Recently, I had the opportunity to screen an upcoming PBS movie titled (airs March 31st), The Street Stops Here on renowned high school basketball coach Bob Hurley, Sr.
Here is the synopsis of the film:
The film tells the story of Coach Hurley’s efforts at inner city St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, New Jersey. Hurley, a three-time (and current) basketball Hall of Fame nominee, is known for his tough love and extreme discipline, as well as his numerous records for wins, state and national championships. You may also know him as the father of Duke star Bobby Hurley.
Taking place in the shadow of Manhattan, the film weaves together stories of teenagers fighting to get out of their surroundings, fundraising to keep the school open during the collapse of Wall Street (including a Bear Stearns cameo) and using basketball to get kids to reach their full potential.
Like many times before, and probably too many to count, I was wrong on my assumption of someone or somebody. As a basketball guru, I obviously had heard of St. Anthony’s High School and their coach Bob Hurley, Sr. I assumed St. Anythony’s was your typical private school that recruited players throughout Jersey to play for them. By typical private school, I am referring to a rich private school with affluent students and the only low-income students you see are a great athletes.
However, St. Anthony’s is not that type of school. Now, I am not saying Hurley does not recruit players (a couple come from NY of all places), but the film depicts what St. Anthony’s is all about. The core of the students come from the streets in nearby Jersey City and the core values of the institution is to empower the students to bigger and better things, not for financial gain–hence the financial shortfalls you see in the film that the school hits year in and year out. The Basketball team shares the school’s principle values led by the stewardship of their drill sergeant Bob Hurley, Sr..
I do not want to share all of the details of the film and ruin it for you, but the documentary shows us who Bob Hurley is, where he comes from, and why he coaches the way he does, and why he acts the way he does. From a coaching or parent perspective, many people will probably not agree with his tactics and find him almost abusive. But, and this is a big but, Hurley knows his players, his team, and his streets, and Hurley understands how to get his players to perform at the best of their ability and to be all they can be–through discipline. Hurley is hard on these kids because he knows that it is the tough love that gets them to the next level, and I am not talking about the next level that is playing college basketball, but the next level of succeeding in life. All you have to do is look at his former players and what they are doing in life, or the fact that after 36 years of coaching, only 2 of his players didn’t go to college. Yes, some of these players went on to play professional basketball, but more often that not, they are great additions to society as correction officers, politicians, financial advisors, etc. The combination of Hurley’s tough love and St. Anthony’s compassion foster these kids from a life of being on the street to a life in middle America.
If you are a basketball fan or coach, I encourage you to watch one of the greatest high school coaches of all time and learn from him. One coaching tactic (of many) that I picked up on from Hurley is that no matter how negative or tough he was on his players, when it came to the most important game of the season, he was positive throughout the game. He encouraged his players and that is something to always keep in mind as a coach. There is always a time to be positive and build confidence in your players, particularly in the 2nd half or 4th quarter of a game. Watch for it and you will see what I am talking about.
Even if you are not a basketball fan, I encourage you to watch the documentary. Anytime you see a group of underprivileged kids rise up from adversity and graduate high school to go onto college it is quite inspiring. Not to mention, many of the players featured in the documentary are now playing for major NCAA teams including Mike Rosario (Rutgers), Tyshawn Taylor (Kansas), Travon Woodall (Pittsburgh), Jio Fontan (USC) and Dominic Cheek (Villanova). Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams are also interviewed.
Here is the trailer and the documentary airs on Wednesday, March 31st on PBS. Check your local listings to see what time the documentary is on.
