When he retired after 29 years, longtime Remsen High School basketball coach David Gaylord was ranked second in wins in New York State's Section III with 426. Currently ranked fourth, Gaylord left a legacy on the court that is rivaled by few in the Greater Utica area.

Gaylord's athletic career began in 1956 when he played baseball at Port Leyden Central School. A four-year letterman in baseball, he also starred for three years in basketball and soccer. Gaylord and his teammates won titles in the old Lewneida League in 1958 and 1959 in baseball, and he was an All-Star his junior and senior years. The basketball teams he played forward for won three Lewneida titles and his soccer team won the 1957 Section III Title. It was an accomplished high school career that would earn Gaylord a spot on the baseball and soccer teams at Ithaca College.

At Ithaca, Gaylord played centerfield and first base and teamed with five players who went on to play professional baseball in the minor leagues. A lineman in soccer, Gaylord's collegiate career saw him partaking on teams that were solid and earned recognition throughout Division III.

Gaylord coached two sports at Remsen Central School- baseball and basketball. His basketball teams amassed 14 different titles throughout his career. Among the titles won were the 1977 and 1994 Section III championships, the 1973, 1974 and 1976 Semongca League championships and Intervalley League titles nine times (1980, 1985, 1987, and 1991-1996).

For all of his fine coaching, Gaylord earned Coach of the Year honors in 1994 from the National Federation of Interscholastic Coaches and was inducted into the Section III Coaches Hall of Fame in 2000.

Not to be forgotten, however, was Gaylord's career as the Remsen Central School baseball coach. From 1965-1976 and again from 1979-1987, Gaylord skippered the Rams to seven league championships. Among the titles earned were the 1965 Clinton County Interscholastic League championships, the 1966 and 1967 Lewneida League championships, the 1972, 1973 and 1074 Semongca League championships and the 1987 Intervalley League championship.

"David Gaylord was a mentor and role model for younger coaches and a gentleman on and off the court," said Vernon-Verona-Sherrill boys basketball coach AI Knapp. If a role model consists of a man who has 50 years of coaching combined in two sports and a total of 21 different titles, then Coach Knapp is correct. David Gaylord is, without a doubt, one of the elite coaches to emanate from the Greater Utica area.