Columnist



NJCU loses a classy man; SPC bounces Olear

The Hudson County basketball fraternity was saddened to hear of the passing of former New Jersey City University assistant coach John Stallworth last week.

Stallworth, who was a legendary figure from his days with the Jersey City Bondsmen basketball program, was 70 years old. He served as Charlie Brown's assistant coach at NJCU for many years.
Stallworth was definitely all class, through and through. He displayed that class at every game, every event. His knowledge of the game of basketball had no peers, and countless times, he went above and beyond the call of duty to help kids in need.

On a personal note, I always looked forward to seeing John walking along West Side Avenue in Jersey City, where a simple hello became a half-hour conversation about basketball and about life. He will be sorely missed, not just by basketball people, but by the general public of Jersey City...

Although he had a putrid 22-116 record over four seasons, I was somewhat surprised to hear about Dan Olear's "resignation" as the baseball coach at St. Peter's College. It's technically being called a resignation, but Olear was forced out the door.

Why the surprise over a coach losing his job after a 4-42 campaign? Because I sat with SPC athletic director Bill Stein just two weeks ago and when I asked Stein if Olear was in trouble, Stein said that he was fine and going to be back.

Yeah, he was real fine, all right. So fine that he was shoved out the door less than 10 days later. It's bizarre, but certainly not shocking. It should be interesting to see what direction the school goes in replacing Olear, because the program right now is about as low as it can go...

Speaking of St. Peter's, the SPC softball team has nothing to be ashamed of by their performance last weekend in the NCAA Tournament. Although the Peahens lost two straight games to get eliminated, they lost, 4-2, to the No. 1-ranked team in the nation Arizona, and then suffered a 3-2 setback at the hands of Texas Tech.

Those are two big-time programs that little old St. Peter's had to lock horns with. Although no one likes to hear the words "moral victory," the Peahens have to feel pretty good about their showing under the national spotlight...

Congratulations and good wishes to long-time Emerson tennis coach Roger Schmidt, who has retired from coaching after 13 seasons and 126 career wins...

Although it might be simply picking the "chalk," look for St. Peter's Prep and Holy Family Academy to come away with the respective HCIAA baseball and softball championships, whenever the tournament is completed, sometime next month...

Congrats to Marist baseball standout Crystal Vargas, who has signed a letter of intent to play softball on a scholarship at Rutgers...

After weighing his options, Memorial basketball standout David Vega will probably attend prep school in the fall and try to get recognized by a Division I school after that...

Minor league baseball update: Jersey City's Willie Banks is 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA for Syracuse, which is Class AAA Toronto Blue Jays. Former Marist standout Joe Borowski is with the Iowa Cubs, Chicago's AAA club. Borowski has a 1-2 record with a 2.82 ERA and one save for Iowa. And Jersey City's Lesli Brea is struggling at Class AAA Rochester (Baltimore Orioles). Brea has a 0-7 record and has been sent back to the bullpen...

Hudson Reporter H.S. Baseball Top Five

1. Memorial (23-2)

2. St. Peter's Prep (19-4)

3. Dickinson (17-6)

4. Weehawken (21-3)

5. North Bergen (17-8)

Hudson Reporter H.S. Softball Top Five

1. North Bergen (16-8)

2. Secaucus (18-6)

3. Hoboken (19-6)

4. High Tech (17-2)

5. Dickinson (12-5)