The dimly-lit gym at the Snyder High School annex is a far cry from Madison Square Garden or the Continental Airlines Arena, the historic basketball palaces where Rafael Addison laced his sneakers and performed over the last 20 years.
There aren’t roaring crowds of 20,000 fans anymore. The buzz of the sold-out Charlotte Coliseum has been replaced by the squeaking of sneakers on the hardwood and the polite, subtle applause of encouraging youngsters.
But the scenario doesn’t matter at all to Addison, because, after all, he’s home. His journeys through major college and professional basketball has finally brought him back to where it all began, back to Jersey City, back to the same gym at Snyder High School, where Addison became a star in the early 1980s.
The 38-year-old Addison is now the new head coach at his alma mater, going back to his roots to try to help youngsters learn the game, much like the way he did before he went on to Syracuse University and eventually the National Basketball Association.
"I couldn’t turn my back on these kids," Addison said. "It would be like turning my back on myself. I see myself in them. This is giving back. This is basketball passion."
Addison was a superstar at Snyder, a perfect combination of size and shooting prowess, the quintessential small forward. He became even more polished during his days at Syracuse (1983 through 1986), where he paired with Dwayne "Pearl" Washington to lead the Orangemen to two Big East championships. Addison still remains the no. 8 all-time leading scorer (1,876 points) in the school’s history.
Addison was drafted by the Phoenix Suns of the NBA in 1986 and spent one year there before heading off to Italy to play pro ball for five years with Livorno and Benetton, averaging more than 25 points per game.
He returned to the NBA in 1991 to play with the New Jersey Nets for two seasons, followed by a year with the Detroit Pistons and then two years with the Charlotte Hornets.
In 1997-98, Addison played for PAOK in the Greek Professional Basketball League, but knew that he was reaching the end of the road.
"I had other opportunities to keep playing, but I felt I had to make a decision in my life," Addison said. "I wanted to move on. The traveling was getting to me. I did it for a long time. I was a pro for 12 years, six in the NBA and six in Europe. It was time to come home."
Addison never flinched about where home was. While other professional athletes have made it out of Jersey City, only never to return, Addison was insistent about coming back to where it all began for him.
"I never left Jersey City," Addison said. "I love the city. It’s a great city. I’ve been everywhere in the world and I’ve learned to appreciate what Jersey City offers."
Addison never thought about becoming a teacher and a coach, until a talk he had with a former teacher.
"Actually, it was Franklin Walker [former athletic director and football coach at Lincoln and currently a Jersey City schools administrator] who got on my case to try to coach and teach when I got back," Addison said. "It made sense. I’ve always been good with kids and I think I’m a good motivator."
Addison had another inspiration to become a role model for youngsters.
"My mother [the late Clennie Addison] was a single mother who raised seven kids," Addison said. "She taught me to be humble and to respect people. She was well-known in the community, involved in the Parents’ Council at Snyder and in P.S. 15. I was blessed to have her as a mother. What better way to respect my mom than to do what she did for the community. Once I got involved, I knew I was destined to be back home."
Addison is now a physical education teacher at P.S. 14 in Jersey City and became the head coach at Snyder, after long-time head coach Artie Rubin stepped down after last season.
Although Addison has no prior coaching experience, he believes he can handle the job.
"I think the coaching experience thing is blown out of proportion," Addison said. "I have more basketball experience than a lot of others. I had great experiences that you could never get out of a book, playing for [Syracuse] Coach [Jim] Boeheim in college and guys like John MacLeod, Chuck Daly and Dave Cowens in the NBA. I played with a lot of guys who became coaches. And [former Snyder coach] Ed Butler is still one of the best coaches I played for."
Added Addison, "I’ve been around this game a long time and I have a different point of view than most. You can’t teach the kind of experience I have. Coaching high school is more like social work than coaching anyway. It’s definitely a challenge, but I like to be challenged. I think it’s why I was able to go so far in the game."
Addison knows that he’s taking over a team that isn’t nearly as talented as the Snyder teams in the past.
"We’ll be competitive," Addison said. "We’re going to take our lumps, but we’ll grow. We’ll play hard, that’s for sure. I definitely take this very serious and personal. I want the players to understand that as well. They’ll never get this time back in their lives. It’s over before you blink. It goes fast."
Addison said that he has been blessed to receive help from assistant coaches Shelton Gibbs (the former Snyder and St. Peter’s College standout) and Hassan Abdullah, two respected coaches from the area.
"I was able to get guys from the neighborhood who can relate to the kids," Addison said.
Do his players realize that they’re being coached by a guy who used to get paid to chase Michael Jordan around the floor?
"I don’t think they truly understand yet," Addison said. "They will know that I had what it takes to get out of Jersey City and succeed. I think [playing in the NBA] helps my credibility. They know that I came from the same environment, same neighborhood, same school. The rest is a fairy tale. It’s almost like they don’t believe it."
Addison knows that having a former NBA star as a coach could be a problem.
"Maybe the expectations would be unrealistic," Addison said. "It could be a distraction. But maybe it could be a plus as well. We’ll see. I just know I can’t do it for them. I can lead the horse to water. But I can’t lead them to play. It’s a challenge, but I accept the challenge. I believe in these kids and that’s what it’s all about. I know we’re young, but we’ll be fine."
Addison will know for sure this weekend when his young team gets thrown to the fire, facing rival Lincoln in the Jersey City Tip-Off Tournament to start the season. The new coach will also take his team later this season to Syracuse, his other former stomping grounds, to play in a tournament up there.
"This is now living my life," Addison said. "Everything else was work."