Seton Hall Prep soccer coach Marty Berman and NBC 4 New York sports anchor Bruce Beck to be honored at Mercier Sportsmen Father-Son Beefsteak Dinner

WEST ORANGE, NJ — What do the two main honorees at the 2025 Mericer Sportsmen Father-Son Beefsteak dinner have in common?

It just so happens they share a common journalistic thread in that they each contributed their writing skills to ‘Sportsfolio,’ a popular statewide New Jersey high school sports magazine in the 1980s.

Now, nearly a half century later, their lifelong impactful connection to American sport will be recognized before an Essex County audience of sports enthusiasts.

On Monday, March 24, at The Highlawn in West Orange, NBC 4 New York’s longtime sports anchor Bruce Beck and Seton Hall Prep’s legendary soccer coach Marty Berman will be feted during the annual Mercier Sportsmen event, which over the past half century has honored some of the more noteworthy sports figures both in New Jersey and nationwide.

Beck will receive the Peter A. Carlesimo Sportsman Award, while Berman will be presented the Msgr. Edward J. Larkin Award of Distinction.

Previous honorees at the Mercier Sportsmen dinner have included baseball Hall of Famers and longtime Montclair residents Yogi Berra and Larry Doby and Hillside’s Phil Rizzuto, noted basketball names such as Bill Raftery of West Orange and Kelly Tripucka of Bloomfield, along with local football greats such as Anthony Fasano of Verona and Aubrey Lewis of Montclair.

Beck received the 2021 National Sports Anchor of the Year award from Broadcasting & Cable magazine and is in his 27th year as the lead sports anchor on Channel 4 in New York.

He has received eight New York Sports Emmy awards and three national Cable Ace Awards and has been the New York state Sportscaster of the Year nine times, in the midst of not only doing nightly sports reports on the NBC 4 New York, but also covering 11 different Olympic Games and numerous Super Bowls and World Series among hundreds of big-time international and national sports events.

He has also directed the Bruce Beck Sports Broadcasting Camp at Iona College since 2017 with the aim to teaching youngsters about the business and formerly was joined by CBS and YES Network play by play man Ian Eagle of Essex Fells in conducting a similar summer camp for aspiring broadcasters at the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center on the Montclair State University campus.

He worked at the MSG Network from 1982-94 covering the Knicks, Rangers and Yankees before joining veteran sports anchor Len Berman at NBC 4 New York.

Prior to his tenure at MSG he began as one of the high school sports announcers on Suburban Cablevision TV-3 in Avenel, which included coverage of high school games throughout Northern New Jersey.

Former ESPN anchor Bob Ley of Bloomfield and 2019 Mercier Club Sportsman of the Year honoree Matt Loughlin, who is the longtime voice of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, were other former TV-3 sports anchors who went on to further success in the broadcasting field.

Beck’s own unique more-than-four-decade career in the broadcasting business includes the fact that he has never ceased maintaining his trademark hustle.

As New York Post sports reporter Andrew Marchand wrote in a July, 2023 article, he “has earned the right to be described as the most impactful local sports anchor in the New York Metropolitan area

“Beck may not have the distinctives of Marv Albert, the smoothness of Len Berman, the trivia of the late Bill Mazer or an all-time catch phrase like Warner Wolf’s ‘Let’s go to the videotape,’” Marchand wrote. “But, what Beck provides for WBNC is the most hustle and heart in the business!”

Beck played basketball and tennis at Livingston High School in a community where his mother Doris became Essex County’s first female mayor in 1975. He was inducted into the Livingston High School Hall of Fame in 1993.

Beck and his wife Janet reside in Westchester County, N.Y. The couple have two married sons and four grandchildren.

Berman, who next fall will begin his 40th season as the head soccer coach at Seton Hall Prep, has his own distinct Essex County roots, beginning as a standout soccer player at Columbia High School in Maplewood where he played for New Jersey coaching legend Gene Chyzowych.

He had an early career in media relations and journalism in the 1970s, both with the American Soccer League, and serving as a high school soccer reporter for The Star-Ledger.

The late Pete Butler brought Berman aboard at Seton Hall Prep in the fall of 1980 and after six seasons as an assistant coach he was promoted to the head coaching position for the Pirates in 1986.

In 39 seasons at the helm, he has put together a glittering 566-201-67 record while guiding SHP to five overall Non-Public A state championships, including three in the past six years, along with eight Non-Public, North A state sectional titles, nine Essex County Tournament championships and a combined 15 conference crowns in the Super Essex-American Division (9) and Iron Hills-Iron Division 6).

SHP was selected as the No. 1 team in the state by The Star-Ledger and nj.com following the 2023 season.

One of Berman’s greatest awards came when the United States Soccer Coaches presented him with their 2023 National Coach of the Year award for high school boys private and parochial school coaches, with the presentation made in Anaheim, Calif., in conjunction with the U.S. Soccer Coaches Convention.

Marty and his wife Lori, who is also a longtime soccer coach, reside in West Orange. Coach Berman, who is a youthful 72, continues to teach his popular English class at SHP. One of the couple’s sons, Matty, who is the director of communications at SHP and a former standout Pirates booter, is also a veteran assistant on his dad’s coaching staff along with Lori’s brother and Marty’s brother-in-law Dave Snyder, who is SHP’s dean of Academics.

It has been an eventful near half-century rise to greatness for both Beck and Beman and soon they will be experiencing what so many noteworthy sports figures ranging from Berra and Rizzuto to ex-Giants Michael Strahan and Harry Carson, to former basketball greats such as the Knicks’ Willis Reed, and Peter Carlesimo himself have enjoyed, that being on the dais while being honored during the Mercier Father-Son Beefsteak awards dinner.

The 2025 Mercier Sportsmen Dinner at The Highlawn, 1 Crest Drive, West Orange, 07052, will begin with cocktails at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7. Beer and wine are included.

Tickets are $100 per head in advance and reserved tables of 10 will get preferred seating if paid by March 17, 2025.

Also, sponsorship opportunities are available.

The dinner serves as a fundraiser for local charities.

For reservations or donations and for Zelle payments email: mercierbeefstead@gmail.com

For credit cards or further information call John Jerbasi at 973-610-9011.

For check payment, make the checks payable to: Friends of Mercier Sportsmen, Inc., and mail to: John Jerbasi, 65 Hornbeck Rd., Denville, N.J. 07834-2828

Mercier Club’s Carlesimo Sportsman of the Year & Msgr. Larkin Awards:

2024: Jim Spanarkel, Duke star & college basketball TV analyst

Larkin Award: Ron Anello

2023: John Sciambi, ESPN play by play man

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: Otis 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

  Seton Hall Prep soccer