Sorry been so long with this, been on some official vacation, and some unofficial vacation. Sure is hot, huh? This is Southern Louisiana weather, I tell you.
But as always, I thought it would be cool to reflect a bit on last week’s Athlete of the Week dinner. We were very honored to have Mickey Corcoran there. Mickey just turned 90, and he was made an honorary “Athlete of the Week” by Charlie McGill at the end of the dinner.
We have also done some homework on the history of the Athlete of the Week award in The Record.
This was actually something we considered doing a story on, since for a long time, we have been asked by coaches and ADs…what school has the most Athletes of the Week?
Well.
First I have to tip my hat to 2 people, one Kristina Scoppa and Phil Kelichner, who had compiled the list of the AOWs (shorthand for Athlete of the Week) since 1968.
But wait….you are about to say, ‘don’t you guys bill yourselves and Charlie as drawing the Athletes of the Week since 1954?”
The answer is yes. The first Athlete of the Week was Sy Schwartz from Hasbrouck Heights in 1954. Sy was at our dinner….in a way. He filmed a video about 7-8 years ago, which is just the perfect greeting for the dinner. For the 60th anniversary we will have to get Sy to really come (in the video, he says he lives in Israel).
But from 1954 to approximately 1968, 1969, the AOW was kind of done intermittently. It did happen, but it wasn’t really a regular feature. And back then, it was always football players and Charlie would draw a full cartoon, not just the face caricature that is so familiar then.
Come around 1969-1970, there was always 1 athlete of the week all year, fall, winter and spring, and it was always a male. (Of course, there weren’t really female sports back then).
As far as we can tell, roughly somewhere in the mid-70s, we had our first female athlete of the week. She was a gymnast from Pascack Hills and her name was Diane Lovato. She went on to compete at Michigan State.
Somewhere around 1981, a female athlete of the week was chosen in addition to one male.
Then, for a while, there were AOWs chosen from Passaic County and Bergen County.
Which is why, when you see the list of all-time AOWs it makes sense.
The school with the most all-time…according to our records is Wayne Valley with a perfect 100. Swimmer Meaghan O’Donnell became the 100th Wayne Valley AOW this winter. Too bad we didnt know about it then. That would have been kind of cool.
The next school is Clifton with 96.
So, based on our numbers….and believe me, we think we are close, but we are probably missing some. Here is the list, by school.
Becton 16
Bergen Catholic 62
Bergen Tech 9
Bergenfield 27
Bogota 26
Boonton 1
Butler 15
Cliffside Park 41
Collegiate 1
Cresskill 35
Demarest 45
DePaul 52
Don Bosco 67
Don Bosco Tech 1
Dumont 20
Dwight-Englewood 11
Englewood 38 (during the dinner when I was announcing the top 5, I asked Charlie McGill what school he thought had the most, his guess was Englewood)
Eastern Christian 16
Eastside 63
Elmwood Park 18
Emerson 29
Fair Lawn 39
Fort Lee 17
Garfield 20
Glen Rock 19
Hackensack 66
Hackensack Christian 1
Hasbrouck Heights 37
Hawthorne 37 (but hasnt had one since 2008)
Hawthorne Christian 5 (hasnt had one since 2003)
Holy Angels 11
IHA 28
Immaculate Conception 3
Indian Hills 34
Kennedy 75
Kinnelon 2
Lakeland 48
Leonia 16
Lodi 37
Lyndhurst 18
Mahwah 29
Manchester 24 (none since 2004)
Midland Park 13
New Milford 21
North Arlington 11
North Bergen 2
Northern Highlands 50
Old Tappan 42
Pal Park 11
Paramus 37
Paramus Catholic 45
Park Ridge 22
Pascack Hills 52
Pascack Valley 65
Passaic 59 (none since 2007)
Passaic Valley 84
Paterson Catholic 27
Pequannock 16
Pompton Lakes 64
Queen of Peace 19
Ramapo 60
Ramsey 55
Ridgefield 11
Ridgefield Park 47
Ridgewood 64
River Dell 40
Rutherford 38
Saddle Brook 30
Saddle River Day 2
Secaucus 5
St. Cecilia 8
St. Joseph 50
St. Mary 21
Teaneck 35
Tenafly 30
Waldwick 25
Wallington 17
Wayne Hills 73
Wayne Valley 100
West Milford 59
Westwood 31
Wood-Ridge 17
So, you can see that the big schools obviously have the edge. The Bergen County school with the most is Bosco, but then Hackensack has 66, Pascack Valley has 65, Ridgewood has 64 and Bergen Catholic has 62. Pretty cool.
From what we can tell, the record for a single athlete to be AOW is 5 times. Is it possible someone did it 6 times? Maybe. But we see 2 people who won it 5 times.
Tawana Watkins of Kennedy from 99-2001.
Catherine Feeney of Wayne Valley from 87-1990.
Of course, they were both track/cross-country runners, so they were eligible more.
I love this kind of history stuff, and hope that the AOW of 2011-2012 realize that they are part of the fabric of North Jersey high school athletics. They are a unique part and its something they should be proud of.
As far as this year….
Listen, we really try to put on a good dinner and, well, a good show as well. The boss and I were honored to attend the All-County dinners this past school year, and they really have it done right. The coaches speak, the kids get their honors.
But we try to remind people that we are a newspaper/blogging/twitter empire (empire? Empire) so we have some videos we like to show and different people giving speeches. Usually one of the really super-duper bosses comes from The Record – this year the editor Marty Gottlieb came.
This year we had 4 super cool prizes, a Revis helmet, and Snee ball and 2 125$ gift cards to electronics expo. I decided to do the raffle on Twitter this year. And well, it was a little harder than I expected to choose. Maybe next year I will just do one on Twitter and the other prizes some other way.
We also did something else new this year by giving Paul Schwartz an open mic and letting him walk through the crowd and talk to several of the AOWs and some parents. Paul knows everyone, of course, and he was also to bring a lot of insights and color to the evening.
Plus, we also give out McGill scholarships to two deserving athletes. We aren’t looking for star players, but rather kids who really have accomplished something special despite facing overwhelming challenges. Every year the speeches those kids give are poignant and perfect. This year was no exception as Gabe Colucci from New Milford spoke about his rare kidney disease and Hope Yi from New Milford detailed her battle with an eating disorder. Both have found success in athletics, but both have found that true accomplishments aren’t just measured by wins and losses, or the distances run or thrown.
At the end of the night, well, I felt a little bad, since the night was growing late. It was almost 10, and we usually finish much sooner, but we had one last prize and this one was suggested by McGill himself, who wanted to honor Mickey Corcoran for his contributions to North Jersey athletics. Mickey, of course, is known as “The Mentor” to many in Bergen County, and even though he’s now 90 (yes, 90!) he is still sharp as a tack and his generosity and wisdom is rightfully revered.
He was presented warmly by his friend Jerry Emison, the former AD at Demarest, and then Mickey received his very own personal McGill sketch. I have a great picture, but for some reason it won’t let me upload it today.
Mickey was genuinely touched I believe, and received a warm reception from the crowd.
And I can’t think of a better way for this season to end.
As you can probably already tell, things will slow down considerably now. I have some things I want to work on (and a trip to Louisiana planned) and this is a great time always to email us with any story ideas or pictures. And also, right now, it’s just too hot to do anything.