When soccer fans look back on Steinert’s powerhouse teams of the 1970s and 80s, the coaches who spring to mind are varsity head mentors Mario “Goose” Laurenti and Paul Tessein.
But behind the scenes, the man with a sharp soccer mind and dry wit was helping to shape the state champion-caliber players that those two inherited.
Ted Kinter, who died July 5, served as the Spartans JV coach from 1971-83 and amassed an incredible 172-29-17 record (.789 percentage). He helped develop players who would go on to become All-County, All-State and All-American performers.
For his efforts, the Crosswicks native was inducted into the Mercer County Soccer and Steinert Athletic halls of fame.
As a JV coach!
“He was a big part of player development for the varsity level and all the success of that program,” said Paul “The Haitian” Fink, who played on Kinter’s final team in 1983. “He was a player’s coach. He had a good rapport with everybody on the team. It wasn’t just a few guys. He knew the game. He had a great sense of the game and where to play the players.”
Fink is the youngest of seven brothers, six of whom played for Kinter (Tom went straight to varsity). Every one of them had a nickname and, at his hilarious Steinert HOF induction speech, just months before his passing, Kinter said “It took me about 10 years to figure out the Finks actually had real names.”
“He was very proud of his accomplishments,” said Ken Kinter, Ted’s oldest son. “At his Steinert induction speech he bragged about how well his players did in soccer and more importantly in life; and about being an honorary member of the Fink family.
“He didn’t think of it as varsity and JV, he saw himself as a partner of Coach Tessein and they had identical goals for success. As a kid, I didn’t even know there was a distinction. I just thought of both of them as Steinert’s coaches. He kept in touch with former players to the end of his life and often told stories about them.”
Sam Maira, who had a legendary coaching career in South Jersey and currently serves as a Princeton University assistant, played goalie on one of Kinter’s earliest teams in 1973. Upon becoming a coach, Maira drew on Kinter’s wisdom.
“He was a reminder that the game is the teacher,” the former Rutgers ’keeper said. “When I think about his practices, it was learning how to play less by drills and more by playing; and that you can get points across without shouting, which was kind of popular back in our day. His approach was more calm and cerebral, which had a calm effect on all of us.”
That style made Kinter a quietly powerful instructor, on and off the pitch. Known to Steinert students for his sardonic wit and a resemblance to former big band leader Mitch Miller, he taught for 34 years and headed the school’s English department. Students loved being assigned to his classes, seeing it as an hour of stand-up comedy in the midst of learning.
He was famous for telling his speed reading students to go home and inform their parents at dinner what they learned, saying “They will be so amazed their heads will drop straight down into the mashed potatoes.”
“Dad was known for his sense of humor and stories as much as anything,” Ken said. “He loved (humorist) Jean Shepherd. He brought humor to everything he did — in the classroom, on the pitch, at home and at Steinert, where there was a whole crew of cut-ups. He was the life of most parties.
“He also loved giving historical/fictional talks about the Crosswicks area where ‘You can’t make this up’ met ‘I may have made that up.’ Even at the end of his life, he was watching those Dean Martin celebrity roasts and laughing about them.”
Humor, humility and success made Kinter a legend within the halls of Steinert, which is why varsity coach Anthony Tessein and the current Spartan team will honor Ted on Sept. 27 at the 10 a.m. home game with Hamilton West.
“I never met coach Kinter until his time with Steinert soccer had long passed but I hear the stories from the older guys,” Tessein said. “I’m always looking to bring alumni back. We want to honor people who have put in their share of the time and this was an easy one.”
Tessein said that within the “simple celebration,” Steinert will dedicate the day and the game to Kinter, and someone will read about his achievements at halftime. After that, “If someone wants to say something, that’s great,” Tessein said. “It’s a little open ended in that sense.”
According to his obituary, Kinter graduated from Hamilton West and Western Maryland College and was a standout baseball player before embarking on his professional career. An avid bowler, boater and fisherman, Kinter and longtime partner Carol Kish were members of the Brant Beach Yacht Club and spent ample time on Long Beach Island. He had a lifelong love of Crosswicks, giving talks about the area’s history for the Historical Society.
While at Steinert, Kinter advocated for better conditions for students, teachers and staff as a leader in the New Jersey and Hamilton Township educator’s associations.
He is survived by Ken and younger son Jeffrey, daughters-in-law PJ and Karen and grandchildren Jackson and Bryce.
PJ is organizing a memorial on Sep. 7 at Tall Cedars Picnic Grove on Sawmill Road from noon to 5 p.m. Anyone interested in attending should call her at 732-996-0412 or email pjwenger22@gmail.com.
It could be a strong turnout for a guy whose impact is still felt among former players.
“He managed all aspects and left us with great memories,” said Maira, a goalie for the 1975 co-state champions. “As we moved up to varsity he was the introspective guy that stayed out of the spotlight but was always there for us. The first thing that comes to mind is the wonderful human being he was: kind, compassionate, intelligent.”
Fink, who starred for a 16-2-2 team as a senior, concurred, saying, “He was a good guy. He looked out for us. He was beloved by all of us. He had that great sense of humor and we played for him because he had that great rapport with us.”
The Haitian noted that Kinter, who also coached at the Bronc Soccer School and in Hamilton Rec, would try and work on technique a bit “but it was more that he let us play. He would observe and move us around to see where our strengths were. And it worked because when guys went to varsity they were playing the same position as they did on JV so he was doing it right.”
Maira could not stress enough how important Kinter’s laid-back style became to his players, who went on to win four state titles as varsity performers.
“His gift was that he let us play, he didn’t get in the way of the game, didn’t complicate it, and kept the joy and fun of playing at the forefront,” Maira said. “We had a lot of very good and ambitious players who wanted to win and wanted to be varsity high school players with college hopes. But we were also 15 and 16 year old goofballs! He was a great role model at a time we certainly needed one.”
And while Kinter always cared and looked out for the young men on his team, he was, of course, partial to the ones he called sons and grandsons.
Though their parents divorced when Ken was 14, “Dad never stopped being a father to my younger brother and I.” He said some of their best times together were the past few years. Ken was diagnosed with leukemia in 2023 and Ted—who died of cancer—was always at his side.
“Imagine watching your 85-year-old father mowing your lawn and fixing things because you can’t,” said Ken, who has been cancer-free since December 2023. “If I asked for something, it magically appeared.
“When he was diagnosed with cancer, I was grateful to be able to help him in his fight. Even though that fight was brief and didn’t end as we would have liked, I’m grateful to have been there for him as he was for me.”
Ken considered his dad a major inspiration “in pretty much everything I did.” He admired Ted’s seamless blending of teaching and coaching as he used soccer to help learn about and succeed in life.
For Kinter, wins were always secondary. “Apart from his collection of championship jackets, he didn’t talk about being so successful,” Ken said. “I didn’t even know what his winning percentage was. He never spoke of his accomplishments, but spoke of those of the players often. When you think of coaches whose winning percentages approach 80 percent, they are all legends and I never thought of dad at that level until the hall of fame ceremony, which he was very honored by.
“We are all very honored and grateful at how Steinert has reached out and has remembered Dad. It speaks to the Spartan Pride that he was so proud to be a part of.”
And Tessein hopes that pride for what Kinter accomplished will be on full display Sept. 27.
