Photo courtesy of Dave’s Joint.
By David Cordova
In this installment of “Suburban Stories,” we will be talking about the legendary Mount Vernon Knights, as they are currently still going and still strong and look to get to the Section 1 championship and look to avenge last year’s defeat to Scarsdale in the semifinals.
In Westchester County, the game of basketball is loved and held sacred. Especially amongst the public high school teams. Just like New York City, this suburban area has their own culture for hoops. They’re just as tough and definitely earn their respect. But there’s one city that has bred plenty of hoopers.
When you get off the MTA No. 2 subway train at Wakefield-241st Street in the North Bronx or the 5 train at Dyre Avenue, chances are you’ll likely take the Bee-Line 42 or 55 buses, respectively, or hop into a waiting livery cab or Uber to go a couple of blocks to another city that’s nearby.
The city that we’re talking about is Mount Vernon, which is basically within walking distance of the North Bronx. It’s a city that is four square miles long and has plenty of history in it. It’s the third-largest city in Westchester and the most densely populated. It’s a place that has plenty of African-Americans and also people from the Caribbean community, most notably from the country of Jamaica.
It also has a footnote in the hip-hop culture, as it is known for being the hometown of acts such as rapper Heavy D, producer/rapper Pete Rock, and rapper/mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. It is also the place that produced actors such as Denzel Washington, Art Carney, Robin Givens, J.B. Smoove, Michael Imperioli and Larry Romano.
But what it is mainly known for is their prestigious basketball program, which is one of the best in the state of New York historically.
When it comes to basketball in Mount Vernon, it’s a big thing. Young kids growing up in the city usually grow up wanting to play for the Knights. From a young age, the kids usually start out playing for the Mount Vernon Junior Knights program, which then leads to playing for the high school program.
But playing for the Knights is tough, because of a huge lack of resources in regards to city of Mount Vernon fiscally, out of the four high schools in the town, Mount Vernon High is the only basketball team in the city. That’s right, the only basketball team in the city. Many are able to try out, but only a few are chosen to wear the burgundy and yellow of the Knights.
Take the Bee-Line 40 bus from East Prospect Avenue and North 3rd Street and it will take you to North Columbus Avenue and California Road. Then you take a nine-minute walk past some nice homes and mansions and you’ll see the campus of Mount Vernon High School.
When you enter the hallway and pass the metal detectors, take a left to the gymnasium and you’ll see that this is the place where the magic happens. In this nice, dimly lit gym hangs the banners from past championship teams dating back to the 1970’s and pictures of players from yesteryear on the walls. Also, the championship teams from the 21st century.
In the past, the school has produced some NBA pros such as Scooter McCray (Class of 1978), Rodney McCray (Class of 1979), Ray Williams (Class of 1973), Gus Williams (Class of 1971), Earl Tatum (Class of 1972), Lowes Moore (Class of 1976), Rudy Hackett (Class of 1971), Ben Gordon (Class of 2001), Kevin Jones (Class of 2008) and Isaiah Cousins (Class of 2012).
There has also been plenty of players that went on to play on the Division I scene, such as Rasul Salahuddin (Class of 1991), Dexter Gray (Class of 2004), Chris Lowe (Class of 2004), Sherrod Wright (Class of 2009), Jabarie Hinds (Class of 2011), Michael Coburn (Class of 2007), Keith Benjamin (Class of 2004), Jarrell Marshall (Class of 2017), Noah Morgan (Class of 2017), Greg Calixte (Class of 2017), Jason Douglas-Stanley (Class of 2018) and Demetre Roberts (Class of 2018).
At the present time, they have Maryland-Eastern Shore forward Troy Hupstead (Class of 2021) at the Division I level. On the JUCO scene, they have last year’s Lower Hudson Valley Mr. Basketball selection, Dylan Colon (Class of 2023), playing at Pensacola State College down in Pensacola, Florida.
Last season, after playing on the Division II level for four seasons at St. Thomas Aquinas College up in Rockland County, Roberts played his final season of collegiate eligibility on the Division I level at Fairleigh Dickinson University, playing for his coach for his coach from STAC, Tobin Anderson, who is now at Iona, and led the Knights to an appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which included an upset of third-seeded Purdue in the first round, before losing in the second round to Florida Atlantic, who would go on to play in the Final Four.
The love for sports in Mount Vernon is so deep that during the 2008-09 season, fiscal issues with the school district almost caused a cancellation of the high school season. The school had to raise $950,000 just to stave off the elimination of all of the school’s athletic programs. The players did fundraising, as well as fundraising from Gordon and Washington and also private donors from places in Westchester County.
That goes to show that even things are dim, people from the area come together in unity.
As far as the action on the court, it’s safe to say, when the lights are on, they know how to perform on the big stage. That’s because their leader prepared them to do so.
Born and bred in Mount Vernon, Bob Cimmino has seen many things go on in his years in the city. He’s seen players get older and the elders get older. Many of his former players from the late 1990’s and the early 2000’s now have children of their own that could potentially play for him. A native of Mount Vernon and a 1975 graduate of Mount St. Michael Academy in The Bronx, he has been a great ambassador for his city and has helped plenty of young men realize their dreams.
Since 1995, Coach Cimmino has developed a powerhouse program at Mount Vernon High School. At the present time, he is the all-time leader in wins amongst high school coaches with over 600. He has won 19 Section 1 championships, eight New York State public high school championships and four New York State Federation championships. He is a seven-time winner of the New York State Coach of the Year and a 2012 inductee of the New York Basketball Hall of Fame and was also inducted into the Westchester Sports Hall of Fame.
Year after year, to get ready for the Gold Ball, he has taken the team to play in national tournaments such as Canada and even the prestigious Iolani Classic in Hawaii to compete against the best. One thing about playing for Coach Cimmino is that if you do the right thing and work hard, there is always a chance for exposure and also a chance at a free education.
After coaching this program for nearly 30 years, he has shown no signs of slowing down. Although many may think that the Knights are down, there’s always more talent popping up.
This year’s squad may not have the big names that many are accustomed to seeing, but they have plenty of grit, tenacity and are a team that can hang with the best of them. These Knights have that textbook toughness on the floor.
In the backcourt, there is the junior trio of Tavien Tyler, Kai Harvey and Will Robinson, a crew of players that are distributors, but also some solid scorers, as well. There are also some great contributors in senior Gerald Jato and sophomore Zion Watkins.
In the front court, they have some great forwards in juniors Hadi Adeyi and Dwight Findlay and seniors Nate Edwards and Justin Muhammad. All four of them are truly a force in the paint area, as they are solid rebounders and players that can hold their own in the post area.
One of the key things about the Knights are that they are a great running team, thanks to their guard play. Whenever they get on the floor, they will definitely aim to get to the basket at all times or shoot from the perimeter. It’s always a scary sight when one plays them.
This season, the Knights have gone 13-6 and played in the Snowball Classic in Canada and played in the New York Holiday Invitational in Oyster Bay, Long Island. Throughout Section 1 play, they lost some close games to Mamaroneck, New Rochelle, White Plains & Yorktown. But they also got wins against a couple of the same teams, and also won some games by a big margin against Yonkers’ own Saunders and Lincoln High School and also won against schools such as Clarkstown South and Scarsdale.
Just recently, in the Section 1 quarterfinals, they played against North Rockland and knocked off last year’s Section 1 champions, 58-31, to advance to the semifinals at the Westchester County Center against White Plains tomorrow night at 8:15 PM.
On Jan. 26th, they played the Tigers on the road, and lost, 80-66. However, the bright lights of the County Center will be shining bright. But this time, it will be for a larger purpose. It’s a game that will be about surviving and advancing, as one team will move on to the championship game on Sunday night, while the other’s season will end.
Although it’s a big game, the Knights aren’t ready to fold just yet. They’re planning on putting together a great effort to keep their season going. All it will take will be 32 minutes of hard-fought effort and all will be well. But when they hit the floor, they will be repping their city and their community. It’s never ever for the guys wearing the maroon & gold. It’s just another big game for the boys from Money Earnin’ Mount Vernon.
In the next installment of our series, “Suburban Stories,” we will talk about Don Bosco Prep, the best team in the state of New Jersey who took the country and their home state by storm and have plenty of top-tier talent on the floor, including two Division I signees.
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