At first, the idea of Weehawken High School senior Chris Hernandez being actually considered as a McDonald’s High School All-American basketball player was just a little surprising. After all, Weehawken has never had a player receive consideration. Hudson County itself has had only three players in its history to participate in the game – and all three, Bobby Hurley (1989), Rodrick Rhodes (1992) and Anthony Perry (1997), are graduates of St. Anthony. Plus, the players who generally get selected to play come from the high school powerhouses, like St. Anthony, not a small Group I school like Weehawken. So when school officials received word that McDonald’s representatives were coming to the school to present Hernandez with an award for receiving an official nomination, needless to say, there were some skeptics. “I didn’t hear from them directly and you know messages tend to get mixed up,” Weehawken athletic director Richard Terpak said. “I knew that we never had anyone receive consideration.” Head basketball coach Jake McNish began to wonder about the legitimacy. “I was really taken aback by the whole thing,” McNish said. “It was very surprising.” After doing some research, it was learned that the phone call concerning the McDonald’s All-America honor was, in fact, legit. Hernandez, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard/forward who has averaged nearly 15 points per game this season for the Indians, was nominated for the honor by Jay Gomes, who serves on the McDonald’s advisory committee. Gomes is the writer and publisher of NJHoops, a weekly New Jersey basketball newsletter. Gomes apparently spotted Hernandez playing AAU basketball last summer for the St. Michael’s of Union City team. When it came time for Gomes to make a list of New Jersey candidates for the McDonald’s All-American team, he included Hernandez among the 50 New Jersey players and among the 1,800 national players receiving consideration. Hernandez was the lone player from Hudson County to receive consideration this year. Although Hernandez was not selected with the nation’s Top 30 players to participate in the game next month in the Fleet Center in Boston, it is still a gigantic accomplishment for him to receive consideration. “It’s a great honor for the young man,” Terpak said. “We’ve had some pretty decent players in Weehawken over the years and Chris is the first to receive the honor. It’s a tremendous honor for the school, the community and the program. Everyone can take a little piece of the pie.” Terpak kept the honor a secret until a regular assembly last week, when the plaque was presented to Hernandez in front of the entire student body. “I was really surprised by it,” said Hernandez, who is also a standout player for the football and baseball teams at the school. “When they called me up on stage, I really didn’t know what to say. There are a lot of great players out there and to think they were considering me is amazing. “Just to get All-County recognition coming from Weehawken is tough,” Hernandez added. “Getting an honor like this is hard to believe. To be put in the same category with the best players in the state and the country is beyond my wildest dreams.” It’s not the only recognition Hernandez has received recently. He was also named to the All-Bergen County Scholastic League team and will participate in the upcoming Hudson-Essex All-Star Classic, which will be played in April. And Hernandez is approaching another honor. He enters this weekend needing only 54 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau for his career. “Lately, that’s all people want to talk about, the 1,000 points,” Hernandez said. “I don’t want them to spoil it, like talking about a no-hitter to a pitcher. But it’s nice to see people getting excited, that there are people watching and noticing. I never thought any of this was possible. I’d still like a state sectional championship over it all.” McNish is proud of his standout player. “When you think of All-American, you think of the kids that go to Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, the big-name kids,” McNish said. “You never think that they could consider a kid from Weehawken. It’s a great honor for the kid, something he’ll treasure for the rest of his life.” “I’d like to thank the people who recognized me,” Hernandez said. “The guys in small schools don’t normally get recognized. I’m glad my teammates got to enjoy it as well, because they’re the ones who have been pushing me for four years. I was real happy to find out it was legit.” Would Ronald McDonald lie? Of course not.
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