A different kind of
sports tradition continued on Super Sunday
in Brooklyn. Some years ago two of New York City's most well respected
high school basketball coaches ; Jack Alesi of Xaverian and the late great Mike
Crump of Wadleigh High began what would become an annual game between two
schools that would not normally play each other in the midst of hotly contested
league competition in the CHSAA and PSAL.
"We
got a call from Mike in '06 when he needed a game and since then it's been a
yearly tradition that we play each
other, Xaverian assistant Chris Alesi said.
Sometimes, the Clippers would visit Wadleigh as part of the annual
Rucker Classic held there but as Chris explained, "....mostly it was Super Sunday at Mike's request".
This
Super Sunday marked Wadleigh's first visit to Xaverian since Coach Crump's
sudden passing on January 11th. Before the game Joe Hunter, Crump's friend and
long time assistant coach who is now charged with the daunting task of
succeeding Mike under the most tragic of
circumstances captured the real significance of the day when he said simply,
"We have to keep the spirit of this game alive".
Through
the years the "spirit of the game" had become an intense but friendly
rivalry. In conversations with Coach
Crump through the years he would often say that the value of the game for
his team was to help them get ready for
a playoff run by facing a tough well
schooled CHSAA team. Both Coach Crump and Coach Alesi viewed the game as a
unique opportunity to face a good team
while stepping away from the rigors of league play. The competition between the
players was always intense but at the end of the day both teams got what they
needed because they got better having
played each other. This Wadleigh team, like all those he coached reflected
Mike's intensity.
For Mike,
the game was one of many opportunities
he used to first build a program at Wadleigh and then sustain a its success.
With that in mind, it must be remembered that the most important reason for
Mike's success was the force of his
personality. His unique combination of intensity, good humor and kindness drew
people of all shapes sizes and stripes to him.
In the
stories and tributes that followed Coach Crump's passing much was made of his
success with what were referred to as "second chance kids". While I
suspect that's a part of his legacy that meant a great deal to him, two other
aspects of his success should be remembered as well.
Mike not
only built his program with second chance kids, he did it almost exclusively with
kids from the Harlem neighborhood that he served so well, and that he loved so
much. Perhaps Mike's greatest of many great gifts was his ability to get into
his kids lives and his passion that their lives be better because of the time
he had teaching them.
It also
should be remembered that the challenge of building a basketball program at
Wadleigh was unique in part because of the history of the school and building on West 114th street. It had only been
re-chartered as a co-educational high school in 1993 and by the turn of the
century the building had been split into
its current two unique schools Wadleigh and Frederick Douglas Academy.
In his
own unique way Mike persevered and essentially built a program from scratch
when he arrived at Wadleigh 14 years
ago. His success, which included 5 PSAL Manhattan titles and regular season
titles in each of his 9 full seasons, is even more impressive considering that
he, unlike many other coaches, did not have a history upon which to draw. His
challenge was unique and he succeeded I think largely because he embraced it
with the same zeal that he embraced teaching and changing his kids lives. Coach
Hunter, his players and future generations of Wadleigh students will continue
what has become a great program but Mike's place as the program's
"founding coach" if you will, will be remembered always. And the
program will always reflect his values of putting kids first and doing things
the right way
Yesterday's
game resulted in a win for Xaverian but the outcome was secondary. what
mattered was that an annual game,
between two programs and coaches had continued. I'm sure, as coach Hunter said,
Mike's spirit was with us. I'm also sure that Mike's life and passion will
always be a part of Wadleigh, New York basketball and the lives he touched.
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