coolhandgopher
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I just finished reading Adrian Wojnarowski's book on the dynasty that Bob Hurley has established in Jersey City, NJ for the small Catholic school that has struggled to maintain its operation during much of his tenure as basketball coach. Hurley grew up in Jersey City and has stayed ever since, beginning his head coaching career in 1966 to the present day and during this time he has become a legend of the game, even though his teams never had an actual home court during the vast majority of his years at St. Anthony's.
The reporting done by Wojnarowski (who currently writes on the NBA for yahoo! sports) for the book is incredible; he truly embeds himself in the life of St. Anthony from the head coach to the assistants to the players and families who comprise the St. Anthony team. Having a reporter chronicling his every move does not deter Hurley in the least-his language is salty, his style with his players confrontational, and his demands unbending. Hurley believes that he needs to provide this challenge to players whose collective backgrounds have typically not provided the discipline to succeed beyond high school.
Hurley has produced several D-1 scholarship players through the years, but his 2004 senior class did not have a player who would go directly to a D-1 campus, due to a combination of self-defeating behaviors. They exasperated Hurley and his daily criticism of their behavior was unflinching. Wojnarowski combines the day to day trials of this current St. Anthony squad with some history of the school, history of previous players, and the paths taken by Hurley's sons, Bobby and Danny after college careers at Duke and Seton Hall.
Early on in the book, I couldn't help but cringe at Hurley's style-to term him a hard ass doesn't seem a harsh enough term. Yet as the book continues, you start to see how his unbending style only lasts through the player's final game as a senior; from that point forward, Hurley becomes a strong advocate for his players who endured their careers under Hurley. There are a few stories shared that were pretty touching, testaments given by ex-players who moved beyond the pull of the streets of Jersey City.
Among high school basketball books, The Miracle of St. Anthony ranks closely to The Last Shot as the finest of its genre. Highly recommended. It was originally released in 2004, with a paperback edition in 2005 which provides a nice epilogue. If you have already read the book and are curious to what happened with some of the main characters, I found the following updates doing a brief search of the internet:
Ahmad Nivins just finished a solid career at St. Joseph's and was drafted in the 2nd round of this past NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks. Mike Rosario went on to become a McDonald's All-American who just finished his freshman year at Rutgers. Here's an article on Rosario:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/kevin_armstrong/02/08/mike.rosario/
On Nivins:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/spor...mad_Nivins_has_worked_to_be_a_top_talent.html
Derrick Mercer:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/12/AR2009031203365.html
Marcus Williams and Otis Campbell:
http://www.northeastconference.org/Sports/mbball/2006/mbb-5questionswilliamsm.asp
Sean McCurdy:
http://www.tribeathletics.com/story.php/5902/
http://espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=27096
Miles Beatty:
http://www.gwsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/beatty_miles00.html
Ahmad Mosby:
http://www.sjcny.edu/media/2075_DIVIIIREL07.pdf
Darren Erman:
http://talkaboutitidiots.blogspot.com/2008/07/perseverance-pays-off.html
The reporting done by Wojnarowski (who currently writes on the NBA for yahoo! sports) for the book is incredible; he truly embeds himself in the life of St. Anthony from the head coach to the assistants to the players and families who comprise the St. Anthony team. Having a reporter chronicling his every move does not deter Hurley in the least-his language is salty, his style with his players confrontational, and his demands unbending. Hurley believes that he needs to provide this challenge to players whose collective backgrounds have typically not provided the discipline to succeed beyond high school.
Hurley has produced several D-1 scholarship players through the years, but his 2004 senior class did not have a player who would go directly to a D-1 campus, due to a combination of self-defeating behaviors. They exasperated Hurley and his daily criticism of their behavior was unflinching. Wojnarowski combines the day to day trials of this current St. Anthony squad with some history of the school, history of previous players, and the paths taken by Hurley's sons, Bobby and Danny after college careers at Duke and Seton Hall.
Early on in the book, I couldn't help but cringe at Hurley's style-to term him a hard ass doesn't seem a harsh enough term. Yet as the book continues, you start to see how his unbending style only lasts through the player's final game as a senior; from that point forward, Hurley becomes a strong advocate for his players who endured their careers under Hurley. There are a few stories shared that were pretty touching, testaments given by ex-players who moved beyond the pull of the streets of Jersey City.
Among high school basketball books, The Miracle of St. Anthony ranks closely to The Last Shot as the finest of its genre. Highly recommended. It was originally released in 2004, with a paperback edition in 2005 which provides a nice epilogue. If you have already read the book and are curious to what happened with some of the main characters, I found the following updates doing a brief search of the internet:
Ahmad Nivins just finished a solid career at St. Joseph's and was drafted in the 2nd round of this past NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks. Mike Rosario went on to become a McDonald's All-American who just finished his freshman year at Rutgers. Here's an article on Rosario:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/kevin_armstrong/02/08/mike.rosario/
On Nivins:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/spor...mad_Nivins_has_worked_to_be_a_top_talent.html
Derrick Mercer:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/12/AR2009031203365.html
Marcus Williams and Otis Campbell:
http://www.northeastconference.org/Sports/mbball/2006/mbb-5questionswilliamsm.asp
Sean McCurdy:
http://www.tribeathletics.com/story.php/5902/
http://espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=27096
Miles Beatty:
http://www.gwsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/beatty_miles00.html
Ahmad Mosby:
http://www.sjcny.edu/media/2075_DIVIIIREL07.pdf
Darren Erman:
http://talkaboutitidiots.blogspot.com/2008/07/perseverance-pays-off.html