Among the founding fathers of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) and advocates for the game joining fellow Hall of Fame members Dick Russell, Richard Hunkler, Mike Schofield, Ed Reed, Russ Yarworth and Dan Sharadin, among others, Cathal “Carl” Quigley’s long time association with St Francis College Brooklyn began in 1971 as a freshman student athlete of the class of 1975. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and is a member of the Dun Scotus Honor society. He continued his education at Long Island University (LIU) where he received his Masters Degree in Adapted Physical Education and Rehabilitation in 1979.

Upon his graduation from St Francis College in 1975, Quigley was immediately hired as the water polo team’s coach by athletic director Dan Lynch Sr. and Dean of Students John Clifford.

He began working as a part time coach the following fall a position that he has maintained throughout his career. Following his graduation from LIU, Carl worked for the State of New York at the Staten Island Developmental Center “Willowbrook” with developmentally disabled individuals in association with Long Island University where he was employed as a clinical supervisor for their graduate program.

When Staten Island Developmental Center was closed, Carl sought a career change.

That search ended with his eighteen year run in the art business working for Knoedler Publishing, the exclusive publisher of the works of LeRoy Neiman in their production and shipping departments. His responsibilities there included coordinating art shows, overseeing product production and he served as a liaison between the artist and the publishing company.

In 1979, Quigley founded and organized the St Francis Youth Water Polo Club under his direction the club has been most successful. Providing countless youngsters with the opportunity to play water polo at local, state (Empire State Games) and national competitions and even had one of the group’s members play in three Olympic competitions.

After the extensive stint with the publishing company he left the art world to work full time at his alma mater. He was hired as assistant athletic director for aquatics in 1999.

His responsibilities there included overseeing the men’s and women’s water polo teams and coordinating use of the colleges pool to some forty community groups. Some of which include CHSAA, PSAL and CYO swim teams, local summer camps, and special groups Brooklyn Special Olympics, the Young Adult Institute and the American Red Cross and on occasion a movie production company. He served on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Water Polo Rules and Championship Committees as well as the Northeast Conference Swimming Committee and he has served as the President of the CWPA Board of Directors from 2001-2002.

As a full time employee at the college, Quigley was able to devote more of his energy to coaching the water polo team which resulted in three Eastern Collegiate Athletic Association (ECAC) Championships and CWPA Northern Division Championships (2000, 2004, and 2005), a CWPA Eastern Championship in 2005 and an automatic bid to the NCAA National Championship Final Four. He coached 14 All-America selections at the college and led a program which achieved the top grade point average in the nation for four years (1998-2001) and consistently rated among the top academic teams nationally with a roster that included many athletes for whom English was a second language.

Two members of those teams also won prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships during his coaching tenure as Tamas Katona and Gergely Fabian garnered recognition.

In 1990 he was inducted to the St Francis College Hall of Fame and currently lives in metropolitan New York.