One of the state’s most highly respected mentors, Kevin Brady recently recorded the 1,000th overall victory of his distinguished 30-year career coaching three sports.

The milestone came in East Brunswick’s 9-3 win over Woodbridge in the Greater Middlesex Conference Soccer for a Cause Chairty Festival at Metuchen High School.

Freshman Jacqueline Goldovsky scored four goals in the victory and the Bears posted another huge number, raising more than $650 for The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, which was a beneficiary of the fundraising event.

Brady has accumulated an astonishing 1,000-391-37 record at two high schools while coaching girls soccer, softball and girls basketball over three decades.

The veteran mentor owns a 458-136-37 record in girls soccer (319-71-23 at East Brunswick and 139-65-14 at Spotswood), a 449-224 mark as East Brunswick’s softball coach, and a 93-58 ledger at Spotswood’s girls basketball coach.

Brady has won a total of 16 conference championships (14 in soccer and two in softball), 28 division titles (18 in soccer, eight in softball, and two in basketball), and five sectional crowns (four in softball and one in soccer).

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Photo courtesy Alexander Lewis/MyCentralJersey.com

“I’ve always been an enormous Kevin Brady fan,” said Greater Middlesex Conference Executive Director Frank Noppenberger, who worked alongside Brady for years as East Brunswick High School’s athletics director.

“Especially his interaction with the kids. He has a calm demeanor and excellent communication skills.”

Noppenberger said Brady, who teaches English at East Brunswick, is as outstanding an educator as he is a coach.

“East Brunswick is very lucky to have him as a teacher and a coach,” Noppenberger said. “He’s a great teacher and he coaches two high-profile sports at East Brunswick. He and I (as athletics director) were on the same page about everything from philosophy to practices to games. It was a pleasure working with him.”

Noppenberger, who serves on The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s Board of Trustees, said since Brady began his coaching career at East Brunswick, he has always taught life lessons on and off the field and led by example.

Those lessons include sportsmanship, which Noppenberger witnessed during Brady’s first season as East Brunswick’s softball coach, when the Bears won a sectional final on a close play at the plate.

Before celebrating with his own team, Brady consoled an opposing player, “which showed me a lot about his character,” Noppenberger said, adding the veteran mentor is among the most humble persons he knows.

Brady led the East Brunswick softball team to a single-season 26 wins during the 2001 season, guided the Spotswood girls basketball team to a single-season 22 wins during the 2010 campaign, and helped the East Brunswick girls soccer team win 21 games in consecutive seasons (2009 and 2010).

East Brunswick currently owns a 7-3 record on the pitch and takes a four-game winning streak into tomorrow’s game against Monroe.