Eight to be Inducted into South Jersey Basketball Hall of Fame
Jenn Natale and Trish McNutt-Green, who have achieved excellence as players, are among eight new inductees to the South Jersey Basketball Hall of Fame.
Natale is still the head coach at Washington Township, where she was also a standout player. McNutt-Green starred at Gloucester Catholic and later coached Haddonfield to five NJSIAA state championships.
The other six inductees are Mike Androlewicz (Paul VI), Paul Gause (Schalick), Kevin Eastman (Haddonfield), current Rancocas Valley boys’ basketball coach Jay Flanagan, former NBA player Pops Mensah-Bonsu of St. Augustine and ex Riverside star Sabra Wrice.
The induction ceremony will be February 9 at the Crowne Plaza in Cherry Hill. Tickets are available for the event from Jack Mongulla (856-461-8800) or Jason Lewer (609-706-7069) or by sending payment ($35.00 per ticket) to 41 Emery Way, Delanco, NJ 08075.
Here is a rundown of this year’s class:
Jenn Natale, Washington Township. She is currently the head coach of Washington Township and has won nearly 250 games, while guiding the Minutemaids to four South Jersey Group 4 titles and four Olympic Conference American Division championships. A 1995 graduate, she scored 1,033 points for the Minutemaids before earning a scholarship to Fairfield, where in 1998 she participated in the NCAA tournament.
Trish McNutt-Green, Gloucester Catholic. A 1982 graduate, she was the starting point guard for NJSIAA state Group 1 title teams in 1981 and 1982 and was the MVP of the state championship in 1982, scoring 23 points. She earned a scholarship to Fresno State but saw her career end due to a knee injury. At Haddonfield, McNutt-Green guided the school to its first girls’ basketball state title in 1993 and would win four more during her tenure.
Sabra Wrice, Riverside. A 2004 graduate, Wrice holds the school record with 2,014 points. As a senior, she averaged 28.8 ppg. Wrice earned a scholarship to Fairfield, where she scored 1,577 career points and 220 steals. She was inducted into the Fairfield University Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Riverside High School Sports Hall-of-Fame (2015).
Pops Mensah-Bonsu, St. Augustine. Born in London, he came to the U.S. as a sophomore and attended the Hun school before transferring to St. Augustine as a junior. During his senior season in 2001-2002, he averaged 15 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. A power forward, he attended George Washington University, playing on two NCAA tournament teams. Mensah-Bonsu played internationally and in the NBA. He appeared in 61 career NBA games for five different teams.
Paul Gause, Schalick. A four-year starter, Gause finished with His 3,144 career points. As a senior in 2005 he helped lead the Cougars to their first South Jersey Group 1 championship. He averaged 33.9 points as a senior. Gause was also an all-South Jersey running back and helped lead the Cougars to two sectional titles in football. He earned a basketball scholarship to Seton Hall and set a single-season school record with 90 steals in 2006-2007. He later would play professionally in Europe.
Jay Flanagan, Delran. A 1982 graduate, Flanagan was a two-year varsity performer for the Bears, Flanagan began coaching immediately after graduating from Kutztown University in 1986. After serving three seasons as a Riverside assistant, he was hired as Moorestown’s Friends’ head boys’ basketball coach at the age of 25. He then left to become an assistant and eventually the head coach at Burlington Township. He became the head coach at Rancocas Valley in 2006. His 2008 team won the Group 4 state championship. His 2011 team captured the Central Jersey Group 4 title. He entered the season with 438 career wins, including 256 at Rancocas Valley.
Kevin Eastman, Haddonfield. Eastman helped lead Haddonfield to the 1973 state championship as a senior. He scored 1,166 career points. Eastman also enjoyed a standout career at Richmond and would later enter the coaching profession, where he spent 35 years at all levels including the NBA. He was a head college coach at Belmont Abbey, UNC-Wilmington and Washington State and an NBA assistant for the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers. He was an assistant on Boston’s 2008 NBA title team.
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Mike Androlewicz, Paul VI. A 1982 graduate, Androlewicz scored 31 was an all-South Jersey performer as a senior. He scored 31 points in his final career game, a double-overtime loss to powerful St. Joseph’s of Toms River in a South Jersey Parochial A semifinal. Androlewicz went on to enjoy a successful career at Lehigh. As a junior in 1985, he played in the NCAA tournament against eventually national runner-up Georgetown. As a senior he averaged 16.1 points and shot 90.3 percent from the foul line.
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Author: Marc Narducci; Photo courtesy of Washington Township
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