With sadness, the St. Francis Prep, Fresh Meadows, community announced the passing of longtime faculty member, administrator, and sports coach Brother Robert Kent, OSF, on July 17 at the age of 82.

Scores of past and current students, teachers, coaches, and parents attended the wake at the school to honor a man who was part of St. Francis Prep — the largest Catholic high school in the country — for more than 55 years as a Franciscan brother. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on July 21 at Holy Family, Flushing.

Brother Robert’s sports legacy began at Holy Name of Jesus parish in Park Slope, where he attended grammar school and played Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) baseball as a center fielder and shortstop. He loved the Brooklyn Dodgers and remembered being heartbroken when Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants hit his famous “Shot Heard Round the World” to propel the Giants over the Dodgers for the 1951 National League pennant.

The moment was so painful for him that he could recall exactly where he was as a 9-year-old — staring through the window at a black-and-white television showing the ballgame outside Farrell’s Bar & Grill on Prospect Park West in Windsor Terrace.

“We were kids; we were crying,” Brother Robert told The Tablet in 2014. “If you were a Dodger fan, you knew what was going to happen. You knew something was going to go wrong.”

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As if this pain weren’t enough for the youngster, he was devastated when the Dodgers packed up their Brooklyn home and moved west to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. At least Brother Robert was able to wear the official Dodger uniform, since Ebbets Field announcer Tex Rickards gave them all to the Holy Name CYO team following the move.

Although it took a while for his woes to subside, Brother Robert continued to enjoy his love of baseball, often playing in the Parade Grounds. He also had a calling to religious life at a young age, so he followed his older brother Ed to the St. Anthony Juniorate in Smithtown, New York, to become a religious brother.

While studying at St. John’s University, Jamaica, he coached CYO basketball and baseball, where it all began — at Holy Name. He then entered the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn in 1966, starting at the St. Francis Novitiate in Upper Brookville, New York.

In the fall of 1968, Brother Robert was assigned as a history teacher and assistant athletic director at St. Francis Prep, which was then located in Williamsburg. By 1971, he had become the school’s athletic director and helped guide the move to Fresh Meadows, all while continuing to teach social studies and math.

Along the way, his coaching responsibilities included 23 years as the freshman boys’ basketball coach, 14 years as the head junior varsity baseball coach, and more than 40 years as the head varsity baseball coach. His baseball teams won five junior varsity and four varsity city championships, most recently in 2023.

Brother Robert helped more than 140 of his players continue their baseball careers in college, with 10 of them going on to play professionally. In 1998, he received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, and began his tenure as The Prep’s director of alumni relations.

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For the past two seasons, Brother Robert’s illness forced him to take a step back from coaching. Yet he still checked in daily with acting head coach Robert McDermott about the team’s happenings and the entire CHSAA.

McDermott, who was named CHSAA Coach of the Year this past season, threw a one-hitter at Shea Stadium to clinch St. Francis Prep’s 1986 city title win, so it was fitting that he became the successor to the longtime Terriers coach.

In total, Brother Robert’s varsity baseball teams won more than 700 games. The list of accolades is endless and includes multiple Coach of the Year awards, a 2003 induction into the CHSAA Hall of Fame, a 2008 induction into the Frank McGuire Foundation Hall of Fame, a 2025 induction into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame, a coaching excellence award in 2018 from the Greater New York Sandlot Athletic Alliance, and being named as part of the inaugural St. Francis Prep Red & Blue Terrier Ring of Honor in 2014.

All these accolades aside, Brother Robert enjoyed developing relationships with the people in the Catholic league, more so over the years. Indeed, his legacy will not be measured by wins, but rather by the guidance and leadership he provided to countless student-athletes at The Prep.

“It’s not about me,” said Brother Robert, who coached the children of more than 50 of his players and even a few grandchildren. “It’s all my assistant coaches and my players. They deserve most of the credit. There were so many great coaches and players.

“While there’s no ‘I’ in ‘team,’ there’s certainly no ‘I’ in ‘coach’ either. The players win the games, really. The coach just makes a couple of decisions, but eventually the players have to buy into your system.”

To celebrate his dedication and passion for the school, they established the Brother Robert Kent, O.S.F., Scholarship Fund while he was alive to benefit students in need of financial assistance, and named its book store in his honor this past school year.

With Brother Robert’s passing, St. Francis Prep has now lost the third prominent coaching legend who helped guide the move from Brooklyn to Queens. In football, it was Vince O’Connor, and in basketball, Tim Leary. This iconic trio will forever be synonymous with the Terriers’ sports program.

Brother Robert often used to utter the phrase “On for Ol’ Saint Francis.” Even in death, this true Franciscan remains a pillar of sportsmanship, fair play, respect for the game, and teamwork — all values that CHSAA sports are about.