Friday night was an auspicious beginning for the high school varsity basketball teams. Both the girls’ and boys’ teams routed their competition in their season openers at home, with the girls trouncing Marylawn of the Oranges 45-10, and the boys humbling Glen Ridge 36-18. Part of the reason for the lopsided scores was no doubt the new conference divisions, which pits Verona against high schools with similar records in a particular sport, coupled with the positive energy provided by an enthusiastic home town crowd. Sophomore Brian Farrell scored a career-high 12 points with four 3-pointers, and junior DonnaJo DiNorcia had 14 points for the girls.
Between the two games, Verona held a ceremony honoring the achievements of 14 alumni who scored 1,000 points in their Hillbilly careers. They are: Bucky Hatchett, ’45; Doug Gaffney, ’60; Gregory Burghardt, ’64; Joe Albano, ’73 (brother of Laning Principal Frank Albano); Maureen McKenna Tymochko, ’79; George Rawding, ’81; Cara Hudson Brown, ’82; Roseann McEvoy, ’86; Kelly McCormick, ’88; Mike Fader, ’88; Mike Ball, ’94; Jen Hansen, ’95; Kevin Brandon, ’02; Chris Looney, ’09.
I’d like to send Bucky an email. He was my basketball coach in the late 50’s. Please email his email address.
Many thanks, Don