Highbridge News: Fordham Wins First Conference Game of the Season

Highbridge News: Fordham Wins First Conference Game of the Season: Fordham Wins First Conference Game of the Season #Fordham #Rams #Basketball #Bronxnews By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, FEBRUAR...

Fordham Wins First Conference Game of the Season

Fordham Wins First Conference Game of the Season

#Fordham #Rams #Basketball #Bronxnews

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 9- A one-sided 83-65 win by the Fordham Rams (6-15, 1-9) over the Saint Louis Billikens (10-13, 2-8) on Saturday afternoon at  Rose Hill ended the nine-game winless streak of the Rams in Atlantic-10 Conference games this season. The campus gym was filled with Fordham enthusiasts, many of whom attended the annual Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony and luncheon earlier in the afternoon. 

The Fordham fans were cheering wildly as the Rams scored the first 12 points of the game. The visitors cut the deficit to two points by the mid-point of the first half after going on a 15-5 scoring run. Interestingly, the first points scored by a Saint Louis player were a three pointer by the only Bronx native on the court, Ash Yocoubou. 

The 6-4 junior is playing his first season with the Billikens after transferring from Villanova. The much travelled young man began his high school basketball years at the American Christian School on Pennsylvania before moving to Long Island Lutheran, where he was the Gatorade New York State Player of the Year in his senior season, 2011.

The Rams never lost the lead throughout the first half. The half ended with Fordham ahead by a score of 33-29.

Saint Louis scored the first four points of the second stanza to tie the score for the first and last time of the game at 19:06. Thirty-two seconds later, a free throw by Mandell Thomas gave Fordham the advantage again, which they never relinquished. A Fordham lead of 45-41 at 14:35 was followed by 11 unanswered points by Fordham that raised the advantage to 15 (56-41) with 11:16 left to play. 

The Rams’ advantage was cut to six, 58-52, at 8:54 after an 11-2 scoring run by the visitors. Fordham’s domination during the final nine minutes, 25-13, gave the Rams an easy win.

After the contest concluded, Fordham’s head coach Tom Pecora spoke of the reasons for his team’s victory, “We were the more aggressive team. They [Rams] went to the free throw line 39 times.” The 30 free throws and 39 attempts were both season highs for the Rams. The visitors only went to the charity stripe 16 times and sunk 12 shots. “We took care of the basketball, 11 turnovers. They really played under control.”  

The Rams only turned the basketball over four times in the second half. The Rams scored 50 in the second half on 66.7 percent from the floor. The Rams also controlled the boards, 33 rebounds to 24 for Saint Louis.

Fordham freshmen Eric Paschall and Chris Sengfelder led the scoring with 22 each. They are the only Division I freshman teammates who have averaged in double figures of points and more than five rebounds each per game. Pecora lauded them, “They’re not freshmen anymore; they’ve played so many minutes.” Sophomore Jon Severe (12) and Mandell Thomas (10) also scored in double digits for Fordham.

A freshman, Davell Roby, led the four double digit scorers on the Billikens with 16. The Bronx’s Yocoubou scored 10 to keep his season average to double figures (10.0 ppg.). 

Fordham travels to the University of Richmond for its next game on February 11. Saint Louis returns home to host Dayton on February 10.

Highbridge News: Fordham Welcomes Athletic HOF Class of 2015

Highbridge News: Fordham Welcomes Athletic HOF Class of 2015: Fordham Welcomes Athletic HOF Class of 2015 #Fordham #HallofFame #Bronxnews By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 9- On Feb...

Fordham Welcomes Athletic HOF Class of 2015

Fordham Welcomes Athletic HOF Class of 2015

#Fordham #HallofFame #Bronxnews

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 9- On February 7, the newest contingent of former student-athletic standouts were inducted into the Fordham University Athletic Hall of Fame. The first class was inducted during the 1970-71 year and included Frank Frisch “the Fordham Flash” and Vince Lombardi. The seven newest inductees were all students at Fordham during the 21^st century with the exception of one, Kevin Sullivan, who graduated in 1974.

Sullivan was the only one of the seven who participated in water sports. The Bronx native qualified for the Eastern Championships in each of his four years at Fordham as both a swimmer and member of the water polo team. In 1973, he was selected to the All-East Water polo team. 

One track and one field athlete of the first decade of the 21^st century was also inducted. Matt DiBuono (’04), the five-time Atlantic-10 titlist, was a specialist in the hammer, 35 lb. weight throws and the shot put. Tom Dewey, the current Track & Field coach accepted the award for DiBuono. 

Mark Porcaro (’09), in the 400, was the first Fordham runner to win an Atlantic-10 event. The team MVP in all four years at Fordham holds the Fordham indoor mark at 48.11. The Bronx native won the Terence J. O’Donnell Award in 2004.

Erin Brooks (’04) was a true student-athlete in her years at Fordham. In addition to contributing to the softball team’s first 30 win season in 2003, Brooks was an Academic All-America in 2003 and 2004. She was the university’s winner of the Hobbs Family Award, which is given to the school’s best female athlete. She has not wandered far from her college sport as she serves as head softball coach at Haverford College. 

Dominique Ligouri Damian (’09) joined her mother, Bette-Ann Speliotis Ligouri as the only mother-daughter duo in the Fordham HOF. The tennis great, like her mom, was a four-time team MVP. She was a First Team All-Atlantic-10 in 2007 and 2009. 

Marcus Stout (’08) was a starter in all four years on the basketball team. He remains in career scoring with 1,709 points and second in threes with 259. Stout was selected to the Atlantic-10 All-Rookie Team. Stout played basketball professionally in Europe for three years. Stout’s coach at Fordham, Derek Wittenburg returned for the ceremony honoring his former player.

Marcus Taylor (’07) was recognized nationally as a defense standout on the gridiron during his years at Fordham. He was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year in 2006. He ranked high nationally in tackles in 2005 and 2006. Taylor brought his two, young daughters to the podium to accept his award with him.

Porcara gave the response from the honorees. He talked of the meaning of the awards, “This is home to us. Thank you for welcoming us home for this special occasion. Our families have always been our greatest fans. So much credit goes to our coaches and our teammates.” 

Father McShane spoke of the humility of giving the credit to others, “They turn the focus away from themselves to those who were the sources of their strength and their inspirations. Today they are induced into our Pantheon.”

New York Yankee broadcaster, a Fordham graduate, served, as he does nearly every year, as the emcee of the award ceremony, and as usual, did an excellent job. Fordham President McShane referred to him as “the great ambassador for Fordham.”

Highbridge News: Retired Jeter Kicks Off Baseball (Card) Season

Highbridge News: Retired Jeter Kicks Off Baseball (Card) Season: Retired Jeter Kicks Off Baseball (Card) Season Final Derek Jeter Baseball Card in 2015 Set by Topps #Jeter #Yankees #Topps #Bronxn...

Retired Jeter Kicks Off Baseball (Card) Season

Retired Jeter Kicks Off Baseball (Card) Season

Final Derek Jeter Baseball Card in 2015 Set by Topps

#Jeter #Yankees #Topps #Bronxnews

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 6- Two signs of the nearness of the 2015 MLB season will take place this month. Pitchers and catchers will report to Spring Training in two weeks. The other pre-season activity, which took place this week, was the announcement of series 1 of the 2015 Topps set of next season’s baseball cards going on sale.

Trading cards have been of interest to children and adults in this country since the 19^th century. Sports personalities have been the major subject of these collectibles. They were produced for adults in the 1800’s. Many were connected to tobacco products. The very rare T206 Honus Wagner card has been sold for several million dollars.

Topps reflected a change of focus toward youngsters as its consumers in the middle of the 20^th century by producing wax packs, each of which contained a stick of gum and several cardboard cards. The company began in 1938 as a producer of chewing gum and candy. More than ¾ of a century has passed since the company began, but Topps is still producing Bazooka gum and other confectionary products.

During the decades of the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s, children were the primary purchasers of packs of baseball cards, with Topps the major brand. Its main competitor, Bowman, was purchased by Topps, which still puts out cards under that brand.

Since those years, card collecting has become an investment opportunity for many purchasers. Rather than buying individual packs and rushing to open them as was done in the past, complete sets are bought and the box is never open before being re-sold for a large profit. In the 1990’s, gum was no longer put in the wax packs as they could damage a valuable card located next to the stick of gum. In more recent years, a very rare T206 Honus Wagner card was sold for several million dollars.

It would be wrong to write an article on baseball cards or Topps without mentioning the name of Sy Berger. He worked for Topps for more than a half-century. He co-designed in 1952 the Topps set that proved to be the prototype of the modern baseball card. Yearly and lifetime statistics on the reverse, the facsimile autograph and action photos are among his innovations that are still being used. The “father of the baseball card” passed away in December 2014 at the age of 91.

Members of the media were invited to an unveiling of the 2015 set at Topps’ offices in New York at One Whitehall Street in lower Manhattan. Clay Luraschi, vice president of product development at Topps explained what to expect in this year’ set, “This year’s series 1 set…has something for everyone, from the casual fan to the passionate collector with many surprises as well. It is a reflection of what we have seen in recent years, fans wanting a good mix of the present and the past with a little pop culture sprinkled in.”

Very appropriately to many fans, card #1 of the 350 card base set is Derek Jeter’s final regular season card that includes his lifetime statistics. Luraschi spoke on this choice of beginning next season’s card set with a player who retired after the 2014 season, “Usually card #1 is designated for somebody very special. Being a New York company and being that Derek was the captain of the New York Yankees, we felt that card # 1 should be Derek Jeter this year.”

Fans of the New York Mets should be pleased to know that the first Topps card of Jacob deGrom, listed as a Future Star, is also in this set.

There are also several subsets that have interest beyond the 2015 season and beyond the sport of baseball. There are 10 cards each dedicated to the important life and career of a baseball immortal, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson. “Highlights”, which begins with the first day of Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game streak. “Archetypes”, whose cards include baseball greats such as Hank Aaron. “First Pitch”, including cards with such non-baseball as Jeff Bridges, 50 Cent, Eddie Vedder and 105 year old Agnes McKee throwing out a first pitch in 2014. 

There are autographs and game used memorabilia in addition to the great variety of cards included in a small number of packs.

Looking back at my childhood of collecting cards, I believe they were a tool for improving reading, bettering my facility in math through the statistics listed and  an encouragement to learning the history of people and events before my birth.

Highbridge News: Open Season on Officers?

Highbridge News: Open Season on Officers?: Open Season on Officers? Group Looked on as Officer Shot from Apt. Window #NYPD #CopShot #Bronxnews By Michael Horowitz BRONX,...