Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame

Relive It All Again

Baseball

Cliff Brantley

Cliff Brantley was a 1,000-point scorer at Port Richmond High School, with multiple 40-point games; but he was a better baseball pitcher – striking out 18 batters in a game – destined for the majors. Drafted by the Phillies, he set a minor-league strikeout record, and was in the big leagues at 23. But Brantley barely had time to flash his potential – taking a no hitter into the sixth inning against the Mets – (Read more...)

Bruno_Nick

Nick Bruno

Nick Bruno was the first basketball player to score 1,000 points for a Staten Island high school, the 1957 Jaques Award winner as the Island’s best player while at Port Richmond, and MVP in the Sandlot Alliance Baseball All-Star Game. After finishing his career at Iowa State, Bruno came home to teach, inspiring generations of students at PS 44, Mariners Harbor, with his credo, “A book in one hand, a ball in the other.”(Read more...)

Mickey Burns

Mickey Burns was a three-sport star at New Dorp High School, where he played a starring role in the football team’s undefeated run to the 1964 city championship; and at Missouri Valley College, where he’s a member of the school’s Hall of Fame. In his 13 seasons as the basketball coach at McKee High School, Burns’ teams won four Staten Island championships, and his 1977 Sea Gulls remain the only public school boys’ team from (Read more...)

Cali_Bill

Bill Cali

Bill Cali had two baseball lives – the first as a heady infielder at New Dorp High School, in the New York Giant organization, and on the Island sandlots; and the second as the College of Staten Island’s winningest coach – bracketing his years as a New York City fire captain. Cali won 268 games in 14 seasons at CSI, guiding the Dolphins to eight CUNY tournament titles, nine regular-season titles, and the 2001 ECAC (Read more...)

Terry Crowley

Curtis High School product Terry Crowley, one of the top pinch-hitters in baseball, played 15 big-league seasons, most of it with the Baltimore Orioles, where manager Earl Weaver dubbed him “The King of Swing.” Crowley played in three World Series and retired with 108 career pinch-hits, sixth on the all-time list, before beginning a 30-year career as the batting coach for the Orioles and Minnesota Twins.(Read more...)