Brandon Gantt won conference, county and state sectional track titles in his career at Irvington High School.
IRVINGTON, NJ — As a track-and-field team member at Irvington High School three decades ago, Brandon Gantt felt blessed to have inspirational mentors in head coach Barnes Reid and assistant coach Willie Sheppard, who helped him develop both as an athlete and a person.
Gantt turned out to be a tremendous hurdler who won numerous championships at Irvington and later on the collegiate level at Essex County College and Seton Hall University.
When Gantt found out that he was one of the inductees of the 2022 Irvington High School athletic hall of fame class a few months ago, he was speechless.
“I was kind of overwhelmed, kind of in awe,” said Gantt in a phone interview with the Irvington Herald on Friday, July 29, from his residence in Richmond, Va. “I ran every day; I practiced. You just never know, when you start off as a freshman, and sophomore, junior or senior year, that you would ever think that you would be in that kind of company. To have your athletic ability to be brought to the stage like that — I think that’s just amazing.”
Gantt, a 1990 IHS graduate, said he won the county indoor title in the 55-meter hurdles in the winter of his senior year and then won the county outdoor titles in the 110-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles in the spring.
Gantt broke the school records in both the 110 and 400 hurdles. In fact, he still holds the school record in the 400 hurdles at 53.5 seconds, set at the Watchung Conference championships. Gantt also won the 400 hurdles at the state sectionals.
Gantt also ran cross-country at IHS.
Gantt continued his career at Essex County College. In 1992, he won the 110-meter hurdles title at the National Junior College Athletic Association championships in Odessa, Texas, and qualified for the Olympic trials, though he caught chickenpox before the trials and was unable to attend.
Following Essex College College, Gantt went to Seton Hall University and won the 55-meter dash in the Big East Conference championships.
Gantt returned to Irvington and briefly became an assistant track coach under Reid. He also served for a few years as a physical education teacher in Irvington alongside Reid at Berkeley Terrace Elementary School.
Gannt then decided to join the military, which was one of his early ambitions.
“It was something I was going to do, even as I got out of high school.” Gantt said. “I was going to go to the military. But then I was offered a scholarship at Essex County College, and I didn’t go to the military then, and then I got a scholarship to Seton Hall. I always wanted to go.
“When I was in basic training, 9/11 happened. The first week or so I was in basic training, that’s when 9/11 happened.”
In 2003, Gantt served in Iraq for about a year. After serving in the military for three years, Gantt lived in Colorado and North Carolina before moving to Richmond, Va., where he has resided for the past 10 years.
Reflecting on his IHS days, Gantt mentioned the guidance from his coaches. “The memories that I remember were my coaches, Mr. Reid and Mr. Sheppard,” he said. “I just feel like every aspect of my life, from high school to college to even being the person that I am today, I really do think it came from my start there, being with them. The talks with me and showing me how to grow and be a man and a person. I really do owe them a lot in my life. So it wasn’t just about track. It was just about growing up and being a good person.”
Reid is still coaching at Irvington. He is the assistant indoor track coach and the head girls outdoor coach. He just completed his 43rd year of coaching.
To Reid, coaching Gantt was a pleasure.
“Brandon was a fierce competitor who trained hard every day to prepare himself against the elite hurdlers in the state,” said Reid in an email to the Irvington Herald on July 31. “Brandon is the first male hurdler from Irvington High School to win a state title. He is also the first male track athlete to win five titles in a season.”
The IHS athletic hall of fame was scheduled to have its induction ceremony at IHS on July 26, but it was postponed to next May. The IHS athletic hall of fame was revived in 2018 thanks to the efforts of IHS Athletic Director John Taylor. The hall of fame was dormant for several years. Induction ceremonies were held in 2018 and 2019, but the induction ceremonies for classes for 2020 and 2021 were postponed due to the pandemic. Thus, the induction ceremony in May will include the classes for 2020, 2021 and 2022, as well as 2023, which will be announced later this year.
Coach Reid was inducted into the IHS athletic hall of fame in 2018.
The other inductees for the 2022 hall of fame are Troy Bowers, Gerald Guerrier, Azudei DuBois,
Mark Gibson, James Jones, cheerleading coach Veleria Brown-Garner and the 1980 boys track 1,600-meter relay team.
Gantt credits coaches for his great track success added by Joe Ragozzino on
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