With Trophies Given Away, a High School Coach’s Legacy Remains

Great story.

But spare us the gratuitous closing line "The archdiocese has already changed the locks."

Intentionally or not, it portrays the diocese as an ogre landlord who evicted the righteous tenants and threw them onto the streets - instead of the reality, which is that the diocese likely spent 10-15 years working with the school to try to save it.

I know it sells papers, but stop trying to make stories like this a good-guys vs. bad-guys story. It's beneath the NYTimes and the reporter's integrity to do so.

Coach Hurley has spoken at a basketball camp I work with for many summers. He is truly a class act. In this day and age, how many can say they have turned down tens of millions of dollars to stay and help their community? Few if any, that's for sure. But Coach Hurley turned down many chances to coach NCAA teams where he would have done just that. His unselfishness and caring amaze me. Sad that in the richest country in the history of the world that we can't find a way to get all kids a quality education and keep people like Coach Hurley doing what they do.

The Friars rule, and I'll never forget my childhood in the shadow of Lady Liberty.

The joke was that she had her derriere pointed to Jersey City, but we didn't care.

Hudson Blvd. is now Kennedy Blvd., and MLK drive came after the riots, and the Duncan Av. housing projects which ruined Lincoln Park are no more.

But was there ever anything better than jumping off the pier in the summer by the old Colgate clock?

The Dickenson Rams rock, and St. Anthony was a cool little school.

Gone but never forgotten.

Would have been nice if a few NBA stars helped the school
and a few of the very rich in NY City so the kids would have a chance
in this world.

A job well done Mr. and Mrs. Hurley. Thank you!

Guess the archdiocese has no money for such projects...their mission is what?

For over 175 years, the most successful anti-poverty program in this country has been the Catholic parochial schools. Wave after wave of immigrants, from Italians, Poles, Irish and Hispanics, as well as blacks and poor whites sent their kids to these schools where they received a good education in a safe and disciplined environment. Their graduates went on to colleges, filled our civil service and became businessmen, sportsmen, teachers and celebrities. Now, strapped for money, they are all closing their doors, condemning the children of the poor to the blight of public schools and another generation of poverty. God help us all.

As a Catholic school grad from the 70s who just graduated 2 girls from Catholic high school(and on to Jesuit colleges) in the 2010s I have been on the front lines for a long time, from a hoop player to school board member. We have few free educators now(I had excellent physics and math classes in high school with brothers) and the cost of public schools(and taxes) have risen so much that many who may have been Catholic school parents avail themselves of the decent public schools that are there. Ironically, the "free"public schools in Conn cost about 15k per pupil(plus untold pension obligations) while Catholic schools cost 4k (k-8) and 16k (9-12) so are actually less costly to run. Unless we have some kind of offset (vouchers/tax credits) the non public schools (including some preps) will be hard to maintain going forward. It is only fair. God bless Coach Hurley and all those like him.

Coach Hurley is an outstanding leader and role model. It is a shame that this important school in Hudson County could not continue to provide these young men with solid opportunities.

Closings such as these are a direct result of the financial drain to the Archdioses caused by the Criminality of the Catholic priests. It is a further tragedy that Catholic youth are sacrificed all over again. Exponential damage, one way or the other, the children & youth are victimized.

Shame on the Vatican for the evil it has wrought by covering up its crimes against the most vulnerable & innocent among us. Instead of closing theses vitally needed schools & parish churches, the watched Bernie Law's obscenely luxurious living conditions could be eliminated. Instead of living in a prison cell, Bernie Law is living like a King, if not a Medici. He cannot return to Boston because he would be arrested for crimes against humanity.

Perhaps a sequel to "Spotlight" can illuminate for all the world to see just how much our youth and parishes continue to be victimized. More young lives are lost . . . but those Red Caps in Rome Party on.

This piece should be supplemental material for the fine documentary "Hoop Dreams," which included a profile of an egotistical coach who counseled his young player to "write off" people, like a pregnant girlfriend when the timing was inconvenient. Hurley seems to have opened his heart and the minds of his young charges to be kind and hard-working. Not bad advice--and a reminder how important educators can be in the lives of young men and women.

So good, so very good...

So sad, so very sad...

Bravo to Team Hurley...

Bravo to Juliet Macur...

The New York Times...

Next time you hear someone tell you that people are essentially motivated by money, remember Coach Hurley. There are plenty of selfless people in this world that make life better for those around them. St Anthony's was lucky to have this man. I hope he enjoys a long and happy retirement.

This is a great story. I wonder why/if the boys he helped get to the NBA didn't come together to support the school financially.

Thank you for this story. A true Hudson County (and beyond) legend. The distribution of the trophies is a evidence of a class act. Sorry the tradition of this school and Coach Hurley's mentorship had to come to an end.

Rice HS in Harlem, run by the Irish Christian Brothers closed a few years ago. I graduated from Rice HS in 1963. Another Catholic HS basketball powerhouse and our arch rival, Power Memorial closed it doors years before Rice HS. Kareem Abdul Jabbar was one of their great student scholar athletes. I am not certain how the void of all these school closings will be filled.

It is truly sad that there are billionaires and millionaires in this country that drive fancy cars and have fancy residences, yet this wonderful school could not be kept open. We suffer as a nation when we let the kids in lower income neighborhoods suffer. These could be leaders. Mr. Hurley chose to help.

Thanks to Ms. Macur for a good Sports of The Times column on the truly great Coach Bob Hurley, a person who was extremely dedicated to a team and its school.

One thing that I misread at first was what she wrote at the start of Paragraph 2, namely that St. Anthony had eight undefeated seasons under Coach Hurley. On second reading, I realized it wasn't eight straight undefeated seasons, which would have tied a current ongoing run.

The McDonogh School (Owing Mills, MD) Girls' lacrosse team has not lost a game since April 2009, which means it now has been through eight consecutive undefeated seasons, which number 177 straight wins.

And, as with Coach Hurley and many of his erstwhile stars who also did well in basketball at higher levels, so did many such players at McDonogh. In particular, there is Taylor Cummings, who won the Tewaaraton Award as the top (female) player in the country in college lacrosse for three consecutive years (2014-2016) at the University of Maryland. (Did anyone in college BB win the comparable award (the Naismith Award?) three times?)

Thus, perhaps this 177-game winning streak is an all-time record by a sports team. (Does anyone know, now that UConn's streak was snapped?)

Anyway, congrats to Coach Hurley, who with his school was summed up well in the subtitle to Ms. Macur's column: "With St. Anthony Closing, a Legendary Coach Takes Stock of His Life and Career"

With Hurley it was more than just basketball, it was living the right life by doing the right things through discipline and hard work. Hurley's players never got into trouble and when they got out of high school became examples for the community. Thank you for your commitment.

The poverty of the area that was served by St. Anthony remains. Has the archdiocese given any thought how it will address the needs of its young people or will they just be left to suffer the consequences of growing up in the mire of urban poverty?

Thanks for the great story. As a 71 year old guy, I know that my life was pretty much saved when I was a kid by coaches like Mr. Hurley.

I didn't seem to have an aptitude for school--and I wasn't great at sports either, but the coaches in our little factory town, tried to make sure every kid who had "issues" at home, had a place where someone would take care of them--with praise or a stern lecture--which ever was appropriate.

Thanks to Coach Hurley for all of the lives he touched.

This is to the NY Times:

I think that the closing of this parochial school and so many others across the country warrants a major story by the Times.

In Sacramento, we have lost at least two catholic schools in the last couple of years and it does make me wonder what is going on. I'm not Catholic and our kids were educated in public schools,I but I do believe that it is valuable for the community to have strong parochial schools as an alternative to public education.

Anyone who has visited Vatican City has seen how much cash they take in each day. Who accounts for it? Where does it all go? By deploying assets that wouldn't even amount to a rounding error on its ostensible balance sheet, the Catholic hierarchy could bail out worthy schools like this one (and Queen of Peace in North Arlington, NJ, also closing soon). Not just in the US, but around the world. Sad, sad, sad.

This story is depressing beyond words. As a former New Jersey resident, I recognized that St Anthony was not just a school, but provided refuge for many students. The school functioned as true Catholic school with a mission not just to educate but to instill character and values into its students. Now that the archdiocese has changed the locks, what will happen to these children and the ones who would have been educated at St Anthony? I understand the harsh financial realities that compelled the Archbishop to act and realize that the decision was undoubtedly painful. Still one wonders whether all was done, given the school's critical importance to this community. Somewhere, somehow the money should have been found to continue the school's mission.

Reminds me of the Mount St. Charles H.S.
Ice Hockey Team in Rhode Island.
Remarkable....

What a great story, Juliet. Thank you

It's not so much fiances; it's demographics! Catholics, in great numbers are just not around the immediate metropolitan area anymore! Especially the Irish, who like the Orthodox Jews, frown on sending their kids to Public Schools! The Irish were always big on the Catholic Schools! Nonetheless, there is an outlier in Brooklyn; the great and legendary Bishop Loughlin High School! The only Diocese High School left, in Brooklyn and Queens. They saw the writing on the wall in the mid 1970's and went Co-ed! And took in other Christians! The Christian Brothers knew what they were doing! Too bad, St. Anthony's in Jersey City couldn't work it out!!!

Coach Hurley is a magnificent human being. He showed that the millions that he was offered to coach at other schools was small to the impact he could make on the underprivileged teens that he mentored. Well done Mr. Hurley!

At a time when billionaire philanthropists throw piles of money at schools (and government and this archdiocese take piles away), Hurley made a big difference in the lives of his players and the community. He's what works.

And here we read Bezos is wondering what to do with his money. On an immediate level, this school, and not just this coach, were genuinely helping people, and having a long-term beneficial effect not just on the students, but on the people those students later interact with, and so on.

A nicely written story. I was reminded of the Coach Taylor character in "Friday Night Lights."

A great story about a great man.

His impact is far greater than he knows.

The world needs more people like him.

Inspiring to see the impact one person can have on so many.

Being a fan of teams battling St Anthony's, I did not like the way he worked the refs and got into players heads. Mostly sour grapes I guess for all our losses. Always admired him for all he did outside of basketball for students, school, and community in general. Much more than a coach. The world's better for him. I will miss rooting for/against you.

These constantly-closing private Catholic schools provided excellent education (and, with this article we are reminded, many other vital services) for most of the 20th century. This is a hole that a publicly-funded charter school cannot fill.

Men like Bob Hurley are the true heroes of the game and this article shows us just how special he is, both on and off the court.

The contrast with the current one and done college game could not be sharper.

Thank you, Coach and Chris Hurley! Enjoy your well earned retirement.

There is so much more to Bob Hurley than St Anthony's. Before going there he always was coach the younger kids from his parish, the CYO league. Of course, mostly championship teams. He also ran a summer league at St Paul's and every imaginable talent can up there to play, including those who went on to Pro status. I wasn't a star, more of a mediocre player, but coach Hurley dedicated the same amount of time to me as he did to the more talented kids. I don't think there is anyway to determine an exact number of people whose lives he touched. Thank You Coach Hurley

Sweet story but how did these kids do when they entered real life. Did they get a job, where they smart, family life. Any school is much more than a ball game - don't have the tail wagging the dog.

The Hurley story is an important counterpoint to a lot of what goes on in major college sports. Caring for players and their families they way they did happens frequently at high school level, but they were exceptional in their ability to navigate the high stakes recruiting, etc. that accompanied their players successes.

Coach Hurley and his wife deserve a lengthy and relaxing retirement--it will be interesting to see if he can turn the motor off. Perhaps he can help his boys tone down their sideline antics a bit. Good luck with that.

Thanks for writing this story!

Why, when we need these kinds of safe havens more than ever, was money not flowing in from the private sector to save the school?

I had heard for years of Bob Hurley and St. Anthony's which is why when the tremendous book, "The Miracle of St. Anthony's" came out 10 years ago, I bought it right away and could not put it down.
Coach always had the same financial struggles trying to maintain a basketball program in a school with no gym and no money.
But, it did have him and it did have Chris and how lucky all his players have been that they have always been there for them.
It is a sad day for sure. I live in a community that once had 9 Catholic elementary schools and a Catholic High School. I was President of the Board, the Athletic Association, coached, you name it for years. Now they are all gone.
When reading the book Coach faced all the same struggles that we did.
Unfortunately the end was inevitable as it appears to be for most Parochial programs.
God Bless him, his family and his huge extended family for all he has done and will continue to do.

Another great column by a fantastic writer

Schools in poor neighborhoods that offered sanctuary to kids. This was something the Catholic Church got right. The urban schools were always light on revenue. How sad that the church's dishonesty about pedophile priests led to lawsuits and bankruptcies and people fleeing the church.
I salute Mr. Hurley for not listening to the college coaching offers. That rise is too high for most high school coaches without time as an assistant college coach. Ask Bob Commings and Jerry Faust. Coach Hurley found his calliing and did it well,

Anyone getting an eulogy in Times before he is actually dead must have had a great, great life. Coach Hurley seems to be such a great man deserving of such high praise.

Saint Nicholas of Tolentine in the Bronx suffered the same fate.

This is a damn shame.

I don't know why, but Hurley was probably the best-known high school coach of his time. There are countless successful programs out there, but St. Anthony had a name that was widely recognized by serious fans. Maybe it was the New York nexus or maybe it was the fact that it was a Catholic school. Or maybe there was a lot of self-promotion going on. The coach's son Bobby was a stand-out at Duke, went on to the NBA, is now coaching at Arizona State. Yet he remains his father's son. it is unusual for a high school basketball program to have so much stature. I would have been interested in an account of why.

the Archdiocese of Newark fails again