SCOREBOARD

Dickinson’s hoop teams are without a gym for second straight year

It’s probably the last vestige of an era gone by that Hudson County basketball has to offer. The gym at Dickinson High School, with its concrete bleachers situated above the hardwood floor below, more resembles something off the movie set of “Hoosiers” than an actual gymnasium. It’s a throwback to the 1930s and ’40s, when basketball was just beginning to reach its pinnacle in popularity.

But it’s always been a part of Dickinson’s folklore and charm. Think of Dickinson and immediately, the thoughts filter to mind the images of the historic gym.

“It’s the nicest gym in Hudson County,” said Dickinson veteran boys’ basketball coach Bill “Red” Drennan. “It’s the safest gym, because all the fans are upstairs. We never had any problems there. We had some good, competitive games there. It’s our gym. It’s home. We’re comfortable there.”

However, the historic gym at Dickinson is also off-limits – once again. Amazingly, for the second straight year, both the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams at the Jersey City school are being forced to practice and play elsewhere, because improvements to the gym floor, damaged by a leaky roof in the summer of 2002, have still yet to be made.

The teams are either practicing at P.S. 28 or P.S. 8 in the Jersey City Heights – some 35 blocks from the main high school campus – or at the school’s auxiliary gym that is adjacent to the existing one, but is not suitable for games.

The Rams’ home games are scheduled for P.S. 28, which is also known as Christa McAuliffe School, on Hancock Avenue.

The whole gym dilemma has caused a series of logistical nightmares and obstacles for Drennan and his players.

“Our kids are getting home later after practice, like 8 p.m., instead of 6:30 p.m.,” Drennan said. “It’s cutting down on the practice time we have. I feel sorry for the kids. They’ll play home games with no fans. The students can’t get to School 28 on their own. It’s a sick situation. It’s now almost two years and no gym. For a Group IV school with a good program, it’s really wrong.”

It gets worse. The teams have to get bused to P.S. 28 for practices and games. They get on a bus outside school and head up to the grammar school and then get bused back to the high school after the games and practices are over.

But there are other obstacles. Like when the buses don’t arrive at Dickinson at the originally scheduled times.

“We had a scrimmage Tuesday against Weehawken,” Drennan said. “The bus was supposed to be at the school at 2:55 and didn’t get there until 3:40 for a 4 o’clock start. When we got to the gym, Weehawken was already there before us, warming up. This was our home scrimmage. It happened at least three times last year, when our opponents were there 20 minutes, warming up, before we even got there. They were just waiting for us, when we walked into to our own home game late.”

The troubles began when the leaky roof was spotted in the summer of 2002. The work was done to fix the roof, but the problems occurred when the company doing the work to the floor (which was warped by the water damage) allegedly went bankrupt and ceased all operations.

It left a portion of the floor, approximately 25 percent of the hardwood surface, undone. The unfinished work remains covered in plywood, so no one can step where the work has yet to be completed.

Drennan said that he was told the reason why the floor has yet to be finished was that the matter was tied up in a series of lawsuits, because the construction company was out of business.

“We’ve been told that the entire matter was still in litigation and that the work can’t be done because of it,” Drennan said. “I don’t know why it’s taking so long. I’m not an architect. I’m just a coach.”

Franklin Walker, the associate superintendent of schools for the Jersey City Board of Education, did not know about the pending litigation, citing other structural problems as the reason for the delay.

“The construction company [URS Construction] thought they had the work completed, but they realized that the vertical beams under the floor had also been damaged by the water,” said Walker, the former head football coach and athletic director at Lincoln High School. “When they realized they had to replace the vertical beams as well, we realized that we couldn’t get the floor done any time soon. I’ve received word that it will be May before anything can happen, and that’s the earliest. We’re not happy about it, but based on the circumstances, that’s what is going to happen.”

Drennan is puzzled as to why it has taken so long to get the floor fixed, especially since it’s only a quarter of the entire playing surface.

Walker agreed.

“Technically, the floor should have been done by now,” Walker said. “It is a little extensive that it’s taking so long. Especially since it’s not the whole floor and just a portion. So it appears to be pretty extensive. I haven’t spoken to our legal department to talk about any litigation, but the indications are that the work stopped because there were still problems with the floor and problems with leaks. I was told by our custodial staff that the leaks still had to be repaired.”

But Drennan has seen the gym and doesn’t think there are any more leaks.

“I haven’t seen water, so who knows?” Drennan said. “I don’t understand it.”

Honestly, Drennan has a point. It really doesn’t make sense that the kids are kept off the floor because of lawsuits and legal mumbo jumbo. We’re not talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars here. It’s perhaps $15,000 worth of work. Why can’t the Board of Education put out the money to fix the floor now, then go after the contractors later on?

Not to mention, what’s the cost involved in busing these kids all over the place every single day? Has that issue been addressed?

Also, the players do not receive transportation for weekend games and practices, so they have to somehow make their way up to P.S. 28 on their own.

“We’re asking kids from the Duncan and Marion projects to get on buses on the weekends to get up there,” Drennan said. “To the kids’ credit, they’ve been doing it. I keep hearing rumors that the work is going to be done, but then nothing gets done. It’s not my place to say anything. I just follow the chain of command. It’s not ready, so we go on. It’s been almost two years and it’s getting really frustrating. Sure, it hurts.”

Added Drennan, “It really takes away from my ability to coach and [from] getting kids prepared to play. But what can you do if the kids are standing around, waiting for buses and not getting to the gym on time? It’s not away you want to prepare for a game. I thought we only had to do that for last year, but this is now the second year, and I don’t know when it’s going to get done.”

Drennan was hopeful that the Rams would have a successful campaign this season. He welcomes back four starters and five key players overall, proven performers like Kendell Wiggins, Brian Blount, Brandon Hairston (the nephew of former Snyder and Purdue University star Roy “Pooh” Hairston), Markell Jackson and Craig Sampson, as well some talented transfers like Vaughn Rouse (from St. Anthony) and Elijah Evelyn (from Brooklyn).

“But how can you expect excellence with a situation like this?” Drennan said. “Of course we want to win, but you can’t have it both ways. I’ve never seen anything like this in my 22 years of coaching in Hudson County (five years at Marist and 17 now at Dickinson). We’ve enjoyed some good things here, but we’ve never had anything like this to deal with.”

The whole thing does seem a little silly. It makes no practical sense why Dickinson should be forced to play home games away from their historic gym. The floor should have been repaired by now. It shouldn’t take 18 months to patch up some warped hardwood.

Someone has dropped the ball in this situation, and someone at the Board of Education should step forward and remedy this disaster as soon as possible. It is truly unfair to ask a team to play its home games away from home and it’s even more unfair to ask them to provide their own transportation to weekend practices and games.

Litigation or no litigation, there is no excuse why this mess has dragged on for so long. One season was long enough. Two years would be an incomprehensible disaster.

So the historic gym remains silent and empty. It’s the lone link to yesteryear and it’s totally vacant these days. And that’s a real shame.