For Nazareth High School, a loss like no other

August 26, 2022 Andy Furman

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It’s official.

Nazareth High School has dropped its football team.

“It wasn’t really a surprise,” Desmond DeFreitas, a former Nazareth footballer who served as Head Coach for the Kingsmen for 10 seasons, told Scholastic Roundup.

“We just didn’t have enough kids,” he said.

DeFriestas did say juniors and seniors on the team may transfer schools without having to sit-out a season.

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Rich Kosik, a PSAL advocate and frequent contributor to Scholastic Roundup, recently passed.

In 1968 he started his teaching career with the New York City Board of Education after attending St. Mary of the Plains College, Dodge City, Kansas. That 35-year-career continued in 2003 when he became the Student Athlete Seminar Leader for the New York City Board of Education. His advocacy for counseling student athletes led to his being awarded the prestigious Revson Fellowship, “For the Future of the City of New York,” by Columbia University.

Following his fellowship year at Columbia, Kosik became the New York Executive Director of Athletes for Better Education, later to be renamed the ABCD All America Basketball Camp. During the next 22 years, he went from his position as the Director of Counseling to being the Academic/Counseling Director and Co-Director of the camp – where he worked with the nation’s best high school basketball players.

He was inducted into the Basketball Old-Timers of America Hall of Fame as a contributor to the game of basketball on both the local and national level.

“He never had a bad word about anyone,” said former Tilden High School basketball coach Jeff Schrier. “I was with him from the beginning at the Athletes for Better Education camps. That’s where Steve Middleton was discovered by Southern Illinois University.

“I am devastated,” Schrier said.

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Creus Hamilton is the new men’s and women’s cross-country coach at Brooklyn College.

An accomplished student-athlete, Hamilton was nationally-ranked while competing for the New York Tech track and field team in the 400-m, 200-m, long jump and 400-m relay. He continues to compete in track and field at the Master’s level. In 2016, he was ranked No. 1 nationally and No. 6 in the world in the USATF 200-meter dash.

The Bulldogs are slated to open the 2022 season, September 10th at the Purchase College Invitational.

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Mike Saunders, the 1970 grad of Newtown High School who served 27 years as trainer for the New York Knicks, will be head trainer at the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament in Forest Hills. He’s the author of a new book, “Life Sentence.”

Kulsum Khan has been named Associate Director for Athletic Training, Student Wellness and Academic Success at Pratt Institute. “Kulsum has developed great relationships with our students and staff,” said Director of Athletics and Recreation, Walter Rickard, in a release. “We want to continue to provide our student athletes with the best experience we can. This new role will provide the support needed to do that.”

Dave Danzig who spent last season as an assistant coach for Pratt’s men’s basketball program has been named head coach and recruiting coordinator. Prior to Pratt, Danzig served as an assistant coach at St. Peter’s University (2016-17). Danzig helped the Peacocks to a CIT Postseason Tournament Championship that season.

Monica Holmes is the new men’s and women’s Volleyball Coach and Athletic Alumni Engagement Officer at Pratt. Previously, she served as an assistant coach for the women’s program at the United States Merchant Marine Academy.

Holmes also served four seasons as head women’s volleyball coach at Columbia University. She attended and played for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she starred at middle blocker and was an All-Sun Belt Conference pick in 1990 and an All-Metro Conference selection in 1991 and 1992. As a senior, Holmes ranked second in the nation in NCAA Division I attack percentage (.427).

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St. Joseph University’s softball team has been crowned the 2022 NCAA Division III statistical champion in batting average, runs-per-game and doubles-per-game. Ashleigh Hartwig was the individual statistical champion for on-base percentage.

As a team, the Bears compiled a .393 batting average and .485 0n-base percentage. They averaged 9.08 runs-per-game to finish as the top scoring team in the nation. Their .578 slugging percentage ranked third in the nation, while they finished sixth in walks (158) and eighth in hit-by-pitch (40).

As a team, the Bears set single-season records in hits (407), doubles (105) and home runs (21).

As for Hartwig, she captured her third Skyline Conference Player of the Year honor. She was crowned the individual champion in on-base percentage (.619). She also finished third in batting with her single-season record-tying .556 average and was the seventh-toughest to strikeout in the nation with just one strikeout in 108 at-bats.

Arianna Heinsch, s Fontbonne Hall Academy grad, was an All-Skyline First Team selection.

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Heshie Becker sent a note to Scholastic Roundup after reading about one of his favorite NBA stars – Lenny Wilkens. “He was the best,” Becker said.

Becker played jayvee basketball for Lafayette High in 1960-61, was a member of the varsity from 61-63 and coached the Lafayette jayvee and served as assistant to head coach Gil Fershtman in the late ‘60s.

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The South Florida Basketball Fraternity lost a good recently with the passing of Mel Kessler.

Kessler played for the legendary Jammy Moskowitz at James Madison High School. He was a 1959 grad of Muhlenberg College where he averaged 21.7 points-per-game – and was the first Muhlenberg player to average over 20 ppg. His 478 points ranked him 23rd in the nation in Division I scoring; he averaged 15 rebounds-per-game; holds the school’s single-season scoring and rebounding records; scored a career-high 42 vs. Lafayette College and established Muhlenberg records for most free throws made (18) and attempted (23) in that Lafayette game.

He scored 1,002 points in his three-year career; earned first team Eastern College Athletic Conference and MAC All-Division I honors and was named to the Associated Press All-Pennsylvania second team.

He was inducted to the Muhlenberg Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990.

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.