>>Piazza Wins Lasorda Award
At its Dec. 1 gala at Giando on the Water, the Italian American Baseball Foundation honored diocesan hero and Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Piazza with its Tommy Lasorda Award – named for another prominent Catholic in the baseball world. Members of the Italian National Baseball Team were also honored at the dinner.
>> Stanner Honored
At the first-ever Tom Konchalski Classic in late November, the legacy of the late longtime local basketball scout Tom Konchalski was celebrated at the historic Rose Hill Gymnasium at Fordham University, the Bronx.
Fittingly, host team Fordham, from which Konchalski graduated in 1968, won the four-team tournament. Following the tournament, a “Celebration of Basketball” event kicked off with Thomas C. Konchalski Foundation President Steve Konchalski speaking about the foundation’s accomplishments in its first year.
He then introduced Archbishop Molloy H.S., Briarwood, freshman basketball student- athlete Josh Powell, the recipient of a Konchalski Foundation scholarship.
Naismith Hall of Famer Bob Hurley Sr., the retired head coach of perennial high school basketball powerhouse St. Anthony’s H.S., Jersey City, N.J., was there to receive the “Values of the Game Award.”
Another special guest was CHSAA legend Kenny Anderson, a Molloy Stanner grad who played 14 years in the NBA and is the head coach at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn.
>> Aussie Hoops
The St. Edmund Prep H.S., Sheepshead Bay, community received a visit from “down under” as part of Showtime Basketball Tours.
They welcomed the student-athletes, from Berwick College H.S. in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov. 21. Three exhibition games were held between the teams.
