Hoboken's Freeman named Male Athlete of the Year

It’s safe to say that Nyjon Freeman was simply destined for football greatness when he was a youngster.

But honestly, it wasn’t at the first position that Freeman played in Pee-Wee football in Hoboken.

“When I was seven years old, I was the center,” Freeman said. “Honestly, it was my choice. No one knew what I was capable of.”

However, there was a pursuit drill at practice and Freeman had to run after the running back.

“I ran up the sidelines and caught the kid,” Freeman said. “The coaches all said, ‘Man, this kid is fast.’ So they told my Dad that they were moving me to running back and I actually was crying. I didn’t want to do it.”

Soon after Freeman saw his position change, so did his attitude.

“Then I started scoring touchdowns and the journey began,” Freeman said.

By the time Freeman was in eighth grade, the comparisons began with all the great running backs in Hoboken history that had come before him, immortal names like Dwayne Peterson, Ravon Anderson, Tyrell Dortch and the guy who would eventually coach Freeman at Hoboken High School Keeon Walker.

Freeman scored an astounding 44 touchdowns during his final season of Pop Warner youth football when Freeman was in eighth grade. Instantly, Freeman was being tabbed as the next Peterson or the next Dortch. Those things naturally happen when you reach the end zone 44 times.

“Honestly, it felt like every time I touched the ball, I scored,” Freeman said. “I just got the ball and ran and ended up in the end zone. It just started to feel easy for me.”

Sure, Freeman heard the comparisons.

“I knew all the names,” Freeman said. “It was an honor for me to be compared to the greats. I just had to stay hungry and humble. I had to push myself to get better and better.”

From left, Hoboken head football coach Keeon Walker, Hudson County Male Athlete of the Year Nyjon Freeman, Jim Hague and Hoboken head boys' basketball coach Shaun Kolmer honor Freeman as he receives his 2019-2020 Jim Hague Sports Male Athlete of the Year award.

So when Freeman arrived at Hoboken High a little more than three years ago, he felt he was ready.

“I had decent size,” Freeman said. “I was 5-foot-10 and weighed about 160 (pounds). I thought that I would get crushed when I got to high school, but after the first time I got hit, I said, ‘I can do this.’ I was ready. I was alright. Everyone was just a little bigger and stronger.”

Freeman was also a fine basketball player. In fact, at a young age, Freeman preferred basketball to football.

“Basketball was always my top sport,” Freeman said. “It’s really a lot of fun and dunking is my favorite thing to do. I started dunking in eighth grade and I never stopped.”

Hoboken head boys’ basketball coach Shaun Kolmer knew that Freeman had basketball talent as well.

“I taught Nyjon in grammar school (Connors School in Hoboken) from second through sixth grade,” Kolmer said. “And I told his father in fourth grade that I never had a kid like Nyjon. I said then that he was going to be special. He did other things like lead the class in exercises and demonstrated the games we were trying to teach. He was always just a genuine athlete. And he was the only freshman I ever had to start varsity.”

Freeman wanted to be the next Kevin Durant, but he stopped growing before he hit an inch over six feet tall, a foot shorter than the injured Brooklyn Nets star.

“I grew up an Oklahoma City (Thunder) fan,” Freeman said. “Durant could dribble and shoot over everyone. He can do everything. I wanted to be like him. I think I was pretty good in both sports. I just became more successful in football and chose football to be my path.”

Freeman had a decent freshman season playing varsity football as a freshman, but was all set to make a huge splash as a sophomore. In fact, in his first game as a sophomore in 2017 against Verona, Freeman motored for 287 yards and four touchdowns.

Walker, the head football coach, knew that Freeman was on the precipice of immortality.

“A lot of people took notice of him when he played youth football and scored a ton of touchdowns,” Walker said. “I think we all knew right away that Nyjon was the real deal. He had the potential to be something special. He was able to play at such a high level right away. He could make plays anywhere we put him, at running back, at slot receiver, at wing back. He was a glider who ran so smooth. We saw what he could do, so we opened the offense up more.”

Incredibly, Hoboken had run the Delaware Wing-T offensive set with all of the great running backs in the past, guys like the aforementioned Peterson (who once scored an incredible nine touchdowns in one game), Anderson, Dortch and Walker all got their yards and TDs out of the Wing-T.

“We just wanted to try to get Nyjon in open space more,” Walker said. “If we were able to get him in space and make one or two guys miss, he was off.”

However, midway through his sophomore year, Freeman hit a speed bump on that road to immortality. Nope, make that a mountain of an obstacle.

Walker was on the sidelines when disaster struck.

“I wasn’t in direct line of sight,” Walker said. “At first, I didn’t notice what happened. I thought maybe someone rolled into Nyjon and rolled over his knee.”

“At first, I didn’t feel anything,” Freeman said. “But once I fell to the ground and saw my leg bent in a way it shouldn’t be bent, I knew it was trouble. It was a sight I never wanted to see again.”

Freeman’s leg appeared to be dangling and hanging on by a thread.

“I tried to remain calm and I tried to remain positive,” Walker said. “But I knew it was bad. In the back of my mind, I knew it was going to be tough to come back from that. Watching the tape, I never saw anything that bad and that type of injury. It was pretty gruesome.”

Even Freeman couldn’t remain optimistic.

“I thought everything was over,” Freeman said. “I watched the play on Hudl (the website that produces videos of all high school football games) and watched it over and over, because I wanted to see how I got hurt. It looks like four defenders fell on me and made my knee collapse.”

Freeman suffered one of the worst knee injuries ever recorded. He almost separated his entire knee from its socket. He suffered a litany of ligament damages – “I tore the ACL, the PCL, the MCL and the LCL, as well as the meniscus,” Freeman said – and needed to undergo three reconstructive surgeries. The first ACL surgery didn’t fully take, so the doctors in Christ Hospital had to do it again.

“It changed my life forever,” Freeman said.

Freeman thought that he would just sit out the basketball season and would be back in time to play football in the fall of 2018 for his junior year, but that didn’t happen.

“I was doing rehab five days a week for two hours a day,” Freeman said. “My range of motion was the toughest thing I had to do to come back. Everything in that leg was torn.”

It was a lot for a 15-year-old kid to endure.

From left, Debra Jones, Freeman's grandmother, John Freeman of Wiz TV, Freeman's father, Freeman and Freeman's mother Terina Jones

“I was stressing every night,” Freeman said. “I would sometimes cry myself to sleep. I wondered if I was ever going to be able to walk again.”

If there was one positive thing that happened with the horrific knee injury, it was that Freeman’s grades improved.

But being on the sidelines for nearly two full years nearly broke Freeman’s spirit.

“It was really hard seeing my teammates fight for every play and I couldn’t do anything to help them,” Freeman said. “I always wanted to remain positive, but it was tough not being on the court or on the field. It broke my heart to see my teammates lose.”

In July of 2019, Freeman finally got the medical clearance to return to football practice, but he could only do so wearing a heavy protective brace.

“It took a little while, but I began to feel more comfortable wearing the brace,” Freeman said. “That brought a lot of joy to me. I was growing and getting stronger.”

Walker remained positive that Freeman would have some sort of an impact on his football team.

“I knew that he had the maturity level to be capable to return,” Walker said. “I knew he was mature enough to handle it. One of my main concerns was whether his body could handle it. He was still young when he suffered the injury. It wasn’t like he was a fully grown man. But he showed signs that he could handle everything.”

Freeman knew that he couldn’t play football with the fear of getting hurt again.

“It’s tough playing football and still being hesitant,” Freeman said. “I couldn’t worry about the knee and the brace. I just had to play. And when I played, I felt good.”

Freeman had moments of brilliance last fall, rushing for 268 yards and scoring three touchdowns against Cedar Grove and 185 yards in a game against Newark Collegiate. He also had 100-yards plus in games against Verona and Weequahic. All totaled, Freeman rushed for 1,296 yards and 11 touchdowns.

“I think he was just showing glimpses of what he could be,” Walker said. “I don’t know if there was anyone else who could have been able to do what he did. I always said that if he’s healthy, Nyjon could play with anyone.”

Incredibly, Freeman tore ligaments in his shoulder during the Redwings’ loss to Weequahic in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I playoffs that kept him out for the first half of the basketball season.

But when Freeman came back, he played with reckless abandon.

His highlight reel play came against a very good Snyder team, when Freeman blocked a shot on a player six inches taller than him and blocked it off the backboard. Freeman then secured the rebound and took the ball the length of the floor for a layup and a foul, subsequently making the free throw. It was one of the best single plays ever made by a Hoboken basketball player.

“Obviously, football is his sport, but Nyjon was always able to jump to the moon,” Kolmer said. “I think him being able to compete in football helped his confidence to play basketball. I watched him practice every day and that play (against Snyder) didn’t surprise me, because I saw it every day.”

Freeman averaged 11 points and nine rebounds per game. He scored 17 points and grabbed 17 rebounds against county tournament finalist Marist, had 16 points against Union City and had 12 points and 11 rebounds against Dickinson.

So for his incredible comeback and his performance on the gridiron and the hardwood, Freeman has been selected as the Jim Hague Sports Male Athlete of the Year for 2019-2020. Freeman is the sixth Hoboken male athlete to receive the award since fellow Hoboken grad Jason Casessa garnered the first award in 1992. Freeman is the first Hoboken athlete to receive the award since Jason Blanks, Sr. was awarded in 2003 and ironically, Blanks and Freeman are cousins.

“I’m blessed,” Freeman said. “I thank the coaching staff for having the faith in me and believing in me. It was hard. The gift I got from my Dad (John Freeman, who is the video giant behind Wiz TV) was to remain positive and keep a smile on my face. Even on the days that I was sad, I found a way to smile.”

Freeman’s coaches sing their athlete’s praises.

“I was blessed to have him,” Kolmer said. “He’s a generational talent. Kids like Nyjon Freeman don’t grow off trees. He’s just one of the nicest kids I ever coached. Just recently, he sent me a text and said, ‘Coach, I hope all is well with you and your family.’ That’s the kind of kid he is.”

“What can I say?” Walker said. “He’s one of the best we’ve ever had. But through it all, it was able to focus on doing his rehab and getting back on the field.”

Because of the knee injury, Freeman did not receive any scholarship offers of note, so he took the invitation to try to walk on at Rutgers University and has already begun workouts with coach Greg Schiano and the Scarlet Knights.

“I think he just needs to prove to everyone he can play at that level,” Walker said. “But he’s capable.”

“I think all the others are going to regret not recruiting me,” Freeman said.

After all Nyjon Freeman has been through, who’s going to deny this kid?

HUDSON COUNTY-JIM HAGUE SPORTS

 MALE ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

1991-1992-Jason Casessa, Hoboken

1992-1993-Alex Rodriguez, Secaucus

1993-1994-Eduardo Gomez, Hoboken

1995-1996-Rashard Casey, Hoboken

1996-1997-Czar Wiley, North Bergen

1997-1998-Koz Perez, North Bergen

1998-1999-Mike Forcum, Hoboken

1999-2000-Jonathan Robinson, Memorial

2001-2002-Bryan Durango, Memorial

2002-2003-Jason Blanks, Hoboken

2003-2004-Danny Lopez, Weehawken

2004-2005-Mike Brown, St. Peter’s Prep

2005-2006-Garrett Askew, Hudson Catholic

2006-2007-Evan Rodriguez, North Bergen

2007-2008-Chris Jones, Lincoln

2008-2009-Michael Kuzirian, Memorial

2009-2010-Kevin Innis, St. Peter’s Prep

2010-2011-Jose Veras, Dickinson

2011-2012-Jason Pineda, Weehawken

2012-2013-Damian Corredor, Weehawken

2013-2014-Tyrik Darby, Lincoln

2014-2015-Corey Caddle, St. Peter’s Prep

2015-2016-Royaal Jones, Hudson Catholic

2016-2017-Jorge Portorreal, St. Peter’s Prep

2017-2018-Shayne Simon, St. Peter’s Prep

2018-2019-Ayir Asante, St. Peter’s Prep

2019-2020-Nyjon Freeman, Hoboken

Remembering the legacy of Prep legend Martorelli

Bill Pelix vivdly recalls the first time he became very familiar with someone who would later become one of his closest friends, namely Phil Martorelli.

“We were playing in a baseball league,” Pelix said. “We had just finished eighth grade. And I knew of Phil, because he was such a great player. The game starts. It was a bright sunny Saturday morning. Phil was playing shortstop where he always played. Someone hit a high pop-up, sky high. And as the ball was coming down, it hits Phil right in the eye and breaks his glasses. We were all scared, because we thought that Phil was hurt bad. In fact, the game was called off at that point. That’s when I met most of the guys.”

Pelix soon learned that many of the players in that game some 60 years ago in Bogota would end up with Pelix at St. Peter’s Prep, including the talented shortstop who unfortunately took one off the face that Saturday.

“We all became best friends,” Pelix said.

But Pelix had a particularly strong relationship with Martorelli, who died earlier this week after a long illness. Martorelli was believed to be 78 years old.

Although Martorelli didn’t catch that fateful pop fly as an eighth grader, he was extremely more successful at Grand and Warren, eventually becoming one of the best all-around athletes in Prep history.

Martorelli was a standout halfback and safety for the Petreans on the football field, leading St. Peter’s Prep to an undefeated state championship season in 1958.

Many people consider that Prep team was the best in the school’s history, featuring legendary names like the late Lou Rettino, who went on to become the architect of the Union High School program that was the best public school squad in New Jersey in the 1970s and 80s.

Martorelli wasn’t the biggest guy in the world, standing 5-foot-8 and weighing about 180 pounds. But he was a dominant runner, running past and over opponents much bigger than him.

“He had tremendous strength and speed,” said Rich Gronda, another close friend and teammate on that fateful 1958 team. “He would take advantage of his size. He was extremely tough. He was literally a man amongst boys.”

Martorelli is one of two Prep football players to earn two Tommy Myers trophies as the Most Valuable Player in the Prep-Dickinson contest that was traditionally played on Thanksgiving morning, before the rivalry was discontinued in 1981. Tim Hawkes. Sr. was the other. Ironically, both Martorelli and Hawkes would go on to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

In the Prep-Dickinson game of 1958, the Petreans won 27-7, thanks to the exploits of Martorelli, who rushed for 177 yards and two long touchdowns of 61 and 25 yards. It was the second straight year that Martorelli garnered the Myers Trophy, which was like the Hudson County equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. Martorelli rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his junior and senior seasons.

Bob Goger was the sports editor of the Petroc, the Prep student newspaper in 1958.

“When Fr. (Raymond) York (S.J.) told me to be sports editor on the Petroc, he said to me, ‘You got the easiest job on the paper...just follow Martorelli season to season,’” Goger said. “And of course, Phil made for great copy; he lit up the sports section and Prep trophy cases all year.  But as we know, the man’s true greatness was to shine for the next 60 years.”

John Massaro was another friend and teammate.

“I recently shared with Phil Martorelli some thoughts about sportsmanship I have also conveyed to my grandkids,” Massaro said. “With all Phil's athletic successes, it was the model he provided in his approach to the games of sports and life itself that stand out in my mind today.  Phil epitomizes the athlete and the person I would want my grandchildren to be.”

From left, Rev. Bob Reiser, S.J., former president of St. Peter's Prep, Rich Gronda '59, Rev. Joe Parkes, S.J. another former Prep president and the late Phil Martorelli

When the legendary Bill Cochrane retired as the head coach of the Prep football team in the early 1970s, Cochrane was asked to name the top 20 players that he ever coached. Of course, Cochrane named Martorelli.

Martorelli was also a phenomenal baseball player, earning a spot on the Prep varsity for four seasons. He was a power hitting infielder who batted better than .400 in each of his three varsity seasons. He batted .455 as a junior with 27 RBI and hit an astounding .560 as a senior with four home runs and 35 RBI. Martorelli was the Hudson County batting champion each year.

Martorelli was not only named to the All-State team in 1959, but he was also honored by the Newark Star-Ledger as an All-Decade player for the 1950s for their Ledger’s Team of the Century that was compiled by respected baseball journalist Bob Behre in 2000.

Martorelli went on to play baseball at Holy Cross, but an injury slowed his progress. He went on to have a fine career in pharmaceutical sales.

Martorelli was inducted into the St. Peter’s Prep Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007 and he was a key member of the 1958 Baseball Team and the aforementioned 1958 Football Team that have also been inducted to the Prep Athletic Hall of Fame. He is the only honoree to be selected as an individual and have a place on two inducted teams, which is an amazing feat.

“I would say he embodied what a Christian man should be,” Pelix said. “I really thought he would live forever. He had such an even keel to him. Nothing ever bothered him. I don’t think anyone ever said a bad word about him. I don’t think Phil ever said a bad word about anyone. He was just a great guy, a fantastic person.”

“He had a great personality,” Gronda said. “He was an amazing athlete.”

Martorelli fell ill in December and never fully recovered. His friends and teammates kept in contact with him all the way to the end. Martorelli and his wife, Lorraine, raised three children in Huntington Station, New York. His legacy will live on forever.

One of Prep’s finest has left us with the remembrance of his enormous legacy,” friend and teammate John Imperial said. “He was a gentleman, an athlete, a scholar and a friend without enemy. I’m certain that Saint Peter rolled out the red carpet for you. You represented him with distinction.”

A true man for others.

Photos courtesy of Mark Wyville, another Prep grad, Class of '76

Snyder's Campbell named Female Athlete of the Year

When Alicia (pronounced AH-LEE-SEE-AH) Campbell first enrolled at Snyder High School a little more than three years ago, she had only one thing in mind.

“I just wanted to play volleyball,” Campbell said. “I didn’t have anything else in mind.”

It didn’t matter that Campbell’s mother, Alexandria Jerez, was a Hudson County champion in the shot put and discus during her high school days at St. Dominic Academy. Campbell was all set to concentrate as a middle hitter for the Tigers.

But then Snyder track and field coach Robert Arena sort of challenged Campbell to give track a try.

“She started off as strictly a shot putter,” Arena said. “But when I told her that she could do more, she said, ‘Sure, I’ll give it a try.’ I looked at what Malia Gray did at St. Dominic’s and I thought that maybe Alicia could do the same things for us. I saw Alicia and I thought she had the possibility of being a dual threat.”

Gray was the 2016-2017 Hudson County Athlete of the Year when Campbell was a freshman at Snyder.

But Campbell didn’t have immediate success in track.

“At tryouts, I did one lap (around the Lincoln Park track) and I thought, ‘No way,’” Campbell said. “I felt a little out of place. We had a good group of seniors and I looked up to them.”

Campbell stuck with track and field, throwing the shot put like her talented mother. At the Hudson County Track Coaches Association’s indoor championships in 2017, Campbell was just another competitor.

“I scored one point,” Campbell recalled. “It was in the shot put. I was so proud. But I came to the realization that if I wanted to do better, I had to work harder. I definitely got more serious about track in terms of workouts. I changed my attitude toward track. I still wanted to play volleyball, but honestly, I didn’t think of myself as a great athlete. I just had to push myself a little harder. I actually thought of myself as being average.”

As it would eventually turn out, Campbell was far from average. In fact, she became downright incredible. Plain and simple, Campbell developed into the best female athlete that Snyder High School ever produced.

Snyder High School graduate Alicia Campbell (second left) receives the 2019-2020 Jim Hague Sports Female Athlete of the Year from Hague (second right). Also pictured are Campbell's mother Alexandra Jerez (far left) and Snyder head track and field coach Robert Arena (far right).

Arena believed that Campbell could eventually become a competitor in the heptathlon, participating in a series of seven events – hurdles, the 200 and 800-meter runs, the long jump, the javelin and Campbell’s first-ever event, the shot put.

But the heptathlon is not offered in high school in New Jersey. A high school athlete is limited to compete in a maximum of four events.

So Campbell made sure that she would make the most of the four events that she would be entered in, considering the meet.

In May of 2019, at the Hudson County Track Coaches Association championships, Campbell did exactly that, capturing four gold medals in the long jump, triple jump, javelin and discus, leading Snyder to its first Hudson County team championship since 1984. It was a performance to last a lifetime. She set two county records in the long jump and triple jump in the process.

“She did that consistently for us,” Arena said. “She would get us the easy 40 (10 team points for each gold medal) and the rest of the team had to chip in. But to be that dominant in four events? I never saw anything like it. She had the ability to not just do it in the county, but in the state as well.”

Campbell was 19 feet better than anyone else in the javelin and 21 feet better than any other competitor in the discus.

Two weeks later, while competing in the triple jump at the NJSIAA Group III championships, Campbell landed awkwardly and suffered a serious break of the fibula bone in her ankle.

“I was depressed and gloomy,” Campbell said. “I didn’t think it was over for me, but I thought it would take me a very long time to get back in shape.”

Arena remained positive and steadfast.

“What I really thought that Alicia could go two ways,” Arena said. “I told her that she was either done with track altogether or it could be the best comeback story of all time. I told her to think of Rocky Balboa. I think she really needed to face what it was like to be defeated and to be a little humbled.”

Campbell did not remain downtrodden for long. She was determined to recover fully and make a comeback to dominate the way she did before she broke her ankle.

“She did the research to learn about what she needed to do,” Arena said. “She trained seven days a week. You can’t tell an athlete what they should do. She had the drive and determination on her own. She was in the weight room all the time. You just don’t see that kind of drive all the time.”

Arena credited former top athlete Jerez for Campbell’s work after the injury.

“I’m only the coach,” Arena said. “I have to give credit to her Mom. I think Alicia gets the drive from her Mom, especially when rehabbing. She was helping Alicia with the rehab.”

“My mother always told me that she wanted me to be better than her,” Campbell said. “She was my motivation.”

Campbell recovered from the broken ankle well, only to sprain the other healthy ankle right before the volleyball season was set to begin in September. She missed the first three weeks of the volleyball season, only to return to record 105 kills, 54 digs and 39 blocks, earning All-Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic League honors in the process.

During the indoor track season at the HCTCA championships, Campbell won the gold medal in the long jump (17 feet, 11 inches) and the shot put (39-6 ½) while finishing third in the 55-meter hurdles and fourth in the high jump. Campbell went on to finish seventh overall in the state at the NJSIAA Indoor Meet of Champions at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

Who knows what would have happened in the outdoor season that never took place due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic?

Campbell still holds the Hudson County records in the long jump (18-6) and the triple jump (35-9).

“It would have been a great outdoor season,” Campbell said. “I was ready for it.”

“For her to come back and do what she did is amazing,” Arena said. “I don’t think we’ll ever see that again. It really was the best comeback story. I think it’s crazy to me what she did. I’m very proud of her.”

For her efforts, Campbell is the recipient of the JIM HAGUE SPORTS FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR for 2019-2020, the first-ever athlete from Snyder (male or female) to receive the award in 35 years of giving the award to the top multi-sport senior from Hudson County.

“I think as a head coach, there’s a sense of pride for her and the school in general,” Arena said. “I’ve never seen an athlete be so driven as much as she was. She was so willing to learn and put the time in. You see someone with that kind of drive and you know you want her to succeed. And now the other girls want to be like Alicia. You just don’t see that kind of drive every day.

Added Arena, “I don’t know if we’ll ever see it again. From the standpoint of being so dominant in four events all the time, it just doesn’t happen. I know I’ve been lucky to have her.”

Campbell will take her immense talents to Rutgers University in the fall, where she will continue to compete in track and field. She’s learning now how to compete in the hammer throw to add to her repertoire. Campbell plans on majoring on kinesiology in New Brunswick.

Campbell said that she was honored to receive the year-end award.

“Looking back, I think, ‘Wow, I did all that stuff,’” Campbell said. “Getting the award makes me really happy. I’m glad that someone recognized my hard work. I know this is just the start. I have the next four years to build up from this. I want people who are younger than me to see that you don’t have to start as a little kid and be successful. You can develop as an athlete if you work hard and try.”

And if you work hard and try, you can leave a legacy of greatness, like Alicia Campbell did.

HUDSON COUNTY—JIM HAGUE SPORTS

FEMALE ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

1994-1995-Cheri Selby, St. Dominic Academy

2000-2001-Tiffany Aciz, Secaucus

2003-2004-Mercedes Nunez, Memorial

2004-2005-Christine Capetola, St. Dominic Academy

2005-2006-Nicole Degenhardt, Secaucus

2006-2007-Leslie Njoku, McNair Academic & Cory Roesing, Secaucus

2007-2008-Jenna Totaro, Secaucus

2008-2009-Jennifer Mateo, Union City

2009-2010-Ashley Barron, Hoboken

2010-2011-Shannon Waters, Secaucus

2011-2012-Sybil Lynch, Hoboken

2012-2013-Danielle Roesing, Secaucus

2013-2014- Carolina Herrera, North Bergen

2014-2015-Julia McClure, Secaucus

2015-2016-Camille Bertholon, St. Dominic Academy

2016-2017-Malia Gray, St. Dominic Academy

2017-2018-Nyasia Mixson, Hoboken

2018-2019-Claire Chapeau, McNair Academic

2019-2020-Alicia Campbell, Snyder

One more top student/athlete: Weehawken's Rylee Iannaccone

Last week, we featured the top female scholar/athletes from Hudson County that received recognition from the NJSIAA.

Here's another recipient, better late than never:

Rylee Iannaccone, Weehawken

A female athlete at a small Group I enrollment school usually has to participate in more than one sport. That’s just the way it is for athletes at schools like Weehawken.

Well, Rylee Iannaccone certainly did her part during her four years as a Weehawken athlete. Iannaccone was a volleyball player in the fall, a member of the swim team in the winter months and softball during the spring. That’s quite a busy schedule.

“It was pretty tough,” Iannaccone said. “My teammates always helped me. My teachers and coaches always knew that my academics were a priority.”

So Iannaccone was overjoyed to learn that she was Weehawken’s top scholar/athlete for 2020.

“I was told to watch a video with all the school award winners,” Iannaccone said. “When they said I won this award, I was shocked. I was so happy. It felt so good to be recognized.”

Iannaccone first started playing softball when she was younger. She actually began playing T-ball baseball with and against the boys when she was about seven years old.

“I always loved being competitive with the boys,” Iannaccone said. “Of course, I always tried to beat them.”

She eventually graduated to softball and played all the way through high school, except for this past spring, when the slick fielding second baseman had to sit out action with her teammates due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

“This was our last year to do it all,” said Iannaccone, who played for Weehawken head coach and former Hoboken High All-Hudson County hurler Raquel Roder. “It’s a shame that we never got the chance to play it out. It’s disappointing. It’s the worst thing that could have happened.”

Iannaccone was part of a major revival for the Weehawken softball program, which competed for the Meadowlands Division championship of the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference in each of her first three seasons.

“It was the best feeling in the world,” Iannaccone said. “I always looked up to the older girls who also did well. We wanted to keep things going and do a lot of the things they did. It was so nice to be a part of that.”

Iannaccone joined the volleyball team as a freshman after never having played the sport before.

“I was a competitive cheerleader,” Iannaccone said. “But I wanted to do something different. I never even tried volleyball before. All my friends in town were playing volleyball.”

Iannaccone was the setter on the Weehawken team.

“I liked being the setter, because it was like being the quarterback of the football team. I think I was a decent volleyball player. My coaches said that I have a lot of hustle.”

And Iannaccone was always a swimmer, but never a competitive swimmer before entering Weehawken.

Through it all, Iannaccone was always a very good student, posting a 4.0 grade point average. She is headed to Rutgers University-New Brunswick in the fall. Rylee is currently undecided about a major, but she has the desire to possibly go to law school in the future and maybe become a defense attorney, helping victims of domestic abuse.

“Of course, I took a lot of pride in my grades,” Iannaccone said. “My parents (mother Kathy and father Steven) made sure that I maintained my grades.”

Even though Iannaccone’s career didn’t end on the field, she treasures her time participating in athletics in Weehawken.

“I have no regrets at all,” Iannaccone said. “Playing sports was one of the best things in my life. I learned about being responsible, how my teammates depended on me. How I had to be accountable and how I had to pull my weight. I had to learn about working with others. Coming from a small town like Weehawken, I was fortunate to know everyone and made connections with other people. I learned how I’m supposed to act for the rest of my life and how responsible I have to be.”

Seems like Rylee Iannaccone is well on her way to becoming a very responsible defense lawyer.

Hudson County's top male student/athletes

The male high school graduating seniors from Hudson County who recently received the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Scholar/Athlete awards are among the very best student/athletes that the county has ever produced. It’s an eclectic bunch with interesting backgrounds and resumes. Let’s take a closer look.

Juan Valencia, Union City

Valencia realizes that he has sort of a different athletic background than most. Valencia was on the Soaring Eagles’ volleyball and bowling teams.

“It’s an interesting mix,” Valencia said.

Growing up as a kid, Valencia said he played practically every sport.

“I played football and soccer,” Valencia said. “I was also involved in martial arts. I played baseball here and there.”

When Valencia entered Union City High School, he initially thought of staying away from sports altogether.

“I needed to focus on my grades and maintain a good GPA (grade point average),” Valencia said. “It was going to be hard to focus on a sport for four years. I thought about playing football, but I would always get the little injuries that kept me off the field.”

Valencia said that he wanted to be involved in a winter sport.

“I looked around and me and my friend saw that they were having bowling tryouts,” Valencia said. “I went that day to the lanes just to take a look. When I went to try it, the 16-pound ball was so big, so I decided to try bowling with two hands. Once I saw the ball hook, I thought it was so cool.”

When Valencia started bowling, he owned around an average of 120.

But sticking with the sport, Valencia improved dramatically and by the time he was a senior, he had an average of 193.

“I’ve had an average of 200 in some leagues,” Valencia said. “But I did well for the high school team.”

Valencia qualified for the Hudson County King and Queen championship tournament and finished ninth overall in the county.

As a volleyball player, Valencia was one of the most versatile members of the Soaring Eagles, seeing most of his action as an outside or a right side hitter.

“I just loved getting smashed in the face with balls,” Valencia laughed.

But Valencia’s best achievements were in the classroom. He maintained an astounding 4.56 grade point average out of the conventional 4.0 standards and scored a 1290 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Valencia is headed to Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken where he plans on majoring in civil engineering. He plans on continuing his bowling and volleyball proficiencies at Stevens. The school does have a bowling alley on campus.

Valencia’s only regret was not having a final volleyball season in the spring that was canceled due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was really looking forward to the volleyball season,” Valencia said. “I was a little upset when it was canceled. But overall, I was glad that I did what I wanted to do. I always tried to maintain a low profile, but getting this award? Well, this is insane.”

Anthony Passariello, Marist

Although the football team wasn’t very successful during Passariello’s tenure at Marist, he thoroughly enjoyed leaving his mark on the very last Royal Knight grid squad, as Marist officially closed its doors for good last week.

“Even though we weren’t the best team, I had a great time,” said Passariello, a four-year starter along both the offensive and defensive lines for the Royal Knights. “I think football taught me to be a good person, how to work well with others. I had to do things over and over to learn. But being around others and working with others was one of the best things about playing football.”

A few weeks ago, Passariello was with some other students when they went to clear out their lockers for the very last time.

“Mr. (Mauro) DeGennaro (the Marist athletic director) saw me and told me about the award,” Passariello said. “I had no idea about it before he told me. I never heard of the award, so I was a little surprised and shocked, but also proud. I’m the last Marist student to ever win that award. No one will ever have that title again. If you look up Scholar/Athlete from Marist, it will be my name and never be anyone else. It’s a cool thing.”

Passariello said that he was taught by his parents at a young age about the value of good grades.

“My parents always stressed the importance,” Passariello said. “I have two older sisters and there was always competition to get good grades.”

Both Gina and Nicole Passariello were standout softball players at Bayonne High School.

“We’d come home with our report cards and compare our grades,” Passariello said. “My sisters always motivated me.”

But Passariello is the only member of the family to receive the NJSIAA Scholar/Athlete award.

“I can definitely rub that in their faces a little,” Passariello laughed.

Passariello had a 4.0 GPA and a 1340 in his SATs. He’s headed to Rutgers University in New Brunswick to major in business.

Jonathan Blaya, North Bergen

When one speaks to Blaya, you would not think he was born in a foreign land. He has only a slight hint of an accent.

But Blaya was born in Cuba, arriving in the United States when he was 11 years old.

“I took some English classes in Cuba,” Blaya said. “But I had to learn most of my English from watching television.”

Blaya said that he became more proficient with his new language by watching the Disney Channel and the Cartoon Network. Imagine that. People like Hannah Montana and Spongebob Squarepants helped Blaya speak better English.

Blaya was also inspired by his parents.

“My parents wanted me to do the best that I could,” Blaya said. “If it meant that I wanted to be a janitor, then I should be the best janitor. It was always about doing my best.”

For Blaya, his best came on the wrestling mat, where he competed at four different weight classes, from 182 pounds to 220 pounds, as long as it helped the Bruins’ cause. More often than not, it did, as Blaya posted a 29-7 record during his senior year, with all of his victories coming via a pin.

“I always tried to get the most team points I could get,” Blaya said.

Despite getting a late start in learning English, Blaya managed to finish fourth in the North Bergen Class of 2020 with a 105.9 average and a 1370 score on the SATs.

“I bounced back and forth from fifth to fourth in the class,” Blaya said. “My coach (Jerry Maietta, who also doubles as the athletic director at the school) used to joke with me calling me Cuatro (Spanish for four) or Cinco (Spanish for five) depending where I was ranked in the class. I’d always hear, ‘C’mon Cuatro, you’re better than that,’ when I didn’t understand a drill.”

Blaya is also headed to Stevens Institute of Technology to study mechanical engineering. He hopes to maybe join the wrestling team there.

“I want to stay in shape,” Blaya said. “I somehow do better in school when I am wrestling. It makes me stay focused. I really enjoy wrestling.”

Blaya is also stunned by being North Bergen’s top student/athlete.

“I did not imagine this,” Blaya said. “I can’t describe this.”

Steven Ebrahim, Dickinson

Ebrahim was born in the Middle East in the nation of Qatar, which will host the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament. So of course, Ebrahim initially played soccer in his native land.

But when Ebrahim arrived in the United States, he wanted to try a new sport, namely tennis.

“I decided to play tennis when I was a sophomore,” Ebrahim said. “I used to watch a lot of tennis. I guess I wanted a little bit of a change, so I decided to try something different. I had a lot of my friends also joining the tennis team. It was easy, because we were all learning the sport together. The coaches were very helpful.”

When Ebrahim joined the Dickinson tennis team he was playing second doubles. He ended up working his way all the way to second singles. He said he tried to “mimic the styles” of top players Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

Ebrahim wanted to play tennis so badly that he would constantly walk from his home near Journal Square to either the tennis courts or the handball wall in Lincoln Park to practice and play.

“I didn’t care,” Ebrahim said. “I liked doing it. I got more consistent with my return shots from hitting the ball off the wall and having it come back to me. It really helped a lot.”

Ebrahim said that his friend and teammate Rushi Trevedo also helped with his improvement.

“We played a lot together,” Ebrahim said. “I think we helped each other because Rushi was first doubles and became first singles and I did the same with second doubles to second singles.”

Ebrahim made sure that his grades didn’t suffer. He had a 99.3 average out of 100 and received a 1380 on his SATs. He graduated as the valedictorian for the Dickinson Class of 2020.

“My grades were very important, because I wanted to maintain my rank (in the class),” Ebrahim said. “I actually contemplated giving up tennis to concentrate on my grades.”

Ebrahim is headed to the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he will major in computer science. He hopes to specialize in software engineering.

“I’m just really happy and lucky to have all this happen for me,” Ebrahim said. “I’ve received a lot of support from my coaches, my friends and my family. I’m glad I was able to succeed.”

Gabe dos Santos, Kearny

Dos Santos received 11 varsity letters in his career – three for cross country, four for indoor track and four for outdoor track, even though there wasn’t a season this past spring.

“For the most part, it’s an individual sport,” dos Santos said. “But at practice, we’re one big community. Everyone is so friendly with each other. We hang out and stretch together. It’s a lot of fun. I’ve made so many friends through track. I’ve had friendly competition, both in practices and in races.”

Dos Santos participated in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs during his career.

“Well, only the 3,200 a few times,” dos Santos said. “I’m really not great with distances.”

Dos Santos said that he struggled at first with running track.

“It was definitely hard at first,” dos Santos said. “There was one time that I came home from practice so tired that I just conked out on the floor for about three hours. But as the years progressed, I got better with it.”

Dos Santos really never had to worry about grades. He graduated with a 5.1 grade point average (out of 4.0) and scored an astounding 1450 on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests.

So is there any wonder that dos Santos, the salutatorian for the Kearny Class of 2020, is headed to Yale in a couple months? Dos Santos will major in computer science and will be part of Yale’s STEM program.

Dos Santos also served as the SGA President and was the Homecoming King last fall.

“I had so many great teachers during my days in Kearny,” dos Santos said. “Academics have always been important to me. I wanted to get involved as much as I could all four years.”

Dos Santos didn’t know he was receiving the award.

“I saw something come in the mail, but I didn’t know what it was,” dos Santos said. “I was a little shocked that I received it. It came on the same day as (Kearny High’s virtual) graduation. It was a big honor to be selected. I know that there are a lot of students who do well in both academics and sports.”

Ray Ugaz, Harrison

It’s not every day that a Harrison High School graduate heads to the University of Michigan.

But that’s where Ugaz is headed, after he had a brilliant scholastic career, posting a 4.21 grade point average and 1170 on his SATs.

 Ugaz was also the valedictorian for the Harrison Class of 2020.

Ugaz will study biology and will be on the pre-med track.

“It was honestly a dream of mine to go to Michigan,” Ugaz said. “I had this rain jacket when I was young. I put it on and it said Michigan. I said, ‘When I grow up, I’ll go to Michigan.’ When I got to high school, I did some research and realized I could get there.”

Ugaz, a native of Peru, also played his fair share of sports at Harrison. He played football for a while, then joined the cross country team as a senior. He played basketball and volleyball for three years.

“Volleyball is my main sport, but I really wanted to try everything,” Ugaz said. “Academics always came first. My mother (Silvia Carhuavilca) always made sure that I was doing good things in both.”

As for the top scholar/athlete award, Ugaz was a little shocked.

“I was kind of surprised about it,” Ugaz said. “I tried to play it cool. I thought maybe I had a shot for the scholar part. I found out in school that I was the scholar/athlete and I was proud. I put my heart into everything I did.”

And incredibly, a youth’s windbreaker is the reason why a valedictorian is headed to Ann Arbor.

“It’s actually really crazy for a jacket to make a dream come true,” Ugaz said. “The jacket still has the logo and everything.”

Ugaz was very grateful for his chance to be a Blue Tide.

“I felt like my coaches were like family members,” Ugaz said. “They kept telling me that I could do it. I doubted myself and second guessed myself, but they encouraged me. I never thought I could be the top student/athlete. It’s still a bizarre feeling, like a dream come true.”

Ugaz’s dream will eventually come true when he becomes a doctor.

“I want to focus on the human body,” Ugaz said. “I would love to be an orthopedic surgeon.”

If Ugaz could do it all over again, he would have asked for one more volleyball season to make up for the one the Blue Tide lost last spring due to the coronavirus,

“I would love to get one last ride with my teammates,” Ugaz said. “I feel like my ride was cut short.”

Elijah Williams, Lincoln

Williams was a two-way standout lineman for the Lincoln football team. He first attended University Charter, but transferred to Lincoln because he wanted to be closer to the football team.

“I knew that if I wanted to reach my goal (of playing college football), I needed to get really good grades,” Williams said. “Just in case football didn’t work out, I needed something. I put a lot of time and work in.”

Williams is headed to Morgan State University in Maryland to play football, so he has attained one goal. He is undecided about a field of study.

Williams received his NJSIAA Scholar/Athlete award in the mail.

“It was very surprising,” Williams said. “I knew I was a good student, but I didn’t think that good. No one told me that I was getting it, so when it came in the mail, I was pretty happy. It’s a nice award, a nice achievement. It’s pretty disappointing that I didn’t get the chance to graduate on stage with my friends and my family there or going to the prom, but this is a nice award.”

Williams was selected to play in the Phil Simms/New Jersey Scholastic Football Coaches Association North-South All-Star Classic, but that was obviously canceled as well due to the coronavirus.