Former Catholic Youth Organization baseball and basketball player Kevin Tennant of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, South Ozone Park, died just before the new year after a battle with cancer. He went on to win the 1969 city championship in both sports at Archbishop Molloy H.S., Briarwood. He was later drafted by the New York Mets in 1969 and San Francisco Giants in 1973.
St. Francis Prep, Fresh Meadows, girls’ varsity basketball point guard Skye Owen was recently named to the BlueStar Travel Basketball Team’s list of Top 50 high school players in the nation. Owen has already committed to play basketball at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Blast from the Past
Pictured here is the 1970 Catholic Youth Organization boys’ basketball team from St. Mary Gate of Heaven, Ozone Park. (Photo: Courtesy Stephen Codd)
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has announced its list of eligible candidates for the Class of 2021. Players, coaches and contributors on the ballot with local ties include:
+ Tom Konchalski, recently retired basketball scout
+ Bob McKillop, head coach at Davidson College, N.C., who played Catholic Youth Organization hoops for Our Lady of Perpetual Help, South Ozone Park
+ Gene Keady, longtime St. John’s University, Jamaica, assistant coach
+ Mark Jackson, former NBA point guard who played at Bishop Loughlin H.S., Fort Greene, and St. John’s
+ Jack Curran, the late legendary boys’ varsity basketball coach at Archbishop Molloy H.S., Briarwood
+ Johnny Bach, St. John’s Prep, Bedford-Stuyvesant, graduate who served as an assistant coach on the Chicago Bulls championship teams of the early-mid 1990s
