O'Donnell: Anthony Fauci — The point guard who still might save the world
AS AN INTERVIEWER, Mike Krzyzewski isn't going to make anyone forget Tom Snyder.
And as a 5-foot-7 high school point guard in Eisenhower-era Manhattan, “Tony” Fauci wasn't going to make anyone forget Bob Cousy.
But now, as Dr. Anthony Fauci — one of the globe's resolute lead immunologists battling back against the coronavirus — he can still take a moment to recall his modest exploits for the hallowed Regis High Raiders.
Fauci guested last weekend on Krzyzewski's “Basketball and Beyond with Coach K” on Sirius XM.
The Q&A was a bit too much fawn by Krzyzewski, who was too wordy in his questions and repeatedly inserted plugolas for the medical research wing of Duke University.
But the exchange also afforded the Daily Herald — with an assist from current staff at Regis — a window to dig back and find out what kind of playmaker young Fauci was.
His senior season — 1957-58 — was a memorable year for New York City's formidable Catholic High School Athletic Association.
In Queens, Lou Carnesecca was making his coaching bones directing Archbishop Molloy to a 33-0 championship season. That record still stands as the most victories in one campaign by any high school — private or public — in NYC history.
Up in the Bronx, Cardinal Hayes had an All-City guard named Kevin Loughery. He was the son of an NYPD detective. His long basketball career would include a two-year run (1983-85) as head coach of the Bulls that included Michael Jordan's rookie season.
On Manhattan's Upper East Side, expectations at Regis were far more modest.
Only 125 boys were accepted each year out of a potential pool of close to 35,000 from the archdioceses that cover NYC's five boroughs.
Fauci made that cut. He also made the cuts into the Raiders basketball program.
He did so despite the fact he continued to work part time at his father's pharmacy in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn.
His daily commute was normally 70 minutes or so, encompassing one bus ride and three subway transfers. After games, the trip home could take closer to two hours.
“So I studied by flashlight on the subway,” Fauci told the audience at Regis's President's Dinner last May. “The priests emphasized to us that we had to study at least three hours a night to have a prayer of making grades to stay at Regis.”
By his senior season, the Raiders needed a lot of prayers to win games.
Fauci was captain and starting point guard. In the end, he would average 10.2 points per game.
But Regis opened 1-16.
“We hung in there,” Fauci said. “Do you think the Jesuits were going to let us do anything else?”
Their one brief shining moment came late in the season against North Carolina-bound Donnie Walsh — later a longtime NBA executive — and Fordham Prep.
Somehow, Regis won, 64-51. They finished the season 4-18, but with a 3-2 close.
And Fauci never played formal basketball again.
At the President's Dinner 11 months ago, he did say: “I'm apolitical. That's why I've been able to serve under six presidents.”
And in an eerie bit of prescience, he added: “My concern is that there are always emerging infections. And the ones that are the most devastating are the ones that spread rapidly, respiratory illnesses.
“But I'm putting a lot of effort in trying to get a vaccine that would essentially obviate the concerns about a pandemic.”
Hopefully, he will close as well as his high school basketball team did.
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• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.