Scholastic Roundup: Elmer Anderson’s secret is no more

March 10, 2023 Andy Furman

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Elmer Anderson was a Brooklyn basketball legend for Boys and Girls High School. A two-time All-City selection and a 1,000-point-scorer for the Kangaroos – he teamed up in the backcourt with Pearl Washington combining for 66 points-per-game.

“We were the number-one scoring backcourt in the country,” Anderson told Scholastic Roundup.

He earned a basketball scholarship to St. Bonaventure University – and later received NBA tryouts with the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks.

“I played in Puerto Rico and Venezuela for a few years,” he said.

But the biggest mark he’s had on the game he loves is coaching. The fifth-year JV basketball coach at Brooklyn Tech takes a 23-0 season record – 12-0 in the PSAL – into Monday’s (March 13th) JV championships.

“We don’t know our opponent yet,” he said, “We received a first-round bye.”

Lucky for the opposition.

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Brooklyn Tech’s JV basketball team is not only ranked higher than every New York City specialized high school – Bronx Science -14; Stuyvesant -22 — Tech is ranked No. 1 among all PSAL high schools in New York City – unqualified. “We’ve been lucky I guess,” was Anderson’s response, “We don’t have to worry about academics – that’s our primary responsibility here.”

Perhaps you can say Brooklyn Tech’s JV basketball squad is truly the best-kept secret in all of PSAL basketball.

“What I’m most proud of,” Anderson says, “Is the diversity on our squad. Our team is composed of black, white, brown, and Asian kids.”

Under Anderson’s leadership, the JV Engineers are 42-2 since 2019 in PSAL play. “He might be the hardest working coach in the entire city,” says Yvonne Lee, a parent of one of the JV Engineers. “They play hard-nosed defense and run the floor relentlessly scoring in transition and from three.”

The scoring is balanced with four players in double-figures – Troy Hornbeck (19.7); Josh Lou (11.2); Joaquin Rodriguez (11.1) and Miles Wurmfeld (10.0).

Anderson has a long track-record of coaching basketball and working with the youth of his native Bed-Stuy community. In the summer he runs, “I Got You Basketball,” at Jesse Owens Park, hosting a league and clinics reaching out to Middle Schoolers encouraging them to study for and take the admission tests for Brooklyn Tech.

“All I’m interested is getting kids better in their skill-set,” Anderson said. “If they go on to make varsity, it’s a compliment to them.”

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LIU’s women’s hockey team is headed to its first-ever NCAA Tournament. The Sharks knocked-off second-seed Saint Anselm in the conference title game, Saturday night at the Northwell Health Ice Center. Junior center Sarah Rourke, an alternate captain, scored the game’s decisive goal. Teammate Carrigan Umpherville secured the victory goal. Tindra Holm, a national goalie-of-the-year semifinalist, produced an 18-save shutout.

The LIU track and field teams’ indoor season concluded with some solid performances last weekend at the ECAC/IC4A Indoor Championships. Jonathan Gonzalez matched his personal best in the mile, 4:11.98; Elyas Ayyoub produced a personal record in the mile, 4:10.00; Jesse S. Wells had a best in the 500-m, 1:06.60; Shaunelle Wallace matched her best in the 60-m, 7.75 ad London Claxton and Alessandra Pastor had bests in the 500-m, 1:17.26 and 1:19.67, respectively.

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Ashley Austin led LIU’s women’s basketball team with a 12.7 points-per-game average was named third-team All- Northeast Conference. The Compton, California native scored double-digits in 16 of 27 appearances and scored a team-high 25 points twice – against St. Francis Brooklyn (Jan. 28th) and Stonehill (Feb 16th).

LIU’s women’s gymnastics team produced a program record 196.100, Sunday. Host Michigan State won the three-team competition with a 198.225 followed by Bowling Green at 196.200. Syd Morris had an all-around score of 39.550.

* * *

St. Joseph University’s Emma Kiley was named a Skyline Conference second team performer in basketball. Kiley led the conference with 109 blocks and she finished second in the league with a .730 free-throw percentage with 11.4 rebounds-per-game. Against Pratt, Kiley scored 34 points and collected 18 rebounds – a league-high for the season.

Teammate Kristen Donovan and men’s performer Joshua Gordon (Bishop Loughlin) – were named to their respective Skyline Conference All-Sportsmanship teams. Donovan started all 21 games played in her rookie season, leading the Skyline with 37.26 minutes-per-game. She placed third in the league with 2.20 three-pointers per-game.

Gordon featured in each of men’s basketball’s 25 games. The 6-7 center scored 13 points against Mount Saint Vincent, his personal best on the season.

The baseball Bears travel to South Carolina to participate in the Cal Ripken Experience. They open in Myrtle Beach with a doubleheader against Plymouth State, Saturday (March 11th).

* * *

The St. Francis Brooklyn men’s and women’s track and field teams closed-out the indoor season Sunday, at the final day in the IC4A Indoor Championships. After taking his first silver medal in IC4A competition, sophomore jumper Malachi Aiken made it two-straight days – taking the bronze in the triple jump. He’s secured a bronze in the triple jump for the second-consecutive season, peaking at a 14.92m jump; Renaldo Alleyne-Noriega placed fourth in the 60-m final (6.91) The Terrier men placed 16th with total of 19 points.

The Terrier women had two participants in the triple jump event – Beyonce Blake (10.76m) and Shayla John (10.60m). The outdoor season commences March 25th at the Stockton Invite, Stockton University.

The St. Francis Brooklyn women’s bowling team concluded the 2022-23 season at the Molloy University Lions Roar for the National Cancer Society Tournament. Freshman Angelia Lubrano filled nine of the ten frames in the fourth spot in the lineup as the Terriers topped Molloy 795-769; against Bryant (889-733) Lubrano had a string of four strikes; along with senior Heather Waters and freshmen Su Denizer and Carly Wu.

The backcourt duo of Alyssa Fisher and Tyra Myers of St. Francis Brooklyn have been honored in the Northeast Conference’s postseason awards. Fisher was named Most Improved and voted to the all-NEC First Team and Myers was voted to the All-Rookie Team, and All-NEC Third Team. Fisher averaged 16.6 points-per-game, third in the conference. Myers averaged 11.6 ppg and 14.4 in the conference. Over her last eight games, Myers averaged over 18 ppg.

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When New York City’s Department of Transportation swung and missed with a road sign for the Jackie Robinson Parkway that spelled the Baseball Hall of Famer’s first name as “Jakie” – former Jefferson and Tilden High coach Jeff Schrier was beside himself.

“This is so sad,” he said, “But not unexpected. Back in the ‘80s I taught a class called Sports Literature. I taught a three-week unit on Jackie Robinson. I asked the class if they knew who Jackie was. Only two students raised their hands, and they only knew him as a baseball player.”

This was a decade before Major League Baseball honored him, Schrier writes. “I used resources, like Roger Kahn’s book, ‘The Era,” Robinson’s own book, “I Never Had It Made,” Ken Burns’ Baseball, “The Jackie Robinson Story.”

Schrier says he started the unit with this quote: “Jackie Robinson was more important to the civil rights movement than Martin Luther King.”

“The kids went nuts,” he said. “But by the end of the unit they were enlightened. I again wrote that quote. This time no one made a peep. I said to the class, ‘You know, three weeks ago when I wrote this you guys went nuts. You never even let me tell you who said the quote.’”

Schrier said they asked him who it was, and after a pregnant pause, I told them: “It was Martin Luther King. He added that he never could have done what he did without Jackie paving the way first.”

As for the highway sign – it was spotted last week in Queens. Department of Transportation spokesperson Scott Gastel said the botched sign was replaced.

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