By Angela Marshall
This month that record was finally broken by a St. Agnes alumnus who had played for Morris.
Tim Cluess earned a spot as one of Morris' two star forwards in 1976 and 77, helping to bring the team to the championship both years but never earning the crown.
Morris' record had been set in 1972, following four years of hard-fought ball by the St. Agnes Stags.
In those days, Rockville Centre was home to St. Agnes High School, which was largely attended by village residents. The school later moved to Uniondale and became Kellenberg Memorial High School.
The games sold out every week. It was like a whole town experience, said Bill Croutier Jr., who played on the 1970 team.
St. Agnes was really like a family, said Cluess, who recently moved to the village. He began watching St. Agnes ball at four when one of his older brothers was playing. It was basketball on Long Island as far as a lot of people were concerned.
The boys on the team spent hours together, practicing seven days a week, three or four hours a day, 12 months a year.
Former teammates credit Morris, who now coaches at the Canterbury School in Fort Meyers, Fla., with being ahead of his time, teaching them moves like the long jump shot long before they became popularized.
Morris believed in total dedication. His players had to be in top physical shape, better than their opponents.
He always drove us very hard, said Brian Moriarty, who played with Cluess. He put a drive in us that you would work hard and the harder that you worked the better shape that you would be in that we'd be able to outrun other teams.
Morris' message was universal and his players often applied it in their adult lives. Moriarty said he knows a lot of men who used the philosophy to advance in the business world. Whether it's sports or work or with your family, you just always give it your all, Moriarty said.
Cluess agreed. He's helped me in a lot of ways in my life that he never even knew and I wanted to thank him for that.
Cluess hopes his players take away a similar message from their time with him. Let them understand that basketball's a very, very small part of it and life is so much more important, but whatever you do, do your very best at it.
Cluess, who has been coaching at St. Mary's for 11 years, never expected to break Morris' record. Even last year when his team won its forth championship and tied the record, he still considered it impossible.
And going into the game, it really looked like a long shot. His team had been wracked by injuries and the other team, St. Dominic's, had been playing better ball. The lead flip-flopped throughout the game with St. Agnes making a final push with two minutes to go. They held their breath and St. Dominic's score until time ran out, winning the game 42-39.
Cluess' first reaction was to look for his sons, Kevin, 6, and T.J., 3. After I grabbed them, I couldn't have been happier, he said. I still can't believe it.
Before the game, Cluess and Peter Molloy, who helped set Morris' record in 1972, talked about St. Agnes' glory days. Molloy said playing on the team was one of the happiest times in his life.
But Molloy didn't begrudge Cluess his win. Records are meant to be broken, he said.
Molloy and many of Morris' former players are happy that if the record had to be broken that at least it was by a St. Agnes alumnus.
Another of Morris' former players from St. Agnes, Billy Donovan, now coaches the University of Florida Gators.
In 2000, Donovan asked his players to pay tribute to someone by writing their names on ankle tape and wearing it in the game. Senior point guard Teddy Dupay chose his high school coach
