Leading off today: Legendary New York City coach Jack Curran died Wednesday night at the age of 82. The cause of death was not immediately known.
Over 55 years at Archbishop Molloy, Curran teams earned five city championships in basketball and 17 in baseball -- four times capturing both in the same school year. Curran won a state-record 972 boys basketball games and 1,708 in baseball -- including more than 1,100 in spring baseball.
Curran, who pitched briefly in the minor leagues, took over for equally iconic New Yorker Lou Carnesecca at Molloy in 1958 and coached NBA players Kenny Anderson, Kenny Smith, Robert Werdann, Brian Winters and Kevin Joyce.
"He was probably if not the most, one of the most influential people in the history of New York City basketball," Smith told The New York Post. "There was nothing that I learned in college or in the pros he hadn’t already taught me."
Curran had missed the final few weeks of the current season while rehabilitating a leg after slipping on ice and breaking the knee cap but was looking forward to returning to baseball practice this month. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer last fall and underwent radiation treatment. A school spokesman told The New York Daily News that Curran's death came as a shock because the school was expecting him back soon.
"It's a very sad day for all of us here at Molloy,” school President Richard Karsten said in a statement. "Coach Curran built a legacy that transcends any traditional notion of coaching high school athletics. To him it was always about the kids."
Said Carnesecca: "Jack Curran was a giant of scholastic athletics, and that is an understatement."
Cedric Walker dies: The Democrat and Chronicle's James Johnson worked up the strength Wednesday to do something I couldn't bring myself to do -- writing a terrific obituary for track coach Cedric Walker, who died Tuesday at the age of 49.
I'd known Cedric since I was just getting my start in covering high school sports in the 1980s and came to value his friendship, his knowledge and his sense of humor. Besides being known nationally and internationally in the track community, he was plugged into just about anything significant that was happening on the local high school scene.
He was my primary source on any number of stories over the years. In typical Cedric fashion, he had the inside info a couple of months ago on a story I know is true and I'm still trying to pull together but will probably never be able to confirm.
In track and field, he coached numerous Section 5 stars either in school or through his club and was an influential figure at the national level, frequently being selected to assist U.S. teams at international events. He also had the clout to pick up the phone and connect a young prospect with a college coach who had a need on
