In keeping with the theme of spring being “hall of fame” season, the CHSAA hosted its 30th annual golf outing and Hall of Fame dinner May 14 at the Brynwood Golf and Country Club, Armonk, N.Y.
A class of six new inductees joined the legendary names that have committed their lives to make the local Catholic high school league one of the most competitive and well-run organizations in the country.
The following were honored at the ceremony:
Jack Alesi
Alesi was born in Bay Ridge and raised in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, where he attended Nazareth R.H.S.
He ran the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) program at St. Thomas Aquinas, Flatlands, in the 1970s, where he coached Naismith hall of famer and new St. John’s University, Jamaica, head basketball coach Chris Mullin.
Alesi then began coaching basketball at Xaverian H.S., Bay Ridge. He started on the freshman and junior varsity level and has now coached the varsity team for the past 20 years, with an overall record of 327-238.
From 2000 to 2005, his team reached the CHSAA Final Four every season, becoming the first school to ever reach six straight semifinals. The Clippers won the diocesan championship in 2001, 2004 and 2005 and the city championship title in 2005.
That same year, Xaverian went on to win the CHSAA state championship over St. Mary’s, Manhasset, L.I., the No. 1 team in the country that had not lost a game all season.
Alesi has been voted CHSAA Coach of the Year seven times and was named MSG Tri-State Coach of the Year in 2005.
In addition to coaching, he serves as the director of finance at Xaverian.
Frank Dunn
Since 1978, Dunn has served the Catholic High School Hockey League (CHSHL) in a variety of roles.
He began as the junior varsity coach at Fordham Prep, the Bronx, and then moved up to become the assistant varsity coach at the school until 1992.
During that time, he served as the scheduler of all CHSHL games up until 2013. From 2000 to 2009, he was the assistant chair of the league and became the chairman for the next four years.
This past season, Dunn served as the hockey league’s treasurer.
George Febles Jr.
Febles is a 1983 graduate of Xavier H.S., Manhattan, and a 1987 graduate of Fordham University, the Bronx.
He started coaching cross-country and track and field at Fordham Prep in January, 1988, and remains in that position.
In his career, he has coached 79 CHSAA champions, five N.Y. state champions, 70 All-Americans and 16 national champions. His teams have won 10 CHSAA titles and six Millrose Games 4×800-meter relays.
Additionally, he helped found Armorytrack.com, which compiles the league’s race results, and has served as the CHSAA boys’ cross-country chairman since 2001.
He followed in his father’s footsteps, as his dad, George Febles Sr., was inducted into the CHSAA Hall of Fame in 1996 as a track and field coach at Xavier and Fordham Prep.
Phil McBride
The day before McBride was inducted as a member of this year’s CYO Hall of Fame, he was enshrined in the CHSAA Hall of Fame.
McBride has worked as a CHSAA basketball official for 42 seasons, including 37 varsity seasons, starting at the age of 18. That amounts to more than 1,200 high school hoops games.
He officiated his first two varsity games during the 1977-1978 CHSAA season, when the varsity referee assigned to the games did not show up.
From 1986 to 2008 – a 23-year run – he officiated at least one CHSAA quarterfinal, semifinal or city final game. He was named the N.Y.C. Catholic Official of the Year in 1999.
McBride officiated two city championship games and a number of Brooklyn Diocesan and N.Y. Archdiocesan championship games.
In addition to basketball, he coached junior varsity baseball at Msgr. Scanlan H.S., the Bronx, in 1976 while he was a student at St. John’s University. He also served as a CHSAA junior varsity baseball umpire for two seasons.
Joseph McGrane
McGrane has spent the past 27 years as a basketball coach at Xavier H.S. – 24 as the head varsity coach. His team won their division championship in 1997 and city championships in 2000 and 2014.
He was named Coach of the Year in 2007, 2014 and 2015. This past season on Jan. 1, he earned his 300th career victory.
McGrane is also the head junior varsity soccer coach at Xavier, serving in that position for the past 10 seasons.
John Sexton
Sexton graduated from Xaverian H.S. in 1969. While there, he competed on the Clippers’ track and field team as a jumper and sprinter. He earned a scholarship to St. John’s University, where he competed all four years.
Over the past 30 years, Sexton has coached track and field at five CHSAA schools: Xaverian, Bishop Ford H.S., Park Slope, St. Joseph by the Sea, Staten Island, St. John Villa Academy, Staten Island, and Msgr. Farrell H.S., Staten Island, where he is currently the team’s head coach.
Sexton, regarded as one of the top event coaches in the state, has coached over a dozen student-athletes that went on to become high school track and field coaches, most notably CHSAA hall of famer Jerry Cahill.
Contact Jim Mancari via email at jmmanc@gmail.com.
