Tom Konchalski – Fordham Now https://now.fordham.edu The official news site for Fordham University. Thu, 25 Apr 2024 14:16:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://now.fordham.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/favicon.png Tom Konchalski – Fordham Now https://now.fordham.edu 32 32 232360065 Fordham Men’s Basketball Wins First Tom Konchalski Classic https://now.fordham.edu/fordham-magazine/fordham-mens-basketball-wins-first-tom-konchalski-classic/ Thu, 24 Nov 2022 16:01:38 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=166706 Above: Fordham guard Darius Quisenberry takes a shot in the first half of the Rams’ Nov. 22 victory over Stonehill College. Photo courtesy of Fordham athleticsThe Fordham men’s basketball team went undefeated in the inaugural Tom Konchalski Classic, capping the four-team tournament on Nov. 22 with a 71-60 win against Stonehill College in the historic Rose Hill Gym.

The tournament, which spanned four days and also featured teams from the College of the Holy Cross and the University of Illinois Chicago, was named in memory of Fordham graduate Tom Konchalski, FCRH ’68, a New York City native widely regarded as one of the most trusted basketball scouts in the country. His four-decade career included assessments of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James as high school players.

“Not only was he one of the most universally respected people in the industry, he was also one of the most well liked,” said Ed Kull, Fordham’s athletic director. “He exalted the values of his Jesuit education every day of his life and I’m honored to help carry on his legacy with the Tom Konchalski Classic.”

Tom Konchalski at the Rose Hill Gym in 2003. Photo by David Bergman/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

On Feb. 9, 2021, one day after Konchalski’s death at the age of 74, New York Knicks broadcaster Mike Breen, FCRH ’83, told viewers that while Konchalski “may not have been what’s called a household name, in basketball homes, he was legendary.”

“Tom was the most influential, the most respected, and the most loved high school basketball scout in the country,” said Breen, who recently received WFUV’s Vin Scully Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting. “He helped thousands of young men, thousands of high school basketball players, achieve their dreams of playing college basketball and beyond. And every single day, he did it with kindness and humility.”

In addition to honoring Konchalski, the tournament pays tribute to the memory of Jim O’Connell, a Hall of Fame basketball writer who served as sports information director for the Fordham Rams from 1976 to 1978.

Basketball Hall of Fame sportswriter Jim O'Connell at a Fordham event in 2009
Basketball Hall of Fame sportswriter Jim O’Connell at a 2009 Fordham athletics event honoring his wife, legendary Fordham women’s basketball player Anne Gregory O’Connell, FCRH ’80. Photo courtesy of Fordham athletics

When he died in 2018 at the age of 64, Syracuse University head men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim told Sports Illustrated that O’Connell—known to many simply as “Oc”—covered sports “in a positive way, always,” and “was always good to players, coaches, fans—everybody.” The tournament’s standout student-athlete takes home the Jim O’Connell Most Outstanding Player award, earned this year by Fordham graduate student guard Darius Quisenberry.

On Saturday, Nov. 19, the opening day of the tournament, Fordham also hosted a “Celebration of Basketball,” benefiting the Thomas C. Konchalski Foundation and honoring Bob Hurley Sr., the Hall of Fame coach who led St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, New Jersey, to 26 state basketball championships.

The Rams have started the 2022–2023 season with a 5-1 record, winning all five of their home games. They next face Harvard at the Rose Hill Gym at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 27. The game will feature a special halftime ceremony honoring the family of former Fordham athletic director Frank McLaughlin, FCRH ’69, in whose name the gym court will be named.

Following the Rams' victory against Stonehill College in the Tom Konchalski Classic, Fordham guard Darius Quisenberry (third from right) received the tournament's Jim O'Connell Most Outstanding Player award. He was joined on the court by (from left) Fordham athletic director Ed Kull and members of the O'Connell family: Jim's wife and Fordham Athletics Hall of Fame, Anne Gregory O'Connell, FCRH '80; their sons, James and Andrew, FCRH '12; and his sister Mary. Photo courtesy of Fordham athletics
Following the Rams’ victory against Stonehill College in the Tom Konchalski Classic, Fordham guard Darius Quisenberry (third from right) received the tournament’s Jim O’Connell Most Outstanding Player award. He was joined on the court by (from left) Fordham athletic director Ed Kull and members of the O’Connell family: Jim’s wife, Fordham Athletics Hall of Famer Anne Gregory O’Connell, FCRH ’80; their sons, James and Andrew, FCRH ’12; and his sister Mary. Photo courtesy of Fordham athletics
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Tom Konchalski, Legendary New York City Basketball Scout and Fordham Graduate, Dies at 74 https://now.fordham.edu/fordham-magazine/tom-konchalski-legendary-new-york-city-basketball-scout-and-fordham-graduate-dies-at-74/ Tue, 09 Feb 2021 22:32:00 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=145364 Tom Konchalski scouts during a high school basketball tournament at Rose Hill Gym in 2003. (Photo by David Bergman/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)Tom Konchalski, FCRH ’68, long known as one of the most trusted basketball scouts in the country, whose four-decade career included assessments of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James as high school players, died on Feb. 8 at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. He was 74 years old.

Konchalski was born in Manhattan and moved to Elmhurst, Queens, as a child. While he did not possess athletic gifts himself, he fell in love with the game of basketball and spent time in his youth following Connie Hawkins from playground to playground to watch him play.

After graduating from Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, Konchalski attended Fordham College at Rose Hill, where he majored in political science and philosophy. Upon graduating magna cum laude, he began teaching eighth grade social studies and math. He stuck with teaching for just over a decade before he turned his passion for basketball into a career.

He was hired in 1979 to work for Howard Garfinkel, the founder of Five-Star Basketball Camp and publisher of a scouting newsletter called the High School Basketball Insider (HSBI). After writing the newsletter for five years, Konchalski bought HSBI from Garfinkel in 1984, and he continued to write and run it until retiring in 2020. His impact on the game is evidenced by his candidacy for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2021 as a contributor.

An Oracle-Like Predictor of Players’ Potential

Konchalski’s process was the stuff of legend in the basketball world. He would enter and leave gymnasiums, in the New York metropolitan region and beyond, as quietly as a six-foot-six scout could, making his way to the top row of the bleachers to watch games among fans and players’ families. He would focus on a handful of players during games, jotting down just about any kind of statistic one could track, as well as pithy descriptions to include in the newsletter (“Scores like we breathe,” “Bodyguard w/surgeon’s touch”). His notes, according to those who knew him, were almost supplementary, as he reportedly had a photographic memory of every moment in a basketball game.

At his home in Forest Hills, Queens, Konchalski—who didn’t own a car, cell phone, or computer—would turn his notes and recollections into the final HSBI form: stapled, typewritten, hard-copy pages that he placed into manila envelopes and sent out to college basketball coaches around the country 16 times a year. The newsletter’s tagline was, “Others tell you where they’ve been. We tell you where they’re going.” And the biggest names in college coaching, from Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski to Villanova’s Jay Wright, trusted Konchalski as an oracle-like predictor of players’ potential for success.

‘Respected and Loved By All’

Many of those same coaches expressed their admiration for Konchalski upon his passing, which came two years after he was diagnosed with metastatic cancer. Krzyzewski said of him, “He was a saint. There was something divine about his work and about him.” Kentucky’s John Calipari called him “one of the best human beings I have ever come across.”

Outside of his eye for talent, Konchalski was known for his personal touch. He got to know players and their families and placed an emphasis on helping people make their lives better through the sport. When he retired last year, he said, “I love the game of basketball and I love the people in the game of basketball, the players and the coaches.”

Frank McLaughlin, FCRH ’69, athletic director emeritus and associate vice president of student affairs for athletic alumni relations and external affairs at Fordham, described Konchalski as “a gentle giant, respected and loved by all.”

“[He] helped so many student-athletes achieve their dreams. Tom was truly a man for others.”

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