John Furch didn’t know how he was going to handle having his baseball uniform number 27 retired by his high school alma mater, Hudson Catholic, last week.
“When they raised the curtain and showed that number, I was asked to say a few words,” said Furch, who was a three-time All-Hudson County performer in baseball at Hudson Catholic in the early 1980s, before going on to have a fine career at Duke University. “But it was so difficult to speak. I got so nervous and didn’t know what to say. It was a very proud feeling. I didn’t realize how impressive it was until I saw that No. 27 go up there. I was very honored and extremely proud.”
Furch, who has been a Jersey City police officer for the last 14 years, shared the uniform-retiring last week with his wife Marybeth, and three children, daughters Megan, age 12, Sarah, age 11, and son John-John, age 7. The retiring took place before a recent Hawk basketball game.
“They all loved being a part of it,” Furch said. “I do get to coach them all the time. They always tell me to hit the ball far when I play with them.”
That request isn’t a hard one, considering the slugging Furch hit some of the longest and furthest homers ever recorded in Hudson County history. The legend of some of his blasts goes on to this very day.
When he played in the old Build Better Boys Baseball League, Furch unfurled some monstrous blasts at Pershing Field that actually cleared Central Avenue and went on the roofs of some of the buildings across the street. They were titanic shots indeed.
“They seem to go further and further over the years,” Furch laughed.
He became the first baseball player to ever have his number retired at the school and joins basketball players Jim Spanarkel, Mike O’Koren, Jim McDonough and Ed Nierstadt and hockey players Dave Barbossa and Chris Heger as athletes to have their numbers retired by the school.
“Just looking up and seeing my name with Spanarkel and O’Koren is amazing,” Furch said.
Furch also has a distinction of being a part of a county championship as a player (1984) and as an assistant coach (1995) at Hudson Catholic.
“I was fortunate to play for Mr. [Joe] Pope and coach with Mr. [Mike] Zadroga, both of whom taught me a lot about the game,” said Furch, who is still a youth coach in Hazlet, where he now resides…
Speaking of Pershing Field, prayers go out to a true Pershing Field legend in Charlie Straub, who is practically Mr. Pershing Field baseball and Mr. Dickinson High School athletics. Straub, who had a street named after him near Pershing Field earlier this year, suffered a fall in the snow and ice near his home and suffered a broken hip. Here’s to hoping that the affable Straub is up and about again very shortly….
The Jersey City Board of Education decided that Lincoln’s girls’ basketball team had to forfeit five games as a result of the grade-changing scandal that has already cost three good people their livelihoods.
The sad thing about this ruling is that there are extenuating circumstances surrounding one of the young ladies involved in this so-called scandal – and she wasn’t even a key player or major contributor in that matter.
If she was a 15-point per game scorer, maybe the forfeits might have been warranted. But the young lady in question was a little-used reserve.
This is definitely a case of not seeing the forest through the trees. If this is being done as a collective way of saving face, then the Jersey City Board of Education is losing sight of the true victims in this situation – namely the kids and the administrators who have been implicated.
Now, the entire team suffers and loses a chance to get a higher seed in the upcoming NJSIAA Group I state playoffs. In this corner, it doesn’t make a hill of sense whatsoever…
North Bergen and Jersey City boxer Danny McDermott is making a return to the ring this weekend after a brief respite. Here’s to hoping that McDermott can regain the form he had a few years ago when he was an up-and-comer…
The Dickinson boys’ track team captured the Hudson County Track Coaches Association championship with wunderkind Jose Veras doing a little bit of everything once again. As every single day passes, Veras’ legacy as one of the all-time greats in the sport in this area grows and grows…
Speaking of Dickinson, Brent Burgess scored 30 in a boys’ basketball win over Morristown last weekend. Glad to see that Athlete of the Week jinx didn’t work…
Hudson Reporter Boys’ H.S. Basketball Top Five: 1. St. Anthony (17-0). 2. St. Peter’s Prep (14-3). 3. Hudson Catholic (16-4). 4. Marist (13-4). 5. Memorial (12-4)….
Hudson Reporter Girls’ H.S. Basketball Top Five: 1. Bayonne (17-1). 2. North Bergen (16-2). 3. Secaucus (15-2). 4. Holy Family Academy (11-4). 5. St. Dominic Academy (10-6)…
The Hudson County Tourney quarterfinals in both boys’ and girls’ action is slated for this Saturday, with the semifinals Feb. 19 and the finals at St. Peter’s College’s Yanitelli Center on Feb. 26…
And don’t forget the additional games for the Dan Finn Classic will be held at New Jersey City University on Feb. 21, with Bayonne’s girls facing Pascack Valley, followed by the showdown between St. Anthony and St. Peter’s Prep… — Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.