ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — It could have been while playing one of the endless pickup games with 1970s Hudson Catholic teammate Mike O’Koren at the old St. Joseph Courts behind St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in their native Jersey City.
Or, perhaps it was later inside Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University where he would become an All-American while leading the Blue Devils to the 1978 NCAA Tournament final.
And, it could also have also been as a very adept NBA shooting guard with the Philadelphia 76ers and Dallas Mavericks where his passion for the game of basketball simply continued.
Nowadays, it’s sitting alongside his broadcast partner on telecasts of the 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament while providing expert commentary during the latest edition of ‘March Madness.’
He already had etched his mark as an Emmy Award-winning color analyst while working alongside play-by-play man Ian Eagle for Nets telecasts on the YES Network.
Through it all, a basketball life encompassing more than a half century has seen Jim Spanarkel shine both on and off the hardwood both as an outstanding player at all levels and as a first-rate TV analyst of the game he loves.
Now, he’s about to be the latest recipient of the prestigious Peter A. Carlesimo Memorial Sportsman of the Year award, while noteworthy high school football coach and athletic director Ron Anello will be recipient of the Msgr. Edward J. Larkin Award of Distinction as the Friends of Mercier Sportsmen hold their 2024 Father-Son Beefsteak on Monday evening, April 15, at The Highlawn Pavilion in West Orange.
Cocktails are at 6 p.m. and dinner follows at 7.
There have been several honorees through the years with Worrall Community Newspapers and EssexNewsDaily.com connections, such as sportswriter and baseball TV analyst Tom Verducci from Glen Ridge (2018), distance runner Tom Fleming of Bloomfield (2017), former Our Lady of the Valley coach Ted Fiore (2015), Seton Hall Prep baseball coach Mike Sheppard, Jr.; Fred Hill from East Orange (2005), former Seton Hall University basketball coach PJ Carlesimo (1990), former Seton Hall Prep basketball coach Frank “Finn” Tracey (1987), college basketball TV analyst Bill Raftery of West Orange (1985), Seton Hall Prep president the Msgr. Michael E. Kelly (1982), former Glen Ridge football coach Bill Horey (1981) and former Bloomfield High School basketball coach George Cella (1975).
This year’s event highlights two men who have maintained the pinnacle of character in addition to success, in and out of the world of athletics.
Spanarkel is a true renaissance man in sports and business as, in addition to his extensive work as an analyst for both NBA and college basketball telecasts, he has also been a longtime senior vice-president in investments for Merrill Lynch.
“The Friends of Mercier Sportsmen are thrilled to honor Jim Spanarkel as this year’s Carlesimo award winner,” said William Evans, this year’s dinner chairman who is also the executive director of the Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation. “He is one of New Jersey’s most accomplished homegrown athletes who distinguished himself at every level in life and sport.
“Jim starred as a Hudson Catholic basketball standout, achieved at the highest levels as a Duke All-America, and was the Blue Devils first 2,000-point scorer.
“His impressive achievements in the NBA, as a first-round draft choice of the Philadelphia 76ers, and also later playing with the Dallas Mavericks, led to his role as a dynamic basketball analyst for both NBA and NCAA telecasts. Jim has also managed a successful long-term career in banking and financial services and has done it all with class and style.”
Montclair’s Anello was a longtime, successful head football coach at West Essex and then Clifton, including guiding the Mustangs to a state sectional playoff championship in 2006. He also served as athletic director at both Wallkill Valley and Ramapo high schools and is currently serving in his second year as the ‘interim’ AD and as one of the assistant football coaches at Montclair High School where he was once an outstanding lineman while playing for legendary coach Butch Fortunato, a Carlesimo Sportsman of the Year award recipient in 1978.
“Ron Anello represents all that we seek to recognize with our Larkin Award honoree in his commitment to youth development, sportsmanship and achievement as coach, athletic director, educator and role model,” said Evans. “Ron is a widely respected coach and administrator in the state of New Jersey, where he won a state football championship at Clifton and coached his teams at Clifton and West Essex to a 93-72-2 record.
“Ron has also been an accomplished award-winning athletics director at Ramapo, Wallkill Valley and he is now back at his alma mater, Montclair High.”
Spanarkel teamed with O’Koren to form an incredible 1-2 punch for great Hudson Catholic teams before they graduated high school in 1975 and embarked on successful college careers in the Atlantic Coast Conference with the former heading to play for coach Bill Foster at Duke and the latter joining legendary coach Dean Smith and the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Combining with other standout underclassmen. including center Mike Gminski and forwards Eugene Banks and Kenny Dennard, Spanarkel spearheaded the backcourt for the youthful 1978 Duke Blue Devils who advanced all the way to the NCAA championship game where they fell, 94-88, to a high-powered Kentucky team coached by Joe B. Hall and led by prolific scorer Jack Givens who poured in 41 points in the contest.
An All-American in 1979 and an Academic All-American in both 1978 and ‘79, Spanarkel was also Duke’s MVP his final three seasons plus was a team captain as a junior and senior.
A superb all-around athlete, he also played two seasons for Duke’s baseball team.
After the Philadelphia 76ers selected him with the 16th overall pick in the 1979 NBA draft, Spanarkel played in Philly for one season before spending the next four seasons with the Dallas Mavericks and was the team’s leading scorer in the 1980-81 season.
He and wife, Janet Martz McPherson, have been married since 1982 and have four children: James, Bridget, Stephanie and Andrew.
Anello has had much success as both a football coach and athletic administrator. At West Essex, he rebuilt a Knights program that had been struggling mightily and guided them to the North 2, Group 3 playoff final in 1994. At Clifton, his 2006 North 1, Group 4 sectional champs snapped a 33-year title drought for the proud Passaic County gridiron program.
During his time as athletic director at Ramapo High School from 2011 to 2021, he was named as a Bergen County Athletic Director of the Year while overseeing Raiders sports, which had been ranked as being part of the No. 1 athletic program in the state for two consecutive school years – 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.
As a player, he excelled as a superb lineman at Montclair High and collegiately at Trenton State where he was named the 1980 National Football Foundation, Delaware Valley Chapter’s Collegiate Scholar-Leader Athlete.
Along with numerous local, regional, state and national honors during his fine coaching career, Anello has long served as president of the Essex-Hudson Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.
Ron and wife Debbie have been married for 38 years and have two children, Gabriel and Brittany.
Tickets for The Friends of Mercier Sportsmen Dinner on Monday, April 15, are charged. To make a reservation, email mercierbeefsteak@gmail.com. Zele payments can be made, or to use a credit card, call John Jerbasi at 973-610-9011.To pay by check, make it payable to: “Friends of Mercier Sportsmen Inc.” and mail to Jerbasi at 65 Horseneck Road, Denville, N.J. 07834-2828.
Mercier Carlesimo Sportsman of the Year & Msgr. Larkin Awards:
2023: Jon “Boog” Sciambi, ESPN
Larkin Award: Mark Corino
2022: Lenny Coleman- MLB’s National League President
Larkin Award: Steve Tober
2019: Matt Loughlin- NJ Devils play by play voice
Larkin Award: Rich Hansen
2018: Tom Verducci- Sports Illustrated & FOX Baseball
Larkin Award: Dave Giarrusso
2017: Zack DeOssie- NY Giants long snapper
Larkin Award: Tom Fleming
2015: John Farrell- manager, Boston Red Sox
Larkin Award: Ted Fiore
2014: Eric LeGrand- inspirational Rutgers lineman- founder LeGrand Foundation
Larkin Award: Peter von Hoffmann
2013: Joe Quinlan- St. Peter’s University director of athletics
Larkin Award: Niall Handley
2012: Harry Carson- NY Giants Hall of Fame linebacker
Larkin Award: Rich SanFillipo
2011: Jerry Walker- Seton Hall Univ. Hall of Fame, St. Anthony great
Larkin Award: Michael Sammon
2010: Graig Nettles- NY Yankees third baseman
Larkin Award: Rick Giancola
2009: Bart Oates- NY Giants Pro Bowl center
Larkin Award: Ed Lebida
2008: Jerry Izenberg- Star-Ledger columnist
Larkin Award: Mike Sheppard, Jr.
2007: Anthony Fasano- Notre Dame and NFL tight end
Larkin Award: Major Jennings
2006: Fred Dwyer- Manhattan College track coach
Larkin Award: Pat Dyer
2005: Fred Hill- baseball coach Rutgers
Larkin Award: Fr. Edwin Leahy, OSB
2004: Jack Powers- executive director of NIT
Larkin Award: Chris Johnson
2003: Carl Banks- NY Giants linebacker
Larkin Award: Lou Racioppe
2001: Michael Strahan- NY Giants defensive lineman
2000: Rick Cerone- NY Yankees catcher
Larkin Award: Hugh Moriarty
1999: Terry Shea- Rutgers football coach
Larkin Award: John Finnegan
1998: Larry Doby- Cleveland Indians baseball Hall of Famer
Larkin Award: Bob Farrell
1997: Willis Reed- NY Knicks and VP NJ Nets
1996: John MacLean- NJ Devils Stanley Cup champion player
Larkin Award- Ollie Gelston
1995: Phil Rizzuto- NY Yankees Hall of Famer
1994: Kelly Tripucka- NBA Detroit Pistons, Notre Dame Bloomfield HS
1993: Ottis Anderson- NY Giants running back, Super Bowl MVP
1992: Bob Hurley- St. Anthony Hall of Fame coach
1991: George Young- NY Giants general manager
1990: P.J. Carlesimo- Seton Hall University and NBA coach
1989: Bruce Parker- Montclair High School Hall of Fame coach
1988: Russ Helwig- Essex Fells CC golf pro & NJ state champ
1987: Frank ‘Finn’ Tracey- Seton Hall Prep basketball coach
1986: Frank Tripucka- Denver Broncos, Notre Dame & Bloomfield QB
1985: Bill Raftery- Seton Hall University basketball coach, CBS analyst
1984: John McMullen- owner NJ Devils
1983: Aubrey Lewis- Notre Dame & Montclair football & track great
1982: Msgr. Michael E. Kelly- Seton Hall Prep athletic director
1981: William Horey- Glen Ridge football coach
1980: Gil Gibbs- Montclair High lacrosse and basketball coach
1979: Joe Garvey- Essex Cath. & West Essex basketball coach, IC sports
1978: Butch Fortunato- Montclair High football coach and AD
1977: Howard Finney- Montclair Cobras youth football
1976: Bill Dioguardi- Montclair State athletic director
1975: George Cella- Bloomfield High basketball coach
1974: Peter Carlesimo- NIT chief executive, Fordham AD
1973: Rev. Francis Burla- Immaculate Conception athletic moderator
1972: Angelo Bertelli- Notre Dame Heisman Trophy winner
1971: Yogi Berra- NY Yankees Hall of Fame catcher
1970: Clary Anderson- Montclair High football and baseball coach
Photos Courtesy of Steve Tober and Duke University Athletics
Basketball icon Jim Spanarkel and former HS football coach/Montclair AD Ron Anello to be honored at Friends of Mercier Sportsmen’s Father-Son Beefsteak on April 15 added by Steve Tober on
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