Marcus "Marc" Martone

Marcus J. "Marc" Martone died on August 31, 2026, at the age of 99, two weeks before his 100th birthday. He lived in Mount Sinai, New York, and had formerly lived in Ridge. No cause of death has been made public.

His death was announced in an obituary placed by Branch Funeral Home of Miller Place and published in Newsday on September 2 and 3, 2026. Visiting hours were held at Branch Funeral Home in Miller Place on September 7, and a funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Mark Roman Catholic Church in Shoreham on September 8, followed by interment with U.S. Navy military honors at Calverton National Cemetery. On September 16 SUNY Cortland Athletics marked the death of its C-Club Hall of Famer.

He was survived by his daughters, Marcia (Gary) Jones and Cynthia (Glenn) Franklin, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. The family asked that donations be made to the Cortland College Foundation for the Martone Scholarship.

Marcus J. Martone was born on September 14, 1926, in Glen Cove, on the North Shore of Long Island, New York. He was a football star at Glen Cove High School and graduated in 1944, the same year he enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II.

After his service he enrolled at Cortland State, now SUNY Cortland, where he played varsity football and was awarded the team's Red Letter Award as a senior. He also played varsity baseball and spent a year on the wrestling team. He graduated in 1949 with a bachelor's degree in education. He then earned a master of science in education from Hofstra University in 1951, and later completed sixth year professional diplomas in administration and supervision at New York University and Queens College.

Recalling his time at Cortland, he said: "The thing I remember most about Cortland was the close relationship between the students and professors."

Martone spent his school career in the Sewanhaka Central School District in Nassau County. He started at Sewanhaka High School as an assistant football coach and a member of the physical education staff. When varsity football began at H. Frank Carey High School in 1957, he became the school's first head football coach and athletic director, according to a Carey football history site, and in that first season the team played its home games at Sewanhaka High. He also served as Carey's chairman of physical education and head of boys' interscholastic sports. In 1957 and 1958 he was president of the Nassau County Football Coaches Association.

He was honored as Coach of the Year in 1974 for his success with the Carey football program. That was his last year at Carey: the following September he returned to Sewanhaka High as District Athletic Director for the Sewanhaka Central system, which then included five junior and senior high schools and one junior high school. He was president of the Nassau County Athletic Advisory Council from 1975 to 1976.

At state level, Martone was vice president of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association from 1969 to 1971 and then served a two year term as its president. He joined the association's staff in 1973 and served as assistant director and treasurer until he retired in 1992. He was also president of the New York State Federation of Secondary School Athletic Associations, a panelist on the national federation's New York State Modified Program committee, and a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations Playing Rules Policy Committee from 1977 to 1980.

In 1975 the Eastern States Association and the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation each named him Athletic Director of the Year. He also received the New York State Council of Administrators Zone Award and the Ellis H. Champlain Award.

Martone was married to Stephanie Martone for more than six decades; she died before him. A SUNY Cortland profile written during their marriage noted that they lived in Ridge, New York, and that their two daughters, Marcia and Cindy, both became elementary school teachers. SUNY Cortland's Stephanie and Marcus J. Martone '49 Scholarship, named for the couple, supports physical education majors.

In his later years he lived in Mount Sinai, New York. Friends and former players remembered his sense of humor, his kindness and his habit of telling stories about the football players he had coached decades earlier. He had four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, and relatives and friends had been looking forward to celebrating his 100th birthday with him.

Martone was inducted into the SUNY Cortland C-Club Hall of Fame, the City of Glen Cove Hall of Fame, the Sewanhaka High School and Carey High School halls of fame, and in 2004 the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. Carey High School named its football field and its Hall of Fame wing in his honor. Over nearly two decades on the NYSPHSAA staff, and years as an officer before that, he helped run the organization that governs public high school sport across New York State, while the Stephanie and Marcus J. Martone scholarship continues to support future physical education teachers at his alma mater.