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+National Junior College Basketball Record Holder
Essex County College 1973-1974 men’s basketball team coached by the late Cleo Hill Sr., was a standout team that incorporated students from Newark Public Schools, in addition to players from New York City and Virginia that complimented the team. They were a team that adored the game of basketball and came to ECC to play under the legendary Coach Hill. At the time, this team did not have its gym or basketball court, practicing in local high school gyms and the Newark YMCA, which became their home court. However, they bonded together to form a formidable team that took on all comers and put Essex County College men’s basketball team on the map
According to ESPN.com on January 19, 1974, “ECC was heavily favored to win its basketball game over Englewood Cliffs College, but nobody thought the matchup between these two small New Jersey schools would be historic. That is until Essex exploded for 110 points in the first half. To score over 100 points a game had been the rule this season for Essex County College. Not only did Essex reach that total in the first half of the game, but they also outdid themselves in the second half too. By the end of the game, he made 97 of 129 field goal attempts, 16 of 22 free throw attempts, and pulled down 89 rebounds. The game ended with the final score of 210-67, breaking a National Junior College Record. The ECC men’s basketball team players on this record-setting team were:
Besides the single‐game record, Essex County College added to its 108-point-per-game average, set standards for the most points scored in a half by a junior college (110) and most points scored by a junior college in Region 19. Lou Grimsley, one of the 73-74 team members, describes his experience at ECC: “We had a high-scoring team. But everyone was pulling for each other. We were really a team, in every sense of the word.” Russell Shuler, another team member stated, “Our team was composed of mixed personalities and stars in their own right.” They came together as a team through Coach Hill’s teachings. Coach Hill was known to say to his players before they went on the basketball court “make a believer of them.” On that day, January 19, 1974, the team made Coach Hill a believer along with the rest of the NJCAA basketball world.
