Following 1,000th Win, Hurley Wins Morgan Wootten Award

Things were so busy and hectic at the SLAM Dome last week that we didn’t get the chance to give St. Anthony HS head coach Bob Hurley his due after getting his 1,000th career win. The Hall-of-Famer coach reached the milestone last week after a 76-46 win over St. Mary’s. Hurley, a Jersey City native, has won 23 State Parochial Championships at the school, 10 TOC titles and has sent over 150 players to college on scholarships, including 7 McDonald’s All-American and 5 NBA first-round draft picks. Currently in his 39th season at St. Anthony, the win put Hurley at an overall record of 1,000 – 110. Hurley and his basketball program was the focal point of the film documentary, The Street Stops Here, that aired last year.

And as if last week’s achievement wasn’t big enough, it was announced yesterday that Hurley was the recipient of the 2011 Morgan Wootten Award for Lifetime Achievement in Coaching High School Basketball. The award is given out annually to a coach for boys basketball and one for girls basketball. This year’s winner for girls basketball was Gene Kingle of Iowa, who is 44 wins shy from 1,000 in his career. Previous award winners include Jack Curran of Archbishop Molloy in New York, Joe Gallagher of St. John’s College in D.C., Ralph Tasker of Hobbs High School in New Mexico, among others.