Celebrating the Creativity of our Youth
At present, Mr. Don Ryan coaches basketball teams for
Hempstead Dons, Inc. Previously, he coached at The Salvation
Army Community Center in Hempstead from 1961-2009.
As such, Don has given more than 25,000 hours in volunteer
service to our youth.
Mr. Ryan is a product of Hempstead Public Schools; Fulton
School (1957) and Hempstead High School (1961). Later,
he graduated from Adelphi University with a Bachelor of
Business Administration degree (1966) and Teachers College
at Columbia University with a Master of Arts degree (1971).
Mr. Ryan taught for thirty-three years, the last twenty five of
those years with the added responsibility as Director of Youth
Employment at Hempstead High School (several thousand
students got their first work experience in this program). Don
Ryan also served as Commissioner of Parks & Recreation
for 25 years.
Hempstead youth basketball teams under Don Ryan have traveled to Helsinki and Tampere,
Finland; Tallinn, Estonia; Copenhagen, Denmark; Malmo and Stockholm, Sweden; Toronto,
Montreal, Halifax and Charlottetown, Canada; St. Croix, Barbados, Puerto