Former East Rockaway girls’ basketball star’s number retired

The number 45 didn’t hold much significance to Brittany Fuller when she chose it as a high school sophomore. More than a decade later, it now hangs on the wall in the small gym at East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School, a tribute to her success on the court.

“I was No. 20 freshman year because I liked [former NBA star] Allan Houston,” said Fuller, who graduated in 2006. “Then we got new jerseys when I was a sophomore, and they didn’t order No. 20, so I had to choose a new number. It was just one of the only jerseys left at the time.”

With No. 45 on her back, Fuller, a 5-foot-11 small forward, received many accolades and set numerous school records. On Jan. 6, the number became just the eighth in program history to join East Rockaway’s Hall of Retired Numbers in a special ceremony. Fuller became the second girls’ basketball player ever to receive the honor.

She said the retirement ceremony was not as much a reminder of what she achieved individually as it was indicative of how well her team played as a unit. The squad was the most decorated in school history, making it to the state final four in three of Fuller’s four seasons, bookended by trips to the state finals in her freshman and senior years.

“Basketball was pretty much my whole life during high school, and we had an incredible team,” Fuller said. “It’s nice to know I’ll always be up there and be remembered that way, but at the same time, I think it’s special for my whole team. We had so much success together, and it’s something we can always look up at and it won’t be just for me, but for them as well.”

Fuller formed a special bond with her teammates and coaches. Her practice partner, Sarah D’Archangelis, said they played together from fourth grade through their senior year, and helped push one another.

“She was definitely the first one to show up to practice and the last one to leave,” recalled D’Archangelis, who spoke at the ceremony. “She was a great teammate. She was the hardest worker all the time. So to see her number go up was so emotional for me, as it was for her.”

Fuller said she was shocked when she received a letter around Thanksgiving informing her of the honor. On her special night, the high school hosted a series of events, which included the varsity team’s game against Wheatley, which it won, 55-45; the ceremony in her honor; her retired number; and an alumni game.

Fuller said that the most emotional part of the night was when her former teammates and head coach, Karin Leary, made speeches about her. Leary also showed a PowerPoint presentation of Fuller’s career highlights, and said the night was emotional for her as a coach.

“It just brought back so many memories of how wonderful that time in my life was,” said Leary, who has coached at East Rockaway for the past 17 years. “It’s overwhelming. We have so many memories from those years. We won a lot. We were a family.” She added that Fuller still gives advice to her players, including the school’s latest star, senior Alessia Drevnyak.

Also attending the ceremony were Fuller’s parents, Paul and Judi; her older sister Kristen; her younger brothers Michael and Matthew; her boyfriend, Sheldon Jones; and her niece, Kennedy DiChiara.

In her speech, Fuller thanked her mother for pushing her to thrive academically and her father for attending every game. Paul proudly noted that he counted every game he saw — 91 — including playoffs.

Fuller’s parents described their daughter as shy when she was young, but noticed that she became more outgoing through her years of playing basketball. They both shared a story about how surprised they were when she made a speech for her assistant coach, Tim O’Hagan, when he left the school for a job at Molloy College.

“There’s no doubt in my mind without the self-confidence she developed through sports, I don’t think there would be any way she’d ask to get up in front of an auditorium full of people,” Paul said.

Judi recalled that there were many nail-biting moments on the court, but it was worth it to see her daughter succeed and eventually have her number retired. “It’s a very emotional thing to see something like that,” she said. “To know that that’s there forever, and that she’s recognized for her hard work and her skills.”

Despite her accolades, Brittany said that the sting of losing in the state finals by seven points in her last high school game still sticks with her. She went on to play in college at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., where she majored in math. Though the team was successful and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament in her junior year, she said nothing was quite like her high school experiences.

“I think the chemistry that we had on the court was largely because we played together for so long, and also because of how close we were off the court,” Fuller said of her high school team. “It felt like these girls knew everything about me and I knew everything about them.”

Now 29, she lives in New Jersey and works as an actuary in pension consulting for the New York City-based firm Mercer — where her father also works — but she said she still finds time to play basketball. She returned to the court for the alumni game, and she said her friends wouldn’t let her substitute out.

“I never want to come out, so I’m not going to say no, but I don’t need to stay in,” Fuller said. “They made it special even though the ceremony was over. The full night was my night, which I really appreciated. It was a perfect night.”