You know Bob Hurley Sr. had other opportunities. Not just Rutgers or Seton Hall, but big-time Big East and ACC powers, and there is no program in the country that wouldn’t have plunked down $500,000 and hired him as an assistant coach.
But Hurley always knew who he was and where he belonged. So the native son stayed in Jersey City, stayed at St. Anthony High School.
You know he had better things to do Wednesday night. The Hall of Fame basketball coach could have made one phone call, flown down to Miami and would have been sitting front row for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
But Bob Hurley Sr. had more important things to do.
So there he was, at a Midtown East steakhouse, sipping a soft drink as guys making 10 times in one year what he has made in a lifetime politely waited for a chance to chat with the greatest high school basketball coach of all time.
When the night was over, when Hurley had done what he loves to do most when not coaching basketball — talking basketball — St. Anthony of Jersey City had another $10,000 in its coffers.
The money, donated by Wall Street guys who haven’t forgotten not everyone gets an annual bonus, wasn’t earmarked for the legendary basketball program Hurley has built. It wasn’t going for sneakers or shot machines.
It went to the school’s general scholarship fund, because that’s where it’s needed. That’s why Hurley, one of just four high school coaches in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, was raising money.
Because Hurley has always known the power of education, known that small parochial schools such as St. Anthony are the lifeblood of communities from New Jersey to New Mexico, known those schools can be the only way a handful of kids will get a chance to work on Wall Street or Main Street, but more important, not end up on the street known as Dead End.
“Look at St. Pat’s, in Jersey City all the schools St. Anthony’s size, St Aloysius, St. Mary’s, St. Michael’s, they’ve all closed,” Hurley said. “The parish school that my kids went to in Jersey City, Our Lady of Mercy, just closed. My daughter’s high school, Holy Family, just closed.
“Graduation was this past Saturday and for the 20th year there was 100 percent college acceptance. This is not a prep school. This is an inner-city school. There was six and one-half million dollars in scholarship money coming out of the graduating class.’’
There is a national tragedy unfolding before our very eyes, yet many of us are too busy to see or too distracted by problems that hit closer to home. It happens.
But the loss of the schools Hurley mentioned creates a void not easily filled. From sea to sea there are terrific private schools — Mater Dei in Santa Ana, Calif., Archbishop Moeller in Cincinnati, Bergen Catholic in Oradell, N.J.
The tuition at those schools makes the St. Anthony tuition of about $5,700 seem like lunch money. That’s right, $5,700 for a private school education. Wednesday night’s gathering raised nearly two tuitions.
“Why do we do it?,’’ asked Michael Pizzo, one of the organizers. “I think if you put coach Hurley in a room for 15 minutes with any audience, anyone would leave saying it would be an absolute shame if this quality man was not able to shape the minds of today’s youth.
“If that school shuts down, nobody wins, except the teams that wouldn’t be getting a beatdown by the hoops team. He’s a beacon of hope.’’
You wonder where the kids, whose parents can’t afford most private schools yet need smaller class sizes to excel, go? You know where, and often it’s not a pretty picture.
“If we cannot keep going, we would look at alternative ways to try to educate these same kids,’’ said Hurley, his voice determined, not defeated.
“I don’t know what will happen down the road, but I know at the end of this year we’ll probably hit our number or be a little bit short. Next year is iffy but we’ll probably do it. Anything after that, I’d have to be very optimistic to think the school will continue to function.’’
As long as there are generous Wall Street guys like the ones who gathered Wednesday night, and teachers such as Hurley, I am very optimistic — very.