Theresa Cassillo This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Newsday.com - He Was Always a Team Player at Heart

   www.newsday.com/news/printedit - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/13/2001   Last Visited: 12/14/2001

   Soon after they began dating, the former Theresa Cassillo discovered an eye-opening truth about her new boyfriend Timothy: Don't try to get his attention during the college basketball season.
   
   March Madness was Timothy Finnerty's favorite time of year, Theresa said, who would become his wife seven years after they began dating. "We went to his house and watched at least five basketball games back to back." Years after they were married, she said, "I often reminded him of that day of torture."
   
   Not that she doesn't enjoy a game of hoops, she said, but not to the extent her husband did. He was a Knicks fan, but he couldn't get enough college basketball.
   
   He joined Cantor Fitzgerald as a broker seven years ago, working on the 105th floor of Tower One, but before that, the former 6-foot, 1-inch guard for the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania had more than four years of experience as a college basketball coach.
   
   After college, Finnerty, 33, voluntarily coached the Fordham men's basketball team. The one-year stint at the Bronx university helped earn him a spot as assistant coach with Wagner College in Staten Island, his wife said. He coached there for three years.
   
   Over the past year, he coached seventh- and eight-graders on the Catholic Youth Organization team at St. Catherine's Roman Catholic Church in their hometown of Glen Rock, N.J.
   
   "The kids really looked up to him," his wife said. "He was able to communicate with them on their level and they were able to pick up his passion for the game. He was a good motivator and a good teacher."
   
   He was also a very charismatic, people person, said Theresa, a native of Massapequa. His keen sense of humor and thoughtfulness were what attracted her to him when they first met at the University of Scranton, she said.