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Lt. Frank J. Haggerty

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A Two-Sport Star

by Bernie Beglane

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Frank J. Haggerty, mention that name in college and high school basketball and baseball circles and one will recall that he was the first graduate of both Chaminade High School and St. John’s University to die in military service during World War II.

A shortstop as well as a basketball player, Haggerty was in the Army Air Force (now called the Air Force, since it is a separate branch of the military) as a pursuit pilot when his plane crashed over the Catawba River in North Carolina 1942.

At the time of Frank’s death, Mike Lee, the late sports editor/columnist for the now defunct Long Island Press, wrote, “He was a great athlete…a distinguished student…a gentleman. He gave his best at all times. Frank had the American spirit…the will to win.”

The Fathers Club of the Mineola school, to honor Haggerty, class of 1936, introduced a basketball tournament in his memory. Sixteen teams played at the Jamaica Arena in 1943 and 1944. So popular did it become that expansion was necessary. Preliminary rounds continued to be held at Jamaica arena and, in 1945, 16 teams moved into the old Madison Square Garden for the remainder of the tourney.

That marked the first schoolboy competition at the 49th Street and Eighth Avenue arena. Attendance reached a little over 8,000. The tourney was discontinued after 1948 but was brought back in 1983 by Jack Lenz, then the athletic director at Chaminade. It continues to be played there annually.

While at Chaminade (he graduated in 1936), Haggerty captained both the baseball and basketball squads. He was the school’s first alumnus to die in the line of duty. At St. John’s, he co-captained the basketball team with the now-deceased Bill McKeever. Ironically, it was McKeever who called some of his SJU classmates and friends to tell them of Frank’s death.

Upon earning his degree from SJU, the shortstop signed with the Atlantic Crackers of the Southern Association. He was sent to Selma, Ala., a Class B team in the Southeastern League. After one season he joined the military and went on to give his life for his country.

The Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association, co-founder of the National Invitation Tournament, has been presenting All-Met teams since 1934. Following his passing, the MBWA decided to name its designation of the Met area’s most outstanding men’s collegiate player each season the Lt. Frank J. Haggerty Award.

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