Superb Coach & Terrific Man
Is A Union High Sports Legend

Jim Jeskey was a nice man.

In his case, against Leo Durocher's argument, nice guys finished first.
He meant a lot to many and lived a long life.

We should all be so thoughtful and caring of others.

Jeskey, the Union High School head boys soccer coach for 47 seasons from 1961-2007 and to all just a great person to get to know, surrounded by his loving family passed away Jan. 6 at the age of 91.

Never one to seek the spotlight, Jeskey, who resided in Livingston, was completely touched when the varsity soccer field was named after him in September of 2008.

"It's very nice and I'm moved by it," Jeskey said that fall day more than 17 years ago when he was 74.

The varsity baseball field was named after Gordon LeMatty, the head baseball coach at UHS for 33 seasons from 1959-1991, shortly after in April of 2009.

Jeskey and LeMatty, who led the baseball team to 641 wins, were joined at the hip as coaches, with Jeskey serving as an assistant baseball coach all those years with LeMatty, Jeskey coaching first base and LeMatty third base.

Get the soccer players to come out for baseball was the mantra back then.
LeMatty, surrounded by his loving family members, passed away peacefully at his home in Union July 18, 2025 at the age of 92.

"I enjoy everybody coming out and seeing guys that played for me all the way back to the beginning," Jeskey also said the day the soccer field was dedicated in his honor.

One of those players was Bobby Johnson, UHS Class of 1962. Johnson was a senior all-state goalie on Jeskey's first team in the fall of 1961.

“I still call him Mr. Jeskey after all these years,” said Johnson that day in 2008, who became a Union resident again. “It was a different time.

"Mr. Jeskey and Mr. LeMatty kind of took everybody under their wing. They made sure you were on the straight and narrow.

“They were friends and mentors more than anything else. It stayed with me my whole life. I learned a lot from both of them.

“It almost brought a tear to my eye seeing his (Jeskey’s) name up on the scoreboard. It’s a well-deserved honor. Because of the respect that he showed us, they really showed him respect by doing this.

“Dr. (Theodore) Jakubowski said his kids call him Mr. Jeskey. I call him Mr. Jeskey and he’s only 10 years older than I am. I would never think of anything but Mr. Jeskey and Mr. LeMatty.”

Johnson played soccer one year in college at Monmouth and then in Germany on a team when he went into the service.

“It’s a testament to Mr. Jeskey that he never lost the passion for the kids,” Johnson said. “He always wanted to teach the kids. With him, it was always about everybody else.”

Jeskey, who pitched at Seton Hall University for head coach Mike Sheppard, Sr., taught and coached at UHS for 52 years. Jeskey guided the boys soccer team to more than 500 victories, including the program's first four of its five Union County Tournament championships in 1967, 1978, 1990 and 1999.

“It was something to always look forward to,” Jeskey said. “It carried you right through the school year. I then looked forward to baseball season. It was good. I think players should play two or three sports and not specialize in one. It makes you a better athlete I think.”

Union is one of the largest schools in New Jersey and has such a big-time tradition in many of its sports.

"You go different places and they’ve heard of Union and they knew its sports program and all sports were top-notch and it was great,” said Jeskey, a Caldwell High School graduate, who graduated from there three years after former New Providence legendary head football coach Frank Bottone did. Bottone was the head coach at New Providence for 46 seasons, ending with a North 2, Group 1 title his final year in 2010.

“When I came here the first day I never looked to go anywhere else,” Jeskey said of Union.

Jeskey was thought of by many as so much more than just a coach.

“Jim is a gentleman and very few gentlemen are still involved in coaching,” said George Chapla in 2008, who played on Union’s first UCT championship team in 1967, which was his senior season, with Chapla being a 1968 UHS graduate.

Chapla, now 76, was also Jeskey’s assistant coach for 30 years. Jeskey always referred to Chapla as him being the best soccer player ever at UHS - among many other great ones as well.

“Jim really went over and above,” Chapla said. “He never had any problems with an official, which is very unusual for a coach nowadays with them screaming and yelling.

"He was a competitor - don’t get me wrong - and he competed. He always handled himself as a gentleman in situations with parents and players.

“One thing that really stands out with Jim is that he was always there. For example, I had surgery and he visited me in the hospital and he showed concern for my kids with a phone call and this just goes to show what he was all about.”

Union’s second, third and fourth county championships in 1978, 1990 and 1999 were attained with Chapla an assistant to Jeskey during those fine seasons.

“I was with Jim along the way and Jim was very good because he would give me a lot of leeway,” Chapla said. “I would say something and he would say, ‘okay, let’s try it.’”

There have only been three head varsity boys soccer coaches at Union. LeMatty was the first for two years in 1959 and 1960, with Jeskey assisting.

Then it was Jeskey for 47 seasons from 1961-2007. Next it was and still is Lester Lembryk beginning in 2008.

This fall will be Lembryk's 18th season at the helm of the Farmers. For medial reasons he did not coach in 2024.

That's it. Just three head coaches since 1959.

"He was a class act," Lembryk said in a Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026 phone interview. "He was a tremendous guy. Not only in sports, but in the community he made such an impact."

Lembryk's 2018 squad went 16-0-4 just one year after the 2017 team finished 0-16-2. The 2018 Farmers shared the UCT title with Westfield for the fifth in Union program history.

"I learned a lot from Jim," Lembryk said. "A lot of what he passed on we're doing today.

"Jim was a pioneer for the program. His success went beyond counties and states. It was his impact on all of his players that really meant something.

"I started teaching in the same building with Jim and worked under him for a period of time and asked him as many questions as I could. He provided sound advice.

"Jim used to do fitness as a way of his players selecting their uniforms in the order they came in.

"No matter what he had time for you."

Born in East Orange and raised in Irvington and Livingston, Jeskey continued his athletic career at Panzer College - now Montclair State - and Seton Hall. He pitched to an impressive 0.63 earned-run average at Seton Hall in 1955.

Jeskey earned a B.A. in Physical Education and later earned his Master's in Education. Jeskey also served two years in the United States Army and played on an exhibition basketball team while stationed in Germany.

Jeskey was also an avid runner, competing in 49 marathons. Jeskey excelled in the National Senior Games in basketball and track, traveling around the country for more than 20 years.

I will always remember Jim saying to me that when the New York Yankees traded to obtain Alex Rodriguez from the Texas Rangers for Alphonso Soriano in February of 2004 that he felt the Yankees should have moved Derek Jeter to center field so that Arod could remain playing shortstop. He felt that would have better served the Yankees. He might have been right.

I was always comfortable in Jim's presence, he always treated me with the utmost respect, and I could never remember a time when he wasn't smiling.

The last time I was with Jim was at a sports dinner in 2019, sitting at the same table as he was.

For me it was an honor to have had the privilege to get to know the man.

My condolences and thoughts and prayers at the moment continue to be with Jim Jeskey and his family.