Scholastic Roundup: A loss that will last forever

October 1, 2021 Andy Furman

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Another loss — and chalk this one up to Covid.

“I recently had to bury a member of my basketball family,” wrote Jeffrey Krantz, “Coach Jan Sandowsky of Shaare Torah, Flatbush.”

Krantz said Sandowsky was old school.

“He played big-time high school basketball for the legendary Bernie Kirsner at Erasmus Hall,” he said, “that was when Erasmus was in what was known in the PSAL as the Suicide Division – Erasmus, Westinghouse, Boys High, Prospect, Midwood, Lafayette and Jefferson.”

Krantz said Sandowsky was referred to the Yeshiva League by Kirsner where he began an almost 40-year-run as one of the Deans of YL coaching.

“He understood the game,” Krantz noted. “He loved his players and the turnout at the funeral was like a who’s who of Yeshiva League alumni.”

Some of the alums who turned out to pay their respect to Sandowsky’s memory included: Zach Mishan, Alan Levy, Corey Sandowsky, Buzz Sandowsky, Paul Mangzeman, Michael Gelber, Zvi Goldberg, Rabbi Richard Kirsch and Coach Randy Dulny.

“We were all there to pay respect to the memory of a basketball brother and a friend,” Krantz wrote.

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Bernie Williams, who spent 16 seasons with the New York Yankees with a .297 career batting average, is the newest member of the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame.

The five-time all-star who has four World Series rings won an American League batting title in 1998. His number 51 is retired by the Yankees in Monument Park, Yankee Stadium

Williams collected 287 career home runs, 147 stolen bases, 22 post-season home runs and won the American League Championship Series MVP in 1996.

He started 2,005 games for the Yankees.

“We’re thrilled to be inducting a true, career Yankee and a Hall of Fame person, “said Rene LeRoux, Founder and Executive Director of the Hall.

The special Hall of Fame induction celebration is set for Sunday, November 14th at the Hilton Hotel in Troy, New York.

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The New York State Baseball Hall of Fame was founded by LeRoux, originally to include upstate New York members, and later expanded to include the entire state in 2012.

The New York State Baseball Hall of Fame inducts people on every level of with the game of baseball, including Major League Baseball players, managers, broadcasters, writers, college baseball players and coaches, high school coaches, umpires, support personnel, team owners, general managers and Little League Baseball teams such as the 2016 Little League World Series winners from Maine-Endwell, New York, who’s undefeated (24-0) team defeated South Korea in the 2016 Little League World Series.

The Hall of Fame inducts members based on a “body of work” formula, based on a total of years and contributions to the game. A board of advisors offers advice on the nominated inductees. At present, the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame has administration located in Ballston Lake, near the state capital of Albany.

Plans are currently under review for construction of year-round facility.

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The Scholastic Roundup e-mailbag:

Some comments from Myron Rushetzky after reading about Lafayette High basketballer turned author Ben Cardinale and his novel, Sunday Dinner.

Rushetzky noted that author Cardinale lived at 72nd Street in Bensonhurst and his basketball – and writing buddy – Gary Goldberg lived at 67th Street.

“I’m guessing,” writes Rushetzky, “that in today’s world, they would have gone to FDR High and not Lafayette.”

Rushetzky adds: “In January, 2018 I had to go see my Allstate Auto insurance agent at his office on Avenue U in Gravesend. I then went to Spumoni Gardens for pizza. I then drove to Lafayette High School and walked around the building. I was on the Track Team when I went to Lafayette.”

He adds: “What the heck, I was there and I didn’t think I looked dangerous or threatening, so I walked up the stairs to the main entrance. I had to walk through a metal detector to get to the security desk.

“I explained that I was Class of 1969 and asked if I could walk down memory lane. They called a supervisor to escort me around.”

He said some things looked exactly the same — like they were there in 1969.

“Some things,” he said, “looked different; like computers in the library. The boy’s locker room had been turned into a fitness center with few lockers. In the gymnasium, there were no ropes hanging from the ceiling, but the names and teams were still written on the bricks.

“Including Ben Cardinale.”

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected] Twitter: @AndyFurmanFSR