www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I AUGUST 2019 27
Legends
AN ALBUM BY THE CURB
A friend, Brendan Fay, while out for
a morning run near Ditmars found a
scrapbook atop a mound of trash awaiting
pickup in Astoria. He opened and
perused it for a moment, immediately
took it home and later reached out to
the Greater Astoria Historical Society. It
held the story of the late Frank Fucarino.
On Nov. 1, 1946, a crowd of 7,090
filed into Maple Leaf Gardens to watch
history – the first professional basketball
game of what later would become the
National Basketball Association. The
New York Knickerbockers went on to
defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 68-
66. On the court for the Maple Leafs,
scoring one point from a free-throw
was Astoria’s Frank Fucarino.
Frank attended Bryant High School
where he learned the fine points of the
game in varsity completion. He went on
to play at the college level while attending
Long Island University from 1939
to 1943. After a stint in the Army Air
Corps during World War II, he continued
honing his skills in the Peach Basket
League playing for the semi-pro Elizabeth
Braves and the Saratoga Indians.
During the NBA’s inaugural 1946-47
season, he played 28 games out of 60
games for the Maple Leafs averaging
just five points a game with a .268
field goal and a .567 free throw percentages
– not bad for a time before
three pointers and the time clock. By
today’s standards, the games were low
scoring affairs.
At this point in his life, the scrapbook
reveals a midlife change. Mr. Fucarino, a
professional basketball player, returned
home to earn his teaching credentials
at Columbia University. He applied and
was accepted as a public school teacher
in Hightstown, New Jersey during the
summer of 1953. Frank was notified,
as was customary for that time, by a
telegram. It took an act by the borough’s
council to approve his contract. Both
documents are dutifully tucked away
on leaves of the scrapbook.
The book was a narrative of his early
years as a teacher: photographs of him
and students in classroom vignettes,
student valentines and artwork – the
stuff familiar to anyone who has taught
young people. A scan of the online
newspapers from the time mentions him
coaching track meets and advancing
into administration as a middle school
principal.
But nothing reveals the essence of
a person’s character as a first-hand
account of someone who can paint a
personal sketch from life. We are fortunate
that one of his students wrote
a moving essay (excerpted here) for a
local New Jersey paper years after their
graduation and from the perspective as
a mature adult, could look back at their
high school experience.
“Once in a while, there is that rare
teacher, who made you believe in yourself
and help you start to understand
what you are all about. Just such a
teacher was my sixth grade teacher
Frank Fucarino.
Mr. F. showed me many of the proper
ways, to not only behave, but the responsibility
that I would begin to carry
for myself and others.
I don’t know if Mr. F. is even still alive,
but thanks to him, he started the true
ball rolling towards young manhood.
Yes, there would be many valleys and
peaks to conquer, and many mistakes
along the way, but his insight and his
caring gave me some much needed
lessons.”
Frank Fucarino … veteran … sportsman
… teacher … mentor … Astorian,
retired to his Astoria home where he
passed away in 2012 aged 92.
G.A.H.S. Has Moved!
New Home! New Look!
Astoria History @ Court Square
Our new office is:
Greater Astoria Historical Society
LIC Arts Building # Suite 219
44-02 23rd Street
Long Island City, NY 11101
718-278-0700 / info@astorialic.org
Serving the communities of
Old Long Island City:
Blissville
Sunnyside
Sunnyside Gardens
Hunters Point
Dutch Kills
Ravenswood
Astoria Broadway
Norwood
Old Astoria Village
Ditmars
Steinway
Bowery Bay
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