Chris Deeks, a teacher and a football and lacrosse coach, died of a heart attack last Thursday. He was 60 years old.
Deeks, a Floral Park resident, was head football coach and head lacrosse coach at Great Neck North High School for the past two seasons. He previously coached football and lacrosse at Floral Park Memorial High School.
He was also a history teacher at The Highland School in Fresh Meadows and at Bethpage High School.
Great Neck North Athletic Director Eamon Flood said Deeks would be missed.
“Chris had the perfect way with kids. He was sensitive but he was organized and he expected them to be organized,” Flood said. “But he was sweet. He was always cool under pressure.”
Deeks grew up in Elmont and graduated from Sewanhaka High School in 1970. He attended Hofstra University, playing on the Hofstra football team in 1970 and the lacrosse team from 1971 to 1974.
He graduated Hofstra in 1976 with a bachelors degree in sociology, a minor in secondary education and graduate credits in educational administration.
After graduating, he taught social studies at Bethpage High School, where he also coached football and lacrosse.
Deeks played a key role in rebuilding the Floral Park Memorial boys lacrosse program when he started coaching there in 1992. The sport had been revived in 1989 after being eliminated from the school’s sports program for the previous nine years. He continued coaching lacrosse at Floral Park Memorial until 2007.
He also coached in the in the Floral Park Youth Lacrosse program.
Deeks is survived by his wife, Joann, a son and a daughter and his mother and brother.
Funeral services were held at the New Hyde Park Funeral Home on Tuesday morning. Internment followed the services at Pinelaw Memorial Park.
