Stan Fryczynski is a man of many jobs, and on this particular weekday afternoon, he is an outdoor track and field official.
“This is where my start was as a kid, cross-country and track,” he said, “so this is a giveback.”
Fryczynski, 72, has given more than 50 years of his life to North Jersey high school sports, making an indelible mark as a coach, official, and, most notably, an administrator.
Fryczynski is best known as executive director of the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference. But he’s also a compliance monitor for the NJSIAA, tasked with overseeing athletic directors. And the longtime Hudson County resident maintains his connection to students as the cross-country coach at Secaucus, where he was previously the AD.
“I feel like I’m doing something that’s making a difference, and that’s really easy to wake up to every morning,” he said.
Fryczynski has been executive director of the NJIC since its inception in 2010. His experience, work ethic and attention to detail have earned him renewals after each two-year term to guide a 37-school league currently comprised of programs from Bergen, Passaic, Hudson and Morris counties.
The early days of the NJIC were the most challenging, and he had to juggle his job as Secaucus AD (1989-2011) with serving as the executive director. He recalls attending more than 30 meetings to iron out the league’s constitution, scheduling, football and a myriad of other issues.
“Stan Fryczynski is, I think, the best executive director I could imagine working for,” said Bob Carcich, NJIC secretary treasurer and former AD and coach at Emerson. “He is on top of things, he is a communicator to no end. He is right on with emails and reminding people about things to do, things that are coming around the corner.”
“I’m humbled by the fact that, except for two athletic directors, I’ve gone through a couple of generations of athletic directors,” Fryczynski said. “And they have been happy with me and confident in my work, and I’m still here.”
The NJIC’s decision not to send its football teams to the North Jersey Super Football Conference, which debuted in 2016, may be its most significant. The SFC, with more than 100 teams spread across eight counties, is the largest football-only league in the country, and its schools are much larger than NJIC schools.
“There was nothing against the SFC at all,” Fryczynski said. “It was that we felt that a lot of our schools were small, and there was a possibility that they might have lost their identity, and they might have lost their program. So we managed to keep small-school football alive, and that hasn’t been easy.”
His fondness for cross-country and track and field have made being a coach easier. In 1971, he founded the Jersey Athletic Club, an AAU track and field program for Hudson County girls, and he served as director, coach and bus driver. In 1972, he started the track and field program at Holy Family in Bayonne.
The Indiana-based National Federation of State High School Associations has honored him several times. He was named a “Girls Track and Field Coach of the Year” in 1996; a “Cross-Country Official of the Year” in 1998; and a “Cross-Country Coach of the Year” in 2003.
Coaching has featured a decidedly family flavor for Fryczynski. He worked at St. Peter’s Prep, where he coached his younger brother, Kevin. At Secaucus, he coached his daughter, Amy, and two grandchildren, Austin and Collin. He has been the Patriots’ boys and girls cross-country coach since 1978, and the school’s track and field complex is dedicated in his name.
“His kids were always some of the smartest kids in the school, some of the nicest kids in the school,” said Charlie Voorhees, Secaucus AD and acting superintendent who ran track for Fryczynski in the 1980s. “And still to this day, a highly successful group of people in life after high school. Really good colleges, really good careers.”
Fryczynski knew as a student-athlete at New York Military Academy that, “I was going to be a teacher and a coach.” At St. Peter’s College, he earned a degree in elementary education and a masters in education, with a concentration in supervision and administration.
He is always on the move. He also attends meetings in Robbinsville for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, where he is a member of the leagues and conferences committee. The Bayonne resident spends a significant amount of time in his car, but don’t ask him about the mileage.
“I drive a lot, a real lot, I don’t pay attention to the mileage, but it’s substantial. That doesn’t really bother me,” he said. “It’s meetings, and coaching, back and forth, and in the spring, it’s officiating. Going down to Robbinsville for a lot of meetings.”
Fryczynski has no plans to take his foot off the gas. He and his wife, Carolyn, also have a house in the Pennsylvania Poconos, and “We’ll escape there as much as we can.” He remains connected through his laptop and phone and is in constant contact with Carcich and David Frazier, NJIC president and Rutherford AD. He’s also the league’s webmaster.
“He’s got a pulse on everything that happened in the past, he knows what’s going on here in the present, and he’s looking forward to what he’s got to do to make sure we sustain things for the future,” Voorhees said.
“I don’t have a timeline,” Fryczynski said. “I go a year at a time. I have good health, feel good about everything. I’m as excited, if not more, than I was when I was a kid.”
Career highlights
NJIC executive director (2010-present)
Secaucus athletic director (1989-2011)
Secaucus track coach (1978-2011) and cross-country coach (1978-present)
Jersey Athletic Club founder, director, head coach (1971-82)
NJSIAA track and field official (1978-present)
New Jersey State Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee (1992)
