NFL

The Rumble: Former Harlem Hellfighters coach proud of alum in NFL

It has been six years since the Harlem Hellfighters last played a game, but all the memories began rushing back this week for former coach Duke Fergerson.

Alumnus Martin Wallace, signed as an undrafted free agent, made the Browns’ roster.

“He’s the first kid to come out of a Harlem school probably ever to make a roster onto a professional [football] team,” Fergerson told The Rumble’s Zach Braziller. “The thing about him, he came in and he took advantage of the program just the way it was supposed to be set up. He worked really hard. I’m extremely happy for Martin. He graduated, did his time and he’s succeeding at the next level.”

Fergerson, a former NFL wide receiver with the Seahawks and Bills, started the Hellfighters in 2002 as a way for student athletes in football-starved Harlem to play the sport on the high school level. Following that season, however, the PSAL fired Ferguson for “professional misconduct” and for jeopardizing the eligibility and safety of players, and canceled the team’s season. A series of allegations, court dates and appeals from both sides followed, but the Hellfighters haven’t played a game since the end of the 2007 season.

Wallace, who attended Beacon High School and starred at Temple, came to Fergerson as an inexperienced player with size and developed into a Division I athlete. He was mentored by Harlem native Courtney Hall, a center with the Chargers. His senior year, the Hellfighters won their division but lost to John Adams in the PSAL Cup Division championship game. Over his high school career, Fergerson said Wallace allowed just one sack.

“The way he worked and his thirst for knowledge about his position was coupled with his size,” said Fergerson, who is working on bringing a new culinary and hospitality school to Harlem. “You can’t coach size, somebody 6-6, 305 pounds with long arms.”

Magic behind push for Mills as NBA union exec

Momentum is building around former MSG President Steve Mills as the top choice for new executive director of the NBA Players Association. Magic Johnson took to social media this week to officially endorse the Long Island native, former Princeton hoops star and hard-nosed businessman who currently runs a wealth management firm for athletes and entertainers.

Magic tweeted directly to newly elected Players Association President Chris Paul as well as LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant, saying Mills is the “one man that can help you take the NBA players union to the next level.”

Rose recalls memorable Piazza homer after 9/11

Driving to Shea Stadium on Sept. 21, 2001, Howie Rose was conflicted.

“Honestly, I really didn’t know if playing baseball was the right thing to do,” Rose recalled. “Everyone knew somebody who lost somebody on September 11, and here we were playing baseball.”

A few hours later, Rose had his second-most memorable call in his broadcasting career. The Mets were trailing the Braves 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning when Mike Piazza hit a two-run home run for the 3-2 victory, a home run many view as the first step in the city’s healing.

“When he hit the home run and I heard the crowd, I knew it was the right thing to do,” Rose said. “ It was a special night. It made people feel that life could go on again.”

John Franco, now a Mets ambassador, pitched in that memorable game.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is how our organization pitched in to help,” Franco said. “We had a group of guys who knew what the right thing to do was.”

The Mets play host to the Nationals Sept. 11.

NHL latches on to youth hockey Hero

A local area youth hockey team is planning to donate a dollar for every goal and/or assists and wins the team earns this season to help fight cancer.

The North Jersey Avalanche Squirt Minor team — made up of 9-year-olds — was inspired by their coach, Johnny Hero, whose former high school teammate, Tom Kurth, was diagnosed this past summer with Hodgkins Lymphoma.

The NHL heard about the story and has invited the team to a shopping spree hosted by the Flyers’ Claude Giroux. The kids, along with Giroux, who is committed to Hockey Fights Cancer, picked up merchandise and apparel from the NHL Powered by Reebok Store in midtown on Friday to give to Kurth as a surprise, while he recovers at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

Kurth’s friends and teammates, including Hero, scheduled a charity tournament for him at the Prudential Center on Saturday to help Kurth cover his medical costs.

Coach clinic to benefit Carr Foundation

Fairleigh Dickinson will host the third annual Brayden Carr Foundation Coaches Clinic on Sept. 20, honoring the deceased son of Rhode Island assistant coach Jim Carr and his wife Natalie. Brayden Carr was a 2 ¹/₂-year-old boy whose life was cut short after a long battle with seizures and resulting medical conditions.

The clinic will feature Arizona head coach Sean Miller, Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon, Marquette head coach Buzz Williams, Nets assistant coach Lawrence Frank, Bobcats head coach Steve Clifford and former NBA player John Lucas. All proceeds go to the Brayden Carr Foundation, a non-profit organization that offers humanitarian financial aid to children battling similar problems Brayden Carr faced and their parents.

The clinic is open to all coaches. It will run from 9 a.m. until approximately 4:30 p.m. with a pre-event registration from 7:30-8:45 a.m. and a lunch break from 12:20-1:10 p.m. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

A $150.00 donation fee per coach is required and walk-up registration is accepted. The first 500 to register receive a polo shirt and gift.

“It’s obviously a labor of love for me and my wife,” Jim Carr told The Rumble. “We try to make it a special event. It’s really turned into a good east coast basketball event.”

For additional information on the foundation and to register for the coaching clinic, visit http://www.braydencarrfoundation.org.

Moms show their fashion cents

The wives of Amar’e Stoudemire, CC Sabathia and Jorge Posada were walking for a cause at the Mercedes Benz Fashion show Strut: the Fashionable Moms show on the main stage at Lincoln Center. The Moms, Denise Albert and Melissa Musen Gerstein, strutted down the catwalk with moms of all shapes and sizes walking for a cause that is close to them. Denise was walking in honor of the Peter C Alderman Foundation, a foundation close to her and her father Marv Albert. Additional notable Moms in the show included Katina Taylor, wife of former NFLer Jason Taylor, Alysia Reiner from Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black,” Victoria Recano of “Inside Edition” and WNBC’s Darlene Rodriguez. … Mets favorites Edgardo Alfonzo and Bud Harrelson step forward as “celebrity coaches” for a WIFFLE Ball Tournament next Sunday at Citi Field with funds donated to Madison Square Boys & Girls Club.