Brick To Honor 1,000-Point Scorers, Begin To Build Basketball Tradition Friday Night

(Photos of Mike Gawronski (14), F.J. Luchetti (20) and Tom Paterno (32) courtesy Greater Media Newspapers.)

Mike Gawronski remembers what it was like being part of two of the best boys basketball teams in Brick Township High School history.

He remembers the excitement of winning the Shore Conference Class A South title in 2007, the only title in the program’s history. He remembers the joy of reaching the quarterfinals of the Shore Conference Tournament that year before falling to Neptune. He remembers the thrill of playing in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV and beating Montgomery, 59-51, as Brick won a home game in the state tournament for the first time.

Now Gawronski wants the next generation of Brick Township High School basketball players to feel that excitement. And Gawronski, who has taken over as coach at his alma mater, hopes to lead this generation of Dragons the same way he led the Dragons to back-to-back solid seasons in 2006 and 2007: with a little help from his friends. But more than that, he wants to built a program that earns the kind of respect that other sports in the school have.

That begins, he said, with honoring the past. Though the basketball program has struggled for much of its history, it has produced four players who scored 1,000 points or more in their career: Joe Spitale, Class of 1988, who finished with 1,742 points and took the Dragons to a 17-9 record and the 1987 WOBM Christmas Classic title (with a 40-point game in the tournament that still stands a tournament record today) and a trip to the semifinals of the South Jersey Group IV tournament, where Brick lost to a powerful Camden team; Stan Czekay, Class of 1997, who had 1,501 points during his career; and Mike Arase, Class of 1970, who had 1,000.

Those three will be honored Friday night prior to the start of Brick’s 2014-15 season tipoff against Jackson Memorial. The game begins at 6:30 p.m.; the pregame festivities, where Superintendent Walter Uszenski, Principal Dennis Fillipone and Athletic Director Rick Handschen are presenting painted basketballs and unveiling a banner in the gym noting their achievements, as well as new championship boards.

“As a former player within the program, I feel that starting to bring the tradition and celebrating the past starts to prepare the program to build towards the future,” Gawronski said.

That fourth 1,000-point scorer, by the way? That was Gawronski, who finished with 1,315 as the Dragons went 15-12 during his junior season before the 19-9 season his senior year.

“I was honored when I was in high school and I do not need to be honored again,” he said. Gawronski said his achievements were due in large part to his teammates on that 2007 team, including Tom Paterno, FJ Luchetti and Tim Reddan.

“Those three were a huge part in us being so good,“ Gawronski said. “We grew up playing together and I would not have scored 1,000 points without them.”

Luchetti has come back to the program as well, assisting Gawronski as a volunteer coach, and Reddan’s mother, Margaret, lends a hand through her role as the athletic deparment secretary.

He hopes the camaraderie that he, Luchetti and the others experienced will rub off on his team, led by Brian Oehme, a 6-foot-4 senior forward who’s a three-year starter for the Dragons. Not only this team, but teams to come.