Cairo-Durham, located south of Albany, inducted Tom Karnes in an April ceremony. Karnes, who graduated from SUNY Fredonia in 1981, was hired the next year by Cairo-Durham as a business education instructor, and spent his entire career there.

“I knew all of the other nine of the inaugural class so that was a nice thing,” Karnes said in an interview Monday. “It was almost surreal to be nominated.”

A two-time Teacher of the Year at Cairo-Durham, Karnes was heavily involved with extracurricular activities. He coached the varsity baseball team for 28 years, amassing a 275-254 record. In addition, Karnes coached basketball and track, advised the junior class for five years and was also an advisor for student after-school business-related activities.

“I got into teaching kind of because I always liked sports,” he said. “I thought I could team up those things and share it with the youth coming up.”

This is an OBSERVER picture of the 1977 Dunkirk High School varsity baseball team after it captured the Section VI Class BB title. Tom Karnes said he is eighth from left on the top row. His close friend, Bill Crocoll, is sixth from left. Next to Karnes on the right is Frank Jagoda, the team’s current head coach, but then a star pitcher for the squad.

Describing his move to eastern New York as a case of “one year leading to 32 years,” Karnes enjoyed his teaching career and adopted community, but has many fond memories of his hometown of Dunkirk.

“Sportswise, almost everybody played, there were all kinds of teams,” he said, recalling that the Fourth Street baseball diamond was his top spot for playing ball. “It was one of those nice communities to grow up in. It was close knit, I had a lot of friends The biggest reason I moved away was to get a teaching job.”

“The steel mills were cranking, NiMo was going,” he continued, recalling that he was on Little League teams sponsored by Glenn Jankoski Agency, where he was coached by longtime Dunkirk baseball figure Fritz Kubera, and Brady Optical.

After Little League, Karnes played, as a junior and a senior, on Dunkirk High School varsity baseball teams in 1976 and ’77 that won sectional titles.

In those days, there were many cuts before the season, he said. “It was quite an honor to make the team. It seems like the interest has gone down a little with so many other choices in sports.”

The DHS squad in 1977, his senior year, featured a lefty-righty pitching combination of Frank Jagoda and Mark Balzer. “When Frank was in I would play first base, and when Mark was in I would play second,” Karnes said. “We were a very tough team. There were good rivalries with Fredonia and Cardinal Mindszenty.”

Karnes recalled an anectdote from early in the 1977 season about how legendary Dunkirk coach Al Stuhlmiller shook up his lineup and got it on the road to another sectional title.

“We went down to New York City to play a couple teams and we weren’t hitting,” he said. “Al Stuhlmiller put our names in the hat and drew them out for the lineup. Bill Croccoll (Karnes’ close friend since elementary school) was the No. 4 hitter, he was like 1 for 25 so far. He was drawn as the No. 1 hitter. I was No. 7 and he moved me to No. 3.

“It was kinda weird but it ended up shaking up everybody. Bill ended up hitting about .500, it was amazing.”

Karnes concluded that the baseball and softball leagues in the ’70s in Dunkirk were key to his development.

“There must have been 12 leagues,” he said. “It gave me a good foundation, the sports and competition. It was a really good time to grow up there in the summertime.”

Karnes and his wife, Debbie, reside in Freehold. They have no children.