The words were hard to come by for Tony Romano. He honestly didn’t know how to express himself. Romano was much like someone who loses a loved one to an unexpected tragedy.
A day earlier, 50-year-old Romano learned that St. Aloysius High School, a place where he called home for 45 years, was going to close after this school year ends in June.
Romano was a student in the school since kindergarten, going through grammar school and high school. He later became a basketball coach there and eventually replaced his own head coach, Dennis Kielty, and has remained in that job the last 18 years. Doing double duty, Romano also inherited the post of being the school’s athletic director.
Just how dedicated has Romano been to the institution readily known as St. Al’s? Seven years ago, Romano walked away from his successful career in the banking industry in Manhattan to come back to his alma mater to become a full-time teacher.
“I teach everything now,” Romano said. “Health, religion, gym, whatever they find a class for me to teach.”
So when the Archdiocese of Newark and school officials joined forces last Tuesday to announce to the student body, faculty, and staff that the doors will close for good in June, Romano felt his soul had been ripped out of him.
“It’s been pretty tough,” Romano said. “I have to admit that. I have a lot of great memories in this place. But this is the trend going on in Catholic school education. Schools are merging, others are closing. Enrollments are going down. I kind of figured it was going to be a problem down the line. I was hoping for the best and expecting the worst.”
St. Al’s is soon going to become a part of Hudson County athletic history, much like Holy Rosary of Union City and the two St. Michael’s, one in Union City and another in downtown Jersey City. Those places had rich, storied athletic traditions and they’re now gone.
Some people outside the area were confused in trying to differentiate between the St. Aloysius High School and the Academy of St. Aloysius. One was the co-ed school on West Side Avenue and the other was the all-girl institution on Kennedy Boulevard. Now, both will be history within the span of a year. The Academy of St. Aloysius has been merged with Sacred Heart Academy to form Caritas Academy. St. Al’s High will just lock its doors.
St. Al’s is a school that had so many great moments, hundreds of great athletes over the years. Names like Vinnie Ernst come to mind. After Ernst was the first-ever Mr. Biddy and before he became a two-time Most Valuable Player in the National Invitation Tournament with Providence, he was an All-State standout for the Cardinals.
Names like Rich Kaminsky, Marty Prendergast, Bob Gleason, Dennis Richardson, Joe Dickson, Tony Goodson and Harold Williams all graced the hardwood in the once mighty school on West Side Avenue.
Legendary names like Bob O’Connor and the late Jimmy Walling, who later in life was simply known as “Mr. St. Al’s” for all he did at the school, coached the teams with style and grace.
“Those people were all heroes of mine,” Romano said. “I grew up knowing all about the tradition. That’s all I wanted to do was carry on the tradition. I wanted to uphold everything they had accomplished.”
There were county championships and even trips to the NJSIAA state title games.
In 1956, 1958, and 1959, teams coached by the Bob O’Connor won the NJSIAA Parochial B state championship.
The banners might have been faded a bit over the years and perhaps became a little tattered, like the satin curtains on the gym’s stage, but they were there for posterity all the same, as part of the great history.
In terms of track and field, there might have been no bigger power than St. Al’s in the ’50s and ’60s, with people like Kevin Hennessey sprinting their way to glory for the Cardinals.
St. Al’s also had its share of baseball success as well. It was a soccer hotbed for many years, thanks to the efforts of Walling, who made soccer a varsity sport in Hudson County in the mid-1960s. Plain and simple, it was an athletic paradise.
Highly respected basketball official Felix Addeo vividly remembers those days, having grown up in the school as Romano did. Addeo spent his entire grammar school education there and went to St. Al’s High from 1966 through 1970.
“I remember being in the St. Al’s gym in second grade and watching those great high school teams,” Addeo said. “I remember guys like Bobby Trudell and Bob Gleason and Bob O’Connor as a legendary coach. Then I got to go to St. Al’s and I played for a state soccer champion when I was a senior. I will always have fond memories of the place. They’re embedded into my brain. I always tell my kids about those days.
Added Addeo, who is an accountant in Jersey City, “To think that it’s going to be gone is so sad. It’s going to leave a void. People like Tony Romano kept the torch burning, but now, the torch is going to be extinguished. Growing up as a teenager, I was proud to come from a community environment like St. Al’s. I was fortunate to have a coach like Jim Walling. Those people were good for my guidance. They helped me become who I am today.”
St. Anthony basketball coach and Jersey City Recreation Director Bob Hurley, who has become the Jersey City sports historian of sorts, fondly recalled what St. Al’s meant to the makeup of his hometown.
“My junior year at St. Peter’s Prep [1963], we beat St. Al’s in the first game of the season and then they went on to win like 27 straight games before losing to Gloucester Catholic in the [Parochial B] state finals,” Hurley recalled. “A lot of my best friends growing up in Greenville went to St. Al’s. I remember the stories and the tradition. I have the same kind of emotional feeling hearing about St. Al’s that I had when I heard that my grammar school, St. Paul’s of Greenville, was closing. It’s a sad day.”
Hurley should know. A few years ago, there were rumors that St. Anthony was on the verge of closing its doors, before a few influential people stepped forward and made donations to keep the tiny school on Seventh Street alive.
But there was no such reprieve on West Side and Kensington.
Romano said that interim principal Donna Marciano spoke to the student body on Tuesday.
“We’re in exam week now, so it’s a little tough to get everyone together,” Romano said. “But the reaction of the students was positive and I was surprised. She spoke to the kids, straight from the heart. She said it was a decision we can’t control and she wants the remainder of the year to be memorable.”
Romano said that he didn’t see an emotional difference in his team, which had to go out and face St. Mary’s after the announcement of the school’s closing. Unfortunately, the Cardinals lost, 72-61, but Romano would not use the announcement as an excuse for the loss.
“We have 11 kids on the team and they were all fine,” Romano said.
Leading scorer Chris Hicks was his typical self, scoring 16 points. He’s averaging 23 points per game in what is a memorable campaign, one for the history books.
“He shows up every game and plays hard,” Romano said.
Much like the St. Al’s stars of the past.
“I feel really bad for Tony Romano,” Hurley said. “It’s such a sad thing. A guy like him dedicated his life to St. Al’s. The school had a great tradition, one I admired. I believe here’s a tremendous value that you get with a Catholic education, but the world always changes.”
It sure looks like it’s in with the charter schools and out with the parochial institutions. Somehow, tradition and history get lost in all the money crunching.