Beloved McKeever bids SPC adieu; end of road for Banks?Another great basketball coaching career came to an end last week, when local hoop coaching legend Billy McKeever announced his retirement from his position as the assistant women’s basketball coach at St. Peter’s College.
McKeever, the long-time North Bergen resident, has spent the last five decades coaching basketball on both the high school and collegiate levels, most of it in Hudson County.
McKeever, a 1959 graduate of St. Peter’s College, joined the forces of the women’s basketball team and legendary head coach Mike Granelli 15 years ago. During McKeever’s tenure, the Peahens won 303 games and lost 134 times. The Peahens captured six Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season titles and six conference postseason tournament titles in those years, resulting in six trips to the NCAA Tournament.
McKeever began his coaching career at St. Peter’s Prep, where he was an assistant to the late Jerry Halligan, but he then moved on to become the head coach at Union Hill, where McKeever was a long-time teacher before retiring a few years ago.
At Union Hill, McKeever carved his niche as one of the best basketball coaches in the county, leading the Hillers to three Group III state final contests in 12 seasons. He then moved on to coach the men’s basketball team at St. Peter’s, then spent five years as an assistant to local coaching great Joe Palermo at Kean College (now Kean University).
McKeever then went back to coach at Union Hill for four years, before joining Granelli’s staff in 1989-90.
He instantly became a father figure and lovable character with the women’s team, as well as being an integral part of coaching, especially scouting and game preparation.
“Billy has been an integral part of the success we’ve had since he joined our staff and he deserves a great deal of credit for all he’s done in those 15 years,” said Granelli, who recently completed his 32nd season as the head coach of the Peahens and became the ninth coach in the history of women’s college basketball to reach the 600-win plateau.
McKeever, a member of both the Hudson County Sports Hall of Fame and the St. Peter’s College Hall of Fame, will be sorely missed in local basketball circles. He’s definitely a true lifer to the game and going to Peahen games won’t be the same without him around….
As the month of June came, it appears as if the professional baseball career of Willie Banks has come to an end. Banks, the former St. Anthony product who was the No. 3 draft pick overall in the 1987 draft by the Minnesota Twins (just two picks behind Ken Griffey, Jr.) was with the Iowa Cubs (Class AAA) in the Cubs’ organization at the end of last season.
He was reportedly fielding other offers to join another organization this year, but nothing materialized, so it looks like his career has come to an end, ironically within the same time frame as former high school teammate John Valentin and Secaucus product Mark Lukasiewicz. All three were on major league rosters to start the 2002 season and now all three are out of baseball. Just shows you how fleeting fame is…
St. Dominic Academy junior Daria Zivanovic continued her fine outdoor track season with a standout performance at the Eastern States Track & Field Championships in Uniondale, N.Y. on Tuesday.
Zivanovic become the first athlete in school history to win gold medals at the meet, winning both the discus (131 feet) and the shot put (39-4), where she broke her own outdoor school record in the latter event.
But in her debut performance in the hammer throw, Zivanovic took home the bronze medal with a third place throw of 141-4, earning the top Field Performer honor, which was the first time an SDA performer ever earned that distinction.
Freshman Mariel Teschlog also did well at the meet, placing fifth in the javelin with a personal-best throw of 99-feet, 10-inches, the furthest javelin throw by a Hudson County girl this year… — Jim Hague
TASTY TIDBITS
