26th Induction Ceremony, Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame. MIV/CYO Center. Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame Committee member, John Woodman, left, promising to share his tie with Class of 2022 Inductee, James "Bird" Sparrow. Nov. 18, 2022. (Kara Buzga for Staten Island Advance) Kara BuzgaKara Buzga
There was hardly an empty seat nor a dry eye during the heartfelt tributes orated by the seven inductees into the Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame on Friday night at the CYO-MIV Center in Pleasant Plains.
Family, friends, teammates, local historians and supporters turned out in droves to witness the latest batch of Hall of Famers utter the fondest memories of their playing days. Yet, perhaps, it was the emotional perorations of the seven recipients, each reverting to their Staten Island upbringings, which truly moved the audience on a blustery night on the South Shore.
While the children of Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo Jr. accepted the honor on behalf of their father, so did William Bowers, the son of former New York Black Yankee Julie Bowers, who was inducted posthumously. New Dorp HS football star Mickey Burns and St. Peter’s hoops legend Greg Pedro were on the dais to receive their formal induction plaque, as were former NBA draft pick James Sparrow, racquetball champion Bill Wolfe, and two-time Olympic trial runner Jesse Carlin.
Each thanked their families, acknowledged their fellow inductees, and tied it all back to his or her Staten Island roots. The speeches revealed far more about the people than the athletes, though SISHOF president Anthony Santo and committee members Jay Price, John Woodman, John Iasparro, and others profoundly introduced the recipients and cited the incredible accolades of each.
Scenes from Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame
AT THE PODIUM
Madison and Louis Anarumo shed light on the difficulties of growing up as a “coach’s kid”, while their father left behind an emotional message as he is away with the Bengals preparing for a divisional matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Anarumo thanked his family for a lifetime of sacrifices which have allowed him to live out his dream, and credited his hometown of Staten Island and former Susan Wagner coach Al Paturzo for where he is today.
“From Susan Wagner JV coach to defensive coordinator in the NFL…from Staten Island to the Super Bowl,” read Anarumo’s son Louis.
William Bowers spoke of his father’s Sandy Ground upbringing and Minor League baseball career with the Atlanta Braves, which included mentoring a young Hank Aaron. Burns, meanwhile, drew back on his fondest athletic achievements, which spanned from his legendary 1964 season as the running back for the undefeated Central Cougars, to his American Legion baseball team which he helped lead to the national title game that same year alongside teammates and fellow Hall of Famers Terry Crowley and Jack Hurley.
Carlin, the youngest inductee of the group, was a four-time Advance All-Star runner at St. Joseph-by-the-Sea. She called her induction the “highlight of my athletic career. Track took me all over the world, but it started right here on Staten Island.”
Pedro joins a short list of two-time inductees, as he was a member of St. Peter’s 1983 city championship team, which was previously enshrined as a group. The do-it-all scoring machine left high school with a then-Island record 1,406 points but said: “This is really big for me. I feel like one of the luckiest guys to ever live.”
Wolfe, a racquetball champion later in life, was a notable baseball and basketball player at Curtis HS, where he led the Warriors to a pair of city crowns in the 1960s and was renowned for his competitive drive. He went on to play both sports at Wagner College.
Yet no inductee had a more emotionally jarring deliverance than Sparrow, who shared the details of a difficult childhood which saw him lose both of his parents by age six and spend the majority of his youth in an orphanage. He pointed to McKee basketball coach Bob Steele, who helped him move back to Staten Island after he was relocated to another center in upstate New York as a teenager. He ultimately became McKee’s first 1,000-point scorer and eventually enjoyed a successful basketball career overseas.
“This is big for me to come back home,” said Sparrow, who played his college ball at North Carolina A&T and was drafted by the Indiana Pacers, though he never played in the NBA. “Staten Island is special. The people I’ve met here are incredible…I wouldn’t trade this place for nothing in the world.”
The latest recipients are a part of the SISHOF’s 27th class. Since the first class was announced in 1995, the hall has inducted a combined 178 individuals and teams.
For more details about each of this year’s honorees, please scroll down.
Lou Anarumo Jr.
Defensive coordinator for the AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals, started his coaching career as the volunteer head coach of the Susan Wagner High School junior varsity. He paid his dues in a 22-year college career, coaching defensive backs at six schools in four states, before jumping to the NFL’s Dolphins, Giants and Bengals.
Julie Bowers
A catcher and line-drive hitter whose pro career began with the New York Black Yankees, was in his mid-twenties when he got to organized baseball. Too old to be a prospect, he hit .291 over five minor-league seasons, made an all-star team, and served as an early mentor to Hank Aaron, baseball’s all-time home run leader. The Tottenville HS alum died in 1977.
Mickey Burns
He was a multi-sport star at New Dorp High School, where he was pivotal in an iconic football team’s undefeated run to a city championship, and at Missouri Valley College. In thirteen seasons as the basketball coach at McKee High School, Burns won four Island titles, and his 1977 team is the only Island public school to play for a city title.
Jesse Carlin
A 2008 All-American at 800 meters and the Distance Medley Relay for the University of Pennsylvania, finished third at the 2009 USA championships. Before that, she was an eight-time Staten Island champion, four-time CHSAA champion and New York State champion at St. Joseph by-the-Sea, where she set nine individual school records.
Greg Pedro
He scored 1,406 points at St. Peter’s High School; but his signature triumph was leading the Eagles to the 1983 CHSAA AA championship, still the only top-tier city title for an Island boys’ team, public or private. A two-year letterman at Michigan State and all-conference guard at Fordham, Pedro led the Rams to a MAAC championship game, where his 32 points included an arena record eight three-pointers.
James Sparrow
He set basketball scoring records at McKee High School, where he was the first 1,000-point scorer; at Laurinburg (N.C.) Institute, where he broke Hall of Famer Charlie Scott’s records; and at North Carolina A&T, where he led the Aggies to four regular-season and conference tournament titles, and left as the school’s all-time leading scorer. 5th round draft pick of the Indiana Pacers in 1978
Bill Wolfe
He was a gritty point guard and middle infielder at Curtis High School, where he helped the Warriors win back-to-back city championships in baseball and go deep into the city playoffs in basketball; and at Wagner College, where he’s in the Hall of Fame. Decades later, that same competitive spirit drove Wolfe to two national racquetball titles.
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