4 Brick Alumni Honored For Education Contributions, Join Wall Of Fame

BRICK, NJ — Four men who have had an impact on education and athletics beyond the boundaries of Brick Township have been inducted into the Brick Township High School Wall of Fame.

The celebration returned for the first time since 2019, after being disrupted for three years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The honorees were Dennis "Denny" Toddings, William Darnell, Stephen Genco and Jim Barber.

Read more about each man below, from their biographies presented at the Wall of Fame induction dinner:

Dennis Toddings

Denny began his athletic career in 1958, playing football at Brick Township High School for the legendary coach, Warren Wolf, where he played on the 1960 State Championship team and earned honors as 1st Team All-County, 2nd Team All-Shore and All-State. After graduating from Brick, he attended and played football at Bordentown Military Institute where he earned 1st Team All-State, All-Prep/Private honors. Next, at the University of Delaware, he played on the 1963 I-AA National Championship Team and earned honors on the 2nd Team All-MAC.

Denny's teaching and coaching career started in 1967 at Long Branch High School. In 1971, along with his bride, Maryann, Denny moved to New York Military Academy, where he worked as athletic director and head coach in football, wrestling, and golf. His wrestling teams at NYMA were 57-7 with 11 championships. In 1976, Denny was hired to be the head football coach at St. Joseph's High School. That team went on to win the Parochial B State Sectional football championship. During his 36-year career at St. Joseph/Monsignor Donovan High School, Denny also served as head coach in football, baseball, and golf, during which time he was honored as Ocean County Football Coach of the Year in 1976, 1992 and 1993. He also coached in the inaugural and four additional All-Shore Classic football games. In baseball he was named Ocean County Coach of the Year in 1986 and 1994, and won the 1994 Parochial A South State Championship. In 2005 came the honor of being inducted into the St. Joseph/Monsignor Donovan High School Hall of Fame.

In 1994, Denny succeeded the famous Steve Gepp as the school's second athletic director, and continued in this role until his retirement in 2012. Under his tenure as AD, athletics expanded from 16 to 26 teams. During this time, Denny also served as repsident of the Ocean County Athletic Directors Association, served on the Shore Conference Executive Committee, and several subcommittees. In 2012 Denny was selected by this body as Ocean County Athletic Director of the Year.

Denny also coached football at Kean University and at Princeton University with the Lightweight football team, where in 1989 they won the Eastern Lightweight Football Championship.

William Darnell

Bill has been a Brick kid at heart since his family was one of the first to build in Lake Riviera. Osbornville School, Little League, Visitation Church, Pine Barrens exploration, and Ocean County sand between his toes filled his days. Then came his time at Brick Township High School, Class of 1965. He was a student-athlete: class vice president, treasurer of the Key Club, student council, and co-captain of cross country, winter track, and spring track. He was mentored and inspired through the years by Coach Warren Wolf and Coach Bill Brouillette, which led to 7 varsity letters, the school record for the most varsity points in cross country, All County for 2 years in track and X-C, All Shore 2nd team in X-C, 5th fastest in Shore Conference, Student-Athlete award for top 10% of his class, and Coaches’ Award for leadership. The team was the No. 1 public school in NJ. At graduation, awards included Most Outstanding Student by the Knights of Columbus and the Leadership Award from the Key Club. This all led to a Division 1 scholarship at Seton Hall, where he competed for two years. Bill later transferred to Ohio University where he was on the Dean’s List and earned his bachelor's degree. Soon after, he earned his master's from Montclair State.
In his professional life, he taught history and government for 7 years, was a high school guidance counselor for 15 years, and then head of guidance and assistant principal for 10 years, serving many thousands of students. He received both teaching and coaching awards. He coached for 30 seasons with 26 as head coach. He coached many champions, teams, individuals, and relays. Bill has had an ongoing lifetime pursuit of competitive athletics. He has run marathons and hundreds of road races, winning numerous awards. At age 40 he started what would be 25 years of triathlons. He completed over 100 triathlons. He went on to qualify for the National Sprint Triathlons 4 times (ranked third in New Jersey for his age group at 60). Even in retirement, he continues to pursue athletics and for the last 20 years has added tennis to his competitive life. It is not unusual to have him help strangers as well as friends. The thing he is most proud of is his family. His positive experiences from his times at BTHS wove into the fabric of his life. It gave him a satisfying and productive professional life, fostered his love of running and competing, and connected him to his lifelong friends.

Stephen Genco

Dr. Stephen Genco is a full-time lecturer at Georgian Court University in the School of Education (Administration Program) and serves as the Director of Secondary Education and teaches methodology classes for future high school teachers.

Previously, Dr. Genco served as the superintendent of schools in both the South Plainfield and Jackson Township school districts. As superintendent, he led all facets of large K-12 school districts. Moreover, he directly supervised all operations and worked collaboratively with the assistant superintendents in all curriculum initiatives and the business administrator in the development and appropriation of multimillion-dollar budgets. In 2018-2019 Dr. Genco was selected as Ocean County Superintendent of the Year. After retiring from public education, Dr. Genco was asked to act as the interim superintendent of the Toms River Regional School District while they were conducting their search for the next full-time xuperintendent.

Dr. Genco served as the assistant superintendent for the Jackson Township School District where he utilized his curricular expertise in math and science. He directly administered the Human Resources Department including negotiations, litigation and professional development and oversaw student discipline matters and policies of the district.

Before joining the Jackson Schools, Dr. Genco was principal at Wall Township High School and Wall Township Intermediate School from 2001-2008. In those roles he facilitated the Middle States Accreditation process for the high school, was closely involved in budget planning and developed a waiver program for honors placement which allowed more students to have access to advanced coursework. He was assistant principal for Point Pleasant Borough High School from 2000 to 2001.

Dr. Genco began his educational career as a science teacher, teaching subjects including Advanced Placement and Honors chemistry and physics classes. He has served in various positions as a head coach and assistant coach for the wrestling, softball and football programs in Wall and was inducted into the Region 6 Wrestling Hall of Fame for re-establishing the Wall wrestling program.

Dr. Genco received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1987 from West Virginia University, where he majored in Applied Sciences. He went on to earn his Master of Arts, Administration (2000) and Master of Arts, Education/Counseling degrees from Georgian Court University in 1992. In 2010, he completed his doctoral work and earned his Doctor of Educational in Leadership degree from Rowan University. He and his wife, Susan, live in Point Pleasant.

Jim Barber

Jim Barber, or “JB” as he is affectionately known among scores of Dragons, was the first athletic trainer to be hired by Brick Township High School, in March 1991. He spent the next 30 years defining the role, and dedicating himself to the coaches, players, parents, and staff of Brick Township High School, eventually retiring in April 2021.

Jim Barber serves as an icon to Shore Conference Athletics. Jim combined the unique balance of student safety and recovery in conjunction with the expectations of parents and coaches. Jim galvanized the role of an athletic trainer as an expert and manager of student athletes’ health and safety. In any season, JB’s office was filled with students receiving treatments and rehabilitating themselves under his careful guidance. Under Jim’s development, student-athletes have become proactive in a role of self-awareness, self-care, protective training, and a general understanding of year-round conditioning. Jim was the backbone to the coaching staff, providing care and anchoring the pool of athletes in which our sports programs are based. Even more important, Jim has forged so many personal connections, conveying and inspiring lifelong lessons. Often going beyond the call of duty, he has made a formative impact on the physical and personal development journeys of innumerable student-athletes in our school and community.

Jim has received several awards over his years of service including the Support Staff of the Year, and the Educational Professional of the Year, twice! The State/NJSIAA even recognized Jim in 2017 with the State Athletic Training Award.

Jim has had an outstanding career at Brick Township High School and is extremely grateful for the relationships with the BTHS staff and the countless everlasting friendships made along the way.