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Holy Cross Enjoys Long-Awaited 2nd CHSAA Title
BY BERNIE BEGLANE
Forty years passed before Holy Cross won its second New York City CHSAA basketball championship.
“A long time,” exclaimed Paul Gilvary, coach of the Flushing school, “and it was hard to predict just how good we were going to be.
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Holy Cross Varsity - City Champs |
“All five starters returned, and last season they were good enough to win the Brooklyn-Queens title.
“The league is so tough, however, that you cannot predict anything.”
Holy Cross, which won the city title in 1968, defeated Christ the King of Middle Village, 64-62, at Rose Hill Gymnasium Fordham University, two Sundays ago for a final record of 22-9.
The veteran starters were Sylven Landesberg, Kayvon Roberts, Tim Beinert, Ernest Freeman and Blaise Ffrench.
“That game marked the fourth time we played each other this season,” continued Gilvary who has completed 12 seasons as head coach after 11 as an assistant to Jim Kerr.
“We lost twice in the regular season, once in double overtime. However, in the Diocese of Brooklyn semi-finals at St. Francis Prep (Fresh Meadows), we won, 77-69.
“The city championship game was low scoring because both teams knew each other so well that it was hard to run anything.”
After the two teams battled to a 27-27 tie at halftime, Holy Cross took command and held a 38-34 edge heading into the fourth quarter.
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Sylven Landesberg |
Landesberg was top scorer with 24 points, Ffrench added 12 and Roberts nine, all in the second half.
All while Ffrench held Erving Walker of CTK to 11 points.
“The reaction to our victory was tremendous,” related Gilvary, “First of all, Paul O’Meara (son of Bill, now-deceased and the previous coach) was at the game.
“So was Jim Kerr and so were many of his players.
“Afterwards we received all kinds of calls, cards and letters. The alumni really enjoyed our success.”
Christ the King and Rice had been nationally ranked, so as a result of capturing the city title, Holy Cross gained the same stature, finishing No. 15 in the final poll.
“Our semi-final win against Rice gave us extreme confidence for the final,” concluded Gilvary.
“We have had a lot of great players over 40 years, but it’s so hard to win a championship.”
St. Francis Hosts Browne Sanders
A rapt crowd of St. Francis College student-athletes and their classmates shared a long conversation at St. Francis College, with Anucha Browne Sanders, the former New York Knicks executive who recently won a sexual discrimination suit against the team.
For Browne Sanders, now the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Marketing at the University of Buffalo, it was a homecoming of sorts. She started her basketball career in Brooklyn playing for St. Saviour H.S. with several of those games taking place on St. Francis College’s court.
Browne Sanders traced her career and the steps she took to get where she is today. “I graduated from Northwestern, had my master’s degree but no job,” she said. So she wrote a letter to Eastman Kodak, which had previously selected her as a Kodak All-American the year she led the nation in scoring. Browne Sanders then moved to IBM where a mentor helped her switch over to athletic marketing for the Olympics. She was recruited by the Knicks and became one of the highest ranking female executives for any team in the NBA.
Amid the turmoil at that job, Browne Sanders said she focused on the things she loved, “I brought in young women and minorities and mentored them. My office looked like a snapshot of our fan base. I brought in Latinos, African-Americans and women.” Browne Sanders said she is now at her dream job in Buffalo, working with student athletes.
She offered several pieces of advice to the students now getting ready to embark on their own career path, “Think about what sets you apart. Write it down and work on it. Hone it.”
SJU Hoops Star Dies
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Alan Seiden |
Alan Seiden, who registered 22 points for St. John’s University in a 76-71 double overtime victory over Bradley in the finals of the 1959 National Invitation Tournament, died last Saturday.
Seiden, 71, whose 1959 heroics led the then nicknamed Redmen to their third NIT title, had suffered strokes over the last two years.
The five-ten guard scored a career total 1,374 points (18.3 average), played for the now-deceased Joe Lapchick.
Seiden received the Haggerty Trophy in 1959. The award is for the MVP in the Metropolitan New York area.
Prior to St. John’s, he led Jamaica High School to the 1955 Public Schools Athletic League title. He established a PSAL record with a career 1,349 points.
Although selected by the St. Louis Hawks, Seiden never played in the NBA.
Please pray for him!
- Bernie Beglane
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