Zampella in China; Rhodes released again
Congrats to Hoboken native Angela Zampella, who was selected as a last-minute replacement on the United States national basketball team that is playing at the World Championships in China.
Zampella, the former St. Dominic Academy standout point guard who currently plays at St. Joseph’s University of Pennsylvania, was taken by Virginia Tech coach Beth Henrickson at the last minute when team member Nikki McCray suffered a knee injury.
Zampella is making the most of her opportunity thusfar, contributing five assists in Team USA’s opening round victory over Turkey on Monday.
It marks the first time in Hudson County history that a woman has been named to any U.S. National Team.
It’s unknown at this point whether a good performance at the World Championships could land Zampella a berth on the Olympic team in Sydney in September. More than likely, the Team USA Olympic squad will feature the stars from the WNBA, much like Team USA’s men’s team features NBA All-Stars.
Even if Zampella doesn’t make the Olympic team, it’s still a major accomplishment and achievement that she has been selected to play for the U.S. National Team…
Besides, Hoboken will now have a few representatives in the Olympic Games. Apparently, three members of the U.S. National Soccer team, including standouts Christie Pearce and Sara Whelan, have recently moved to the mile-square city and now call Hoboken their home.
Although Pearce, the former Monmouth University three-sport standout, will always be the native heroine of Point Pleasant Beach.
Both Pearce and Whelan, members of last year’s World Cup team who caught the nation by storm and made the covers of several magazines, are slated to be members of the Olympic team as well.
So it could very well be that Hoboken could have several Olympic members – and possible gold-medal winners as well …
It’s amazing how things change so suddenly in the world of professional basketball. Former St. Anthony standout Rodrick Rhodes was released by the Dallas Mavericks this week – just a few months after receiving word from the team that he was part of their plans for the future.
Rhodes, whose basketball career has taken him through two major colleges (Kentucky and Southern Cal) and through five stops in the NBA (Houston, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Orlando and Dallas) in a total of eight years, now stands at the crossroads once again.
Although he’s only 28 years old, Rhodes will need a major break to return to the NBA …
Another former St. Anthony standout, Rashon Burno, was spotted recently at the ABCD Camp at FDU in Teaneck. Burno, who will begin his junior season at DePaul this fall, was asked if he’s going to miss his collegiate roommate, Quentin Richardson, who left school early for the NBA Draft and was taken by the Los Angeles Clippers.
"I talk to Q every day," Burno said. "He misses me and he misses Chicago, but he’s going to have 900,000 reasons why to like Los Angeles."
The 900,000 refers to dollars, which is how much the 20-year-old Richardson will make during his rookie year with the Clippers.
"I hope he sends some my way," Burno said …
St. Peter’s Prep will soon have its very own athletic facility. The school has reached an agreement with a downtown Jersey City landowner, who will allow the school to build its own $2 million facility near the school.
So in two years, Prep will no longer need the services of Cochrane Field in Jersey City, which was ironically named after long-time legendary Prep football and baseball coach Bill Cochrane.
Question remains: When Prep decides to leave Cochrane Field, will the name stay the same? …
Speaking of the Prep, former Prep standout quarterback Billy Fitzgerald, always a favorite in this corner, has decided to transfer from Iona College to Union College in Schenectady to play football there.
Union is one of the best NCAA Division III programs in the nation, but Fitzgerald, as always, seems up to the challenge …
A major fire in Jersey City’s Greenville section this week injured seven firefighters, two of whom were once standout high school and collegiate athletes in their time.
Lou King was a great defensive back at Snyder and went on to play for the University of Iowa. Mike Carlsen was a super baseball player at St. Anthony who went on to play at the University of Tennessee before transferring to FDU, where he led the nation in hitting. Carlsen also had a stint in professional baseball as well.
Here’s to hoping that both King and Carlsen recover well from the injuries they suffered in that fire.
The North Bergen Police Department softball team got a major boost recently when the township hired two former All-County baseball players to its police force, namely former Hudson Catholic pitcher Ismael Alcina and former St. Anthony and Marist catcher Chris Terranova.
Alcina is one of 24 new officers hired by the township, along with Terranova, who had stints as an assistant baseball coach at Hudson County Prep and St. Peter’s College. They will be officially sworn into duty this weekend …
Speaking of North Bergen, Greg Herenda, the North Bergen native and former Seton Hall assistant coach, who was named as the head coach at the University of New Haven just eight weeks ago, announced that he was resigning from the position last week for "personal reasons" …
Former St. Peter’s College women’s soccer coach Glenn Crooks was named this week as the new women’s soccer coach at Rutgers University. For someone who started in broadcasting, doing SPC games on the radio a decade ago, Crooks has certainly come a long way, getting a chance to coach in the Big East.
Crooks is a long-time friend and former roommate of mine on road trips during those days at SPC. He has worked his tail off to get this big-time shot and I am very proud of him…