As compiled by Eagle Sports Editor John Torenli
1. It Happened One Night
Cyclones Open KeySpan Park With Dramatic Win
They said no one would care about a Class A Short-Season Minor League team on Coney Island. What did they know?
More than eight years after Mike Jacobs’ walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning gave the Brooklyn Cyclones a 3-2 victory over Mahoning Valley in the first-ever game at KeySpan Park on June 25, 2001, approximately 8,000 fans per night keep proving that they care a lot.
The long-awaited return of Major League-affiliated professional baseball to our fair borough has proven anything but disappointing.
After thrilling the sold-out crowd at their brand new stadium that night, the Cyclones posted the best home record (30-8) in the New York-Penn League, knocked off the rival Staten Island Yankees in the opening round of the playoffs and ultimately captured a share of the circuit’s championship.
Brooklyn actually beat Williamsport in Game 1 of the Best-of-3 NY-Penn Finals, but the remainder of the series was postponed due to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 as the league declared both the Cyclones and Crosscutters champions for 2001.
The Cyclones also established previously unheard of short-season Minor League attendance records (289,381) that summer, regularly drawing bigger crowds than long-season Double-A and Triple-A franchises around the nation.
What may have been viewed as just a passing fancy back then has sprouted into a booming Brooklyn business during the decade, giving local baseball enthusiasts a more affordable and family-friendly alternative to the parent-club Mets and Yankees.
The Cyclones captured the McNamara Award, an honor bestowed annually to the NY-Penn’s outstanding club, in both 2003 and this past season, when they also were nominated for the President’s Trophy as the top Minor League team in the United States and Canada.
“Winning the McNamara Award and being chosen as a nominee for the President’s Trophy are tremendous honors,” said Cyclones general manager Steve Cohen, who has been at the helm since the franchise spent its first season playing as the Queens Kings on the campus of St. John’s University in 2000.
“Both awards are tributes to the tireless efforts of everyone who works for the Cyclones, and the unwavering passion and loyalty of the Brooklyn fans. We’d like to thank everyone who’s been a part of the Cyclones experience.”
More than a half century since the beloved Dodgers fled for Los Angeles, the Cyclones have gone a long way toward restoring Brooklyn’s reputation as a baseball “city” — one that has grown exponentially since that memorable night in the summer of 2001.
2. Coming Soon?
Ratner Promises To Bring Nets to Brooklyn
We’re obviously still waiting (and waiting) for the first major pro sports franchise in our borough since 1957.
But Downtown real estate magnate and Cleveland native Bruce Ratner is getting closer and closer to delivering — as evidenced by the New York State Court of Appeals’ decision earlier this month to approve the state’s use of eminent domain at Atlantic Yards.
“Once again the courts have made it clear that this project represents a significant public benefit for the people of Brooklyn and the entire city,” said Ratner, who headed up the ownership group that purchased the New Jersey Nets from YankeeNets for approximately $300 million back in 2003.
“Our commitment to the entire project is as strong today as when we started six years ago.”
Has it really been six years since Ratner held his initial press conference at Junior’s to announce his plans for bringing the Nets — of all teams — to play in the heart of Downtown Brooklyn?
Though noted architect Frank Gehry’s original design for the arena has been scrapped, as has the entire New Jersey roster since the announcement, Ratner’s vision is coming into focus just as we say goodbye to the 2000s.
The league-worst Nets will have plenty of salary cap space to play with in 2010, giving them a chance to lure coveted free agents like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh with the promise of playing their home games right across the Hudson from the rival New York Knicks.
Ratner has also received a helping hand from Russian billionaire and owner-in-waiting Mikhail Prokhorov, who has agreed to buy 80 percent of the Nets, 45 percent of the arena and the option to acquire up to 20 percent of the Atlantic Yards Project.
If the Nets are playing ball in Brooklyn sometime in the next few seasons, they’ll surely be the No. 1 local sports story of the coming decade and perhaps the new century.
3. Double Dynasty
Telfair, Stephenson Drive Lincoln
To Seven Titles
It was hard to imagine that anyone would ever surpass Sebastian Telfair’s accomplishments at Lincoln High School during the first four years of this decade. Then came Lance Stephenson.
Telfair, a Coney Island native and cousin of former Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury, captured three straight Public School Athletic League championships from 2001-2004, picked up a state championship in Glens Falls and become New York’s all-time leading scorer during his amazing tenure with the Railsplitters.
He also became the first player under 6-foot-5 to make the jump directly from high school to the pros, going to the Portland Trail Blazers with the 13th overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft.
All Stephenson did during his recently completed stint at Lincoln was capture an unprecedented four consecutive PSAL crowns, two state championships and shatter Telfair’s scoring mark.
Though the NBA wasn’t available to the mercurial swingman due to the NBA’s age requirement for rookies, Stephenson is doing just fine during his first season at the University of Cincinnati, where he is averaging a team-high 13 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists in his first 10 NCAA games.
“He’s getting more adjusted to the college game and how fast the game is going,” said Bearcats senior guard Deonta Vaughn of Stephenson.
“He’s getting into his groove, letting it come to him more. He’s just being Lance. Everybody knows Lance is going to score.”
As for Telfair, he’s currently averaging 4.9 points and 2.8 assists per game for the Los Angeles Clippers, his fourth NBA team in six seasons.
By the time we get around to saying goodbye to 2010, Telfair and Stephenson will likely both be representing Brooklyn, and Lincoln High School, in the league where they pay for play.
4. Do You Believe
In Miracles?
Brooklyn Friends Makes
“Hoosiers”-like Run to State Title
A 600-student private school in the heart of Downtown Brooklyn provided one of the biggest sports stories of the decade by making a miraculous run to a Class C New York State championship in 2003.
Paced by power forward Kyle Neptune, the Blue Pride of the Brooklyn Friends School captured the Athletic Conference of Independent Schools championship, knocked off Poly Prep and Horace Mann to win the private school crown and stunned Buffalo Honors in overtime for the state title in Glens Falls, N.Y.
“I still can’t believe it,” BFS coach Vladimir Malukoff said the day after the the championship game. “I always pushed them for the states, but I never really thought we could do it.”
Longtime Friends athletic director David Gardella and tech department member Andy Cohen taped, edited and produced a two-hour film documenting the Pride’s improbable 2003 season: “Blue Pride: State Champs!!”, which premiered in November.
“I filmed the whole trip [to Glens Falls] and all of our experiences,” noted Gardella, who welcomed many of the team’s key players back to Pearl Street nearly six years after the memorable run.
“I got things organized and interviewed all the players and then Andy and I have been working on this project for the last two years, editing and putting it together on our time, late nights, weekends, summer, etc.”
Though they have yet to replicate anything resembling the ’03 campaign, the Pride will always be remembered as the “little school that could” for their amazing path to glory.
5. Back-to-Back
Fort Hamilton Wins Consecutive City Football Titles
Fort Hamilton head football coach Vincent Laino built a high school football dynasty in Bay Ridge during this decade.
The Brooklyn native and four-time Coach of the Year led the Tigers to four Public School Athletic League championship game appearances, including back-to-back championships in 2005-06.
“We have truly great talent in the Fort Hamilton High School football team, which won the citywide championship in both 2005 and 2006,” said state senator Martin J. Golden before donating a sign to the school’s scoreboard to forever commemorate the Tigers’ titles earlier this year.
“I thought it was important that such great success be recognized in a way that all teams that play on the field, and all residents of the neighborhood who use the track and field, can know that our high school team is truly one of the very best in the city of New York.”
Laino built the program from the ground up since laying the foundations for greatness in the early 1990s. The Tigers captured B-League crowns in 1992 and 1993, but it was their near-perfect run through a championship repeat from ’05-’06 that established them as a legitimate juggernaut.
Spearheaded by the brilliant quarterbacking of Jeffrey Legree and the talented legs of Antonio Walcott — not to forget the Tigers’ always-stout defense — the Tigers lost only one contest during their run to consecutive championships.
Laino’s squad, quarterbacked by his son Frank, fell in the city semifinals to eventual champion Curtis this year, falling two wins shy of a third title.
“You can’t win them all,” Laino said after the heartbreaking 20-19 defeat.
6. This One’s for Lonnie
Blackbirds Rally To Win Golf Crown for Cancer-Stricken Coach
Long Island University golf coach Lonnie Barton was still in the midst of a three-year fight for his life against soft-tissue sarcoma in May of 2004 when the Blackbirds’ mens team honored the program’s founder with its first-ever Northeast Conference championship.
His once-strapping athletic frame wilted down to a mere 125 pounds due to ongoing chemotherapy treatments, Barton made sure he traveled alongside his players via cart at the Architects Club in Lopatong, N.J. during the tournament.
Despite his severely weakened condition and the fact that he was only three weeks removed from an extended stint in the hospital, Barton watched proudly as LIU staged an impressive final-round rally to take home the title and earn a trip to the NCAA regionals.
Though the two-time NEC Coach of the Year ultimately lost his grueling battle with cancer later that year at age 51, he did express great relief at being able to see his team win it all before he passed.
“It made everything around the job these last eight years worthwhile,” he proudly told the Eagle following the NEC championships.
Michael Michaelides, who played for and coached with Barton, has certainly continued the winning legacy at the Downtown school. After overseeing the 2004 title run, he also guided the LIU women’s team to its first-ever championship in 2005.
The Blackbirds continue to honor their former coach with the annual Lonnie Barton Invitational.
“Lonnie coached me and was a lot more than just a coach. We’ve been fortunate enough to have two of our kids win the Lonnie Barton,” Michaelides said.
“I wish I could put it into words, but I can’t. Being a former player and being able to come back and take over the program and being able to coach the guys to their first championship with Lonnie there, it was a dream come true. I was glad we could give that to him before he passed.”
7. Captain Carl’s Crew
St. Francis Alum Takes Terriers to Final Four
Carl Quigley spent the better part of his life competing and coaching in the pool at St. Francis College on Remsen Street.
The local water polo legend did the unthinkable in 2005, guiding the Franciscan school’s regional powerhouse of a men’s team to the NCAA Final Four.
Though the Terriers’ Cinderella run came to an end with a loss to top-seeded Southern California in the national semifinals in Lewisburg, Pa., that December, Quigley knew he had established Downtown Brooklyn as the home of one of the best water polo teams in the country.
“The team has taken important steps over the past several years to get to this point,” said Quigley, a 1975 St. Francis graduate who has since turned over the head-coaching reins to Igor Samardzija.
“They are a dedicated, hardworking group of guys who have formed a cohesive unit to get the job done. We share this remarkable achievement with our water polo alumni who helped the program develop to where it is today.”
The Terriers won the ECAC Championships, the CWPA Northern Championships and the CWPA Eastern Championships to earn their Final Four bid.
“It is through these memories that our current athletes will understand their history and ensure that our swimming, water polo and diving programs will continue to thrive for future generations of student athletes,” Quigley said earlier this year.
8. Get Smart
Brooklyn Fencer Earns Olympic Medal
Keeth Smart went from Brooklyn to Beijing in search of Olympic gold in 2008.
Though he fell short of their ultimate goal, settling for the United States’ first silver in the men’s saber team competition since 1948, Smart and his sister, Erinn, both bounced back nicely from their disappointing showings in the 2004 Athens Games.
Smart, previously ranked No. 1 in the world, scored the winning point in the U.S.’s dramatic 45-44 victory over Russia in the men’s semifinals in Beijing.
Erinn helped the U.S. women’s foil team win its first-ever Olympic medal in ’08 — also a silver.
Both had failed to advance to the medal round in Greece four years earlier, despite high expectations.
The victories capped off a tough year for the siblings, who lost their mother to cancer that May after Keeth himself spent many months overcoming a rare blood disease he contracted in Africa.
9. Unhappy Ending
Ganulin Falls Just Shy of NCAA Tournament Bid
Brooklyn native Ron Ganulin wanted to prove, once and for all, that you can go home again. But unlike many of the decade’s top sports stories, his had an unhappy and rather frustrating ending.
After earning a national championship in 1990 as an assistant under legendary and infamous coach Jerry Tarkanian at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in 1990, Ganulin took the head coaching job at St. Francis College, hoping to lead the Terriers to their first ever NCAA Tournament.
On the night of March 5, 2001, a decade into his tenure at the Downtown Brooklyn school, Ganulin appeared on the verge of realizing that dream.
The top-seeded Terriers, who entered the Northeast Conference title game in Trenton, N.J. with high hopes against No. 2 Monmouth, opened a 20-point lead with 14 minutes to play and were up by double digits with five minutes to go before a national television audience on ESPN.
Sadly, St. Francis fell apart down the stretch, suffering a hard-to-believe 67-64 loss to the Hawks.
Though they would reach the NEC Finals once again during Ganulin’s tenure, only to suffer a blowout loss to Wagner, the Terriers have never come as close to the coveted Field of 64 as they were that night.
“When the engine shuts off it’s tough to turn it back on,” said Ganulin, who was replaced by current coach Brian Nash in 2005. “We felt the momentum change. Something just happened, and I don’t know why.”
10. The Joy of Six
LIU Volleyballers Carry Reign Into 2010
After winning four consecutive Northeast Conference championships under the guidance of Toby Rens, the Long Island University volleyball team has made it six in a row with Kyle Robinson at the helm.
Robinson’s Blackbirds completed their most recent run to a title with a straight-set dismantling of Sacred Heart in November before falling to Stanford in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament two weeks later.
“I think we’ll always be right there in the fight,” said Robinson after delivering Title VI. “We respect the other competition and the other teams in the tournament, but we have high expectations for ourselves.”
Sophomore Ashley Rice racked up eight kills, eight blocks and hit at a .571 rate en route to being named the NEC tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
“It was huge,” Robinson said of Rice’s effort. “More importantly, it was huge for our freshmen to see what they can be in a year. Ashley came in extremely raw and worked her tail off. It was huge for our underclassmen to excel as they did.”
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