turn of the millennium and he had an amazing three tours of duty as State Referee Administrator (SRA) after that.