Ed. Note: This morning’s guest post comes from Peter Spiewak and the St. Anthony 2020 campaign. Please check it out and consider donating this holiday season as the school not only provides basketball talent to schools around the country, but does a great job educating students as well.
St. Anthony High School in Jersey City is a nationally-known basketball powerhouse.
The team’s head coach, Bob Hurley, is closing in on 1,100 career victories. He has 27 state championships, 12 Tournament of Champions titles and four USA Today National Championships to his name.
Each season, Hurley will send his players to some of the biggest and best college basketball programs across the country. This season, Kyle Anderson of UCLA, Myles Mack of Rutgers and Eli Carter of Florida are some of the most recognizable NCAA players to have worn Friar uniforms.
While Anderson is looking like a future first-round draft pick at the Pac-12 school, St. Anthony makes quite an impact in local mid-major conferences like the MAAC and NEC.
Former Friar Lucky Jones has made a big impact since stepping foot on Robert Morris’ campus three years ago. He is one of the Colonials’ leading scorers this season and he is already closing in on the 1,000-point mark for his career as a junior. Jones was a key component for Hurley’s team during its 2011 undefeated season, in which the Friars finished the season ranked number one in the nation. The season was highlighted by a victory over Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and St. Patrick’s, in which Jones scored 12 points, grabbed nine rebounds and shut down the future NBA star on the defensive end, holding him to just seven points.
After transferring from Maryland, forward Ashton Pankey is beginning to make an impact in the MAAC for Manhattan. Kentrall Brooks, another St. Anthony product, is a 6’8 freshman forward at Marist. He is a big man with loads of potential, who will certainly help the Red Foxes in the coming seasons. Guard Edon Molic earned a spot with St. Francis Brooklyn as a walk-on this season.
A recent graduate of Quinnipiac, Jamee Jackson, who is playing for Batumi in the Georgia Superleague, is averaging a double-double in his first professional season. Former Friars point guard Dwayne Lee was hired as an assistant coach under Greg Herenda at Fairleigh Dickinson after spending one season as a graduate manager for Wagner. When Lee departed for FDU, head coach Bashir Mason brought in another St. Anthony graduate, Obie Nwadike, to fill the vacancy left by Lee. NEC fans will remember Nwadike’s terrific playing career at Central Connecticut State, where he led the Blue Devils to a conference championship and NCAA Tournament berth in 2007. Nwadike was sixth in the nation in rebounding that season and averaged 11.5 points per game and 8.9 rebounds per game throughout his career.
All of the on-court success the Friars on the high school, college and professional level is certainly a source of pride for Hurley and St. Anthony. But, Hurley’s favorite statistics? The 100 percent graduation rate and 100 percent college acceptance rate for the entire school over the last 20 years.
In a city where public schools graduate 67% of their students, St. Anthony gives at-risk youths an opportunity to earn a high school degree and get prepared for college—setting the students on a path to a successful future.
Unfortunately, like many Catholic schools in the area, St. Anthony is struggling financially. Jersey City has already seen two Catholic high schools, St. Aloysius and St. Mary’s, close in recent years. Holy Family Academy of neighboring Bayonne closed this past year, as well.
The tuition for one student to attend St. Anthony is $5,700, but the actual cost of educating a student is $11,400, leaving the school to cover the difference and constantly fighting to keep its doors open.
Due in part to the team’s basketball success and its famous head coach, Hurley and the school administrators have been able to do just enough to keep St. Anthony afloat.
However, Hurley knows he cannot coach forever. He also knows that the faculty and staff at St. Anthony have done far more for its students than can be measured in wins and championships. With that in mind, Hurley is leading the charge to save the school with St. Anthony 2020.
St. Anthony 2020 is a year-long national media campaign to support St. Anthony’s existing fundraising program.
“I’ve accomplished many incredible things during my time at St. Anthony,” said the coach. “But, ensuring financial security for the school is one of the most important. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness, and a result, enough money to help keep the school financially secure through the year 2020.”
To learn more about Hurley’s campaign or to make a donation, you can visit StAnthony2020.com.
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