Hofstra Athletics Hall of Fame
WALTER KOHANOWICH
Walter Kohanowich, a 1952 graduate, was Hofstra’s first five-sport athlete, earning letters in Football, Baseball, Track, Lacrosse and Wrestling from 1948 through 1952. Walter was a three-year captain of the Football team and a two-year captain of the Baseball squad. Hofstra’s leading rusher in 1950 (184 yards) and 1951 (915 yards), his 1951 yardage total still ranks ninth on the Hofstra single-season rushing list. Walter earned Little College All-America accolades in football in 1949, 1950 and 1951, and his jersey, #33, was the first to be retired at the University.
Walter coached freshman Football and Baseball at Hofstra after graduation and then took a position as a life insurance agent for the Jack MacDonald Agency of the Prudential Insurance Company. Nine months later he became division manager of Prudential’s Syosset, New York, office. After four years in that position, Walter left the insurance industry and moved to Sugar Loaf, New York, and created an antique wood business, tearing down and selling weathered siding and hand-hewn beams. In 1979 he opened the Barnsider Tavern in Sugar Loaf, which after 26 years in business is one of the most prominent restaurants in Orange County, New York. In 1989 Walter sold the Barnsider to his son, Matthew, and opened a fly fishing lodge in Montana called Old Kirby Place. Walter sold Old Kirby Place in January 2005 and purchased an abandoned gold mine in Norris, Montana, on which he has opened a wide plank flooring business.
