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Dick Enberg Brings Al McGuire’s Life To the Stage
BY BERNIE BEGLANE
Add playwright to the illustrious career of Dick Enberg.
The longtime sports announcer who has left his mark on a variety of sports, found time to write a play titled “McGuire.”
And if you guessed it was about the late Al McGuire, his longtime partner on college basketball telecasts, you are correct.
The show made its debut during the NCAA Final Four in Atlanta last season.
And it is coming to ‘Broadway,’ actually to Hempstead, L.I. – Hofstra University to be precise – on Feb 9-10.
Shows are scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 9, at 1 and 8 p.m. On Sunday, Feb. 10, the lone show is set for 2 p.m.
The Black Box Theatre on the South Campus is where the play is to be presented.
Hofstra’s Athletic Department and the Department of Drama and Dance have cooperated with Marquette University in staging the play.
It was at Marquette that Al made a name for himself in the coaching ranks.
The Rockaway native played at St. John’s Prep when it was in Brooklyn and then at St. John’s University where his brother, Dick, was quite the standout. He was selected as the No. 1 player in the Met College ranks in 1944 before going on duty in the Navy.
That award later became the Frank Haggerty Memorial in honor of the St. John’s University standout who was the first Met collegiate player killed in action during World War II.
Dick McGuire is now a scout for the New York Knicks for whom he played after St. John’s.
As for the play itself, it is directed by Heidi Mueller Smith.
Cotter Smith plays the featured role of Al McGuire.
Enberg will do talk-backs with the audience after all performances.
Kaiser Is Recovering
Jack Kaiser, athletic director emeritus at St. John’s University, is on the mend after being hit by a car leaving the school campus.
Also former baseball coach for the Vincentian Fathers’ school, Jack suffered six cracked ribs in the accident.
Remember him in your prayers.
The accident caused him to miss the baseball team’s annual winter dinner at the New York Athletic Club.
Over 250 attended and listened to David Wright, the New York Mets’ third baseman, as the guest speaker.
Matt Galante, and John Franco, two of the many St. John’s players to make it to the major leagues, were in attendance.
Tom Henry Has Died
Tom Henry, a member of St. John’s University’s 1942 National Invitation Tournament team, has gone to his eternal reward.
Henry had been active in CYO circles in Nassau County.
Henry Rossi, former registrar, and Larry Deckinger, a business school professor, both of St. John’s, and both avid boosters of the athletic program, and Helen Soehnlein, sister of Father Thomas Concagh, CM, former vice president of St. John’s University, also have died.
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