Baseball
Jack Tracy
Jack Tracy, an all-city baseball and basketball player at Curtis High School and an All-American second baseman at Seton Hall, set school records for hits and consecutive chances without an error, and led the Pirates to the 1984 College World Series. Tracy hit .270 in seven minor-league seasons, hit .382 one year in the New York-Penn League, and was a two-time International League All Star.(Read more...)
Tuck Turner
Tuck Turner, a part-time player for most of his six-year major-league career, hit .418 for the 1894 Philadelphia Phillies, the ninth highest average of all time … but only second best that season, behind Hugh Duffy’s .440. Turner went 11 straight games with multiple hits. The next season he hit .386. But the Phillies traded him to the Cardinals, and two years later he was back in the minor leagues, leaving behind a lifetime average (Read more...)
Anthony Varvaro
Anthony Varvaro pitched in 166 big-league games, helped push the Atlanta Braves to an N.L. East title in 2013, and averaged a strikeout-per-inning in 11 major and minor-league seasons with the Mariners, Braves, and Red Sox. He was a headliner from the start at Curtis High School, pitching a no-hit, 15-strikeout game in the 2001 city playoffs; and at St. John’s, where he was a third-team All-American and two-time All-Big East pitcher, and remains among (Read more...)
Herb White
Herb White was named New York City’s top high school player in 1935, after hitting .365, .420 and .553 at Tottenville High School. An outstanding defensive catcher, he hit for a .310 average over five seasons in the Yankee organization, but spent the next five years in military service during World War II. With his best baseball behind him, White found a career on the Fire Department, coached the Wagner College baseball team, and was (Read more...)
Bill Wolfe
Bill Wolfe was a gritty point guard and middle infielder at Curtis High School, where he helped the Warriors win back-to-back city championships in baseball, and go deep into the public school playoffs in basketball; and at Wagner College, where he starred in both sports, and is in the school’s Hall of Fame. Decades later, that same hard-nosed competitive spirit drove Wolfe to dozens of racquetball titles, often against younger opponents, and two national senior (Read more...)