Nameless, they shall remain. Forgotten, they shall not.
Palisades Park athletic director John Wroblewski was minding his own business standing on the basketball court in between the Tigers boys junior varsity and varsity basketball games against Cresskill last Friday.
The Tigers had lost and Wroblewski, the longest-tenured athletic director in Bergen County, was just keeping an eye on things.
After the final whistle, members of the Cougars junior varsity basketball team came towards him. They approached him in small groups, two, three, maybe four players at a time. And they had a message for Wroblewski.
“I think they are coming to shake hands,” said Wroblewski, “Wrobo” to everyone in North Jersey. “But no, every kid wanted to thank me for my son’s service and tell me that he was a hero.”
John “J.T.” Wroblewski died during Operation Iraqi Freedom in April of 2004. Members of the Cresskill JV team had heard his story from their coach John Flaim.
The gesture by the 12 basketball players sincerely touched Wroblewski, who has no real connection to Flaim, just a passing admiration. Those who know Wroblewski can say that he often speaks of his son, but never seeks attention for his story.
“What I experienced personally just topped off the whole night, I will remember that forever,” said Wroblewski. “Those kids were patriots. They made it so special for me to remember my son like that. I take my hat off to John.”
Flaim said that he had told the kids a little bit about J.T. Wroblewski, but did not make them go greet his father. He said that all the players were doing was just demonstrating the values they had picked up at home.
“Coaching is just a way to teach values,” said Flaim, a basketball coach for almost 20 years and a guidance counselor at Cresskill.
The action by the 12 young Cougars takes on even more meaning during the holidays and a moment where so much of our country seems so divided on key issues and bogged down by partisanship.
It’s also remarkable that the moment came just days after Palisades Park Superintendent Dr. Joseph Cirillo quietly initiated a new sportsmanship program at his school where players from opposing schools travel to the other’s school just to meet, and maybe make a fast friend.
It’s one thing to give a cheap shot foul to a kid in an opposing jersey flying down the lane, it gives you a second thought when you know their name, and maybe had a bagel with them that morning.
By: Darren Cooper – Record Sports Columnist
