Longtime St. Francis Prep, Fresh Meadows, varsity boys’ basketball coach Jack Prenderville has died. The 1951 Prep graduate is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor as well as the CHSAA Hall of Fame. In what he called 10 of the “best years of my life,” he amassed a career record of 220-47 and won the Brooklyn-Queens championship six times.
Prenderville also played and coached men’s basketball at St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, where he appeared in two National Invitation Tournaments. After basketball, he served as the New York state boxing commissioner under Gov. Hugh L. Carey.
“Each and every player I ever coached is special and added meaning to my life,” he said while being inducted into the Prep’s Ring of Honor.
Prenderville is survived by his wife Mary Byrne — whom he married in 1958 — as well as their three children — John, Paul and Maribeth – and six grandchildren.
Shane Herrity, a 2015 graduate of St. Francis Prep, Fresh Meadows, is returning to his alma mater as a varsity boys’ assistant basketball coach. As a team captain his senior year, he averaged 20.0 pts. per game en route to being named a Tablet All-Star.
St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, has named Alyssa Ewing James as an assistant coach to Linda Cimino on the women’s basketball team. James is the niece of former New York Knicks great and Naismith Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing.
The sports program at St. Thomas Aquinas, Flatlands, held a fellowship Mass to kick off the Catholic Youth Organization basketball season with Father Dwayne Davis, pastor. After Mass, young athletes and their families gathered in Msgr. King Hall for a party. The athletes wore their uniforms to Mass and even posed for a selfie with Father Davis.
St. Stan’s, Ozone Park, held its annual Catholic Youth Organization Battle Against Breast Cancer tournament in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. More than 40 local teams participated in the tournament to raise funds to support the cause. The following teams emerged as tournament champions:
Fourth-grade boys: St. Kevin, Flushing
Fifth-grade boys: St. Kevin
Sixth-grade girls: Resurrection Ascension, Rego Park
Sixth-grade boys: St. Kevin
Seventh-grade boys: St. Margaret, Middle Village
Eighth-grade boys: St. Stan’s, Maspeth
Ninth-grade boys: St. Margaret
Varsity boys: St. Stan’s, Ozone Park
In the GCHSAA diocesan varsity tennis championship, Archbishop Molloy H.S., Briarwood, took home the Brooklyn-Queens crown with a victory over The Mary Louis Academy, Jamaica Estates. The Stanners then fell in the state championship match to St. Anthony’s H.S., South Huntington, L.I.