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CK Girls Rebound to Win State ‘A’ Championship
BY BERNIE BEGLANE
Imagine doing a favor for someone for 18 years!
Bob Mackey was recalling how he became a science teacher/girls basketball coach at Christ the King R.H.S., Middle Village.
“I had been at St. Nicholas of Tolentine High School (the Bronx) when the decision was made to close it down,” explained the SUNY-Oneonta graduate.
“That was in June 1991 and soon after that I ran into Father (John) Savage at Christ the King and he asked me if I was looking for a job.
“When I told him I taught biology, chemistry and earth science, he offered me a teaching position and a basketball coaching position.”
Obviously things worked out as Mackey is in his 18th year at CTK and just completed his ninth as head coach.
And what a ninth season!
The Royals defeated Franklin Academy of upstate Malone, 70-63, to win the New York State Federation Class A championship 12 days ago in Glens Falls Civic Center.
STILL CHAMPIONS: Geliesa George scores two points for Christ the King.
The Royals had captured 13 titles in the higher classified Division AA, but a 45-41 loss to Archbishop Molloy of Briarwood, earlier this season dropped the perennial champs to Class A.
Bria Smith, who registered 33 points in the championship contest, was selected the tournament’s MVP.
“Nia Oden, only a freshman, came off the bench as the ‘sixth woman’ and did a great job,” offered Mackey.
“In the semi-finals, Jael Pena, our only senior starter, had 23 points in our (65-60) victory over Curtis. “I can’t help but think back to the loss to Molloy and realize how much the girls achieved since. Teenagers usually don’t bounce back so easily, but these girls did.”
Mackey, looking back to the setback at the hands of Molloy, continued, “That cost us the Brooklyn-Queens CHSAA championship. We had won that 23 years in a row.
“No excuses, but we were a young team and wound up 17-12. And for us to lose 12 games in one season is highly unusual.”
There was another honor that went to the Royals prior to the day they clinched the title.
Vinnie Cannizzaro, whom Mackey succeeded, was inducted into the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame.
“An honor well deserved,” concluded Mackey. “It was great working with him all those years.”
Things could have turned out differently if Bob did not do that favor 18 years ago!
Haggerty Award Remembers Local Athlete Killed in Military Service
Frank Haggerty!
Mention that name in college and high school basketball and baseball circles and one will recall that he was the first graduate of both Chaminade H.S., Mineola, L.I., and St. John’s University to die in military service during World War II.
Haggerty, a shortstop as well as a basketball player, was in the Army Air Force (now called the Air Force since it is a separate branch of the military) as a pursuit pilot when his plane crashed over the Catawba River in North Carolina 1942.
At the time of Frank’s death, Mike Lee, the late sports editor/columnist for the now defunct Long Island Press, wrote, “He was a great athlete…a distinguished student…a gentleman.
Father Victor Ulto, center, a former priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, now pastor of St. Bernadette parish in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and parishioner Brian Saville laugh as they serve a customer at a concession stand at the city’s Thomas J. White Stadium, spring training home of the New York Mets baseball team. Parishioners sold hot dogs, nachos and beer at two games this year to raise money for the church building fund.
“He gave his best at all times. Frank had the American spirit…the will to win.
The Fathers Club of Chaminade, to honor Haggerty, Class of 1936, introduced a basketball tournament in his memory.
Sixteen teams played at the now-shuttered Jamaica Arena in 1943 and ’44. So popular did it become that expansion was necessary.
Preliminary rounds continued to be held at Jamaica Arena and, in 1945, 16 teams moved into old Madison Square Garden for the remainder of the tourney.
That marked the first schoolboy competition at the 49th St. and Eighth Ave. venue. Attendance reached a little over 8,000.
The tourney was discontinued after 1948 but was brought back in 1983 by Jack Lenz, then the athletic director at Chaminade.
It continues to be played there annually.
While at Chaminade, Haggerty captained both the baseball and basketball squads.
At St. John’s, he co-captained the basketball team with the now-deceased Bill McKeever. Ironically, McKeever, a former director of security at his alma mater, was the one who called some of his SJU classmates and friends to tell them of Frank’s death.
Upon earning his degree from SJU, the shortstop signed with the Atlantic Crackers of the Southern Association.
Haggerty was sent to Selma, AL, a Class B team in the Southeastern League.
After one season he joined the military and went on to give his life for his country.
His athletic and military achievements have not been in vain.
Announcement Upcoming
The Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association present the outstanding local collegiate player with the Haggerty Trophy at the conclusion of each season.
Jim O’Connell, national basketball writer for Associated Press and originally from Our Lady of Lourdes parish, Queens Village, will present the 2008 award at the scribes’ annual dinner on April 17 at Giants Stadium, the Meadowlands.
The cocktail hour is 6 p.m. with the dinner to follow one hour later.
The all-Metropolitan teams of the divisions also will be honored as will the Coach of the Year.
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