Slightly OT: Joe & Jon Crispin...

[DirtyRU]

My son just attended their summer basketball camp down here in SJ (Pitman). They took turns leading but it's mainly Joe's camp. I didn't get a chance to chat with Jon but my son is also attending Joe's 3 on 3 camp at Total Turf in Pitman, so I may get the opportunity then. If y'all recall, Jon does color for BTN Network and did a bunch of our games this year. He seemed REALLY high on Corey's abilities this past season. And I thought he did a really nice job as a color guy. Joe, on the other hand, is coaching and has recently been named head men's basketball coach at Rowan.

Anyway, these two brothers are downright legends down here in these parts. Both of them tore it up for Pitman back in the 90s, with both going on to play for PSU and Jon eventually transferring to UCLA. Joe had a cup of coffee in the NBA with a few teams and also had a nice NCAA tourney run including an upset over UNC I believe... Sweet 16 perhaps.

I know I'm rambling a bit here, but the point of my post is that it's nice seeing these guys give back to the community and the sport that gave them so much, and it's neat seeing them do it on their old stomping grounds (camp was held at their old middle school). Both seemed like good dudes and both were outstanding with all the youth campers. And they gave me some great ideas for coaching my son this upcoming season.

Anybody remember their playing days? I grew up in North Jersey but I remember hearing stories from my Rutgers buddies from South Jersey about how good the Crispins, the Earls and Malik Allen were back in the day in SJ. Those 5 owned SJ and scored a ton of points for Pitman and Medford. I remember some good battles with Brian Earl when he played at Princeton. Him and Geoff B. seemed to have a "thing" between them. Nice little rivalry. I can't recall if we (RU) ever faced either Crispin in college though.

 

[nacorwin]

When I was a Senior, my high school (Highland Park) won central jersey state and Pitman won south jersey. We played them and winner played the winner of the two north jersey champs. HP played a full court zone press with LJ Smith (future RU TE) in the middle. The game against Pitman was played at some "neutral site" in a tiny court in south jersey. Our coach decided we couldn't press because of the small size of the court. The Crispin brothers each made many many threes. We lost by 7 or 8. Their fans were the first time I saw high school kids all wearing the school colors and painting their faces for a game.

 

[njcanesfan]

The crispins pretty much took over the game against us (Burlington CIty) in 97. We were the number 2 seed. They both were pulling 3's pretty much as soon as they crossed half court. Had never seen that in a HS game besides Dejuan Wagner. And yes their students were off the hook. Lol. I will say this though... The refs that night gave some extremely bad home cooking. Some of the worst calls I've ever witnessed against an away team.

 

[FELONIOUSMONK]

Pitman is a methodist retreat like Ocean Grove or Ocean City. I used to live in Washington Township right up the road and they always seemed to have some guys who could hoop it up. Highland Park had some great teams but the brothers killed them more than once.Always hate to see my alma mater get close without smoking a Cuban.

 

[PhilaPhans]

I've lived in Gloucester County all of my life as well and thoroughly enjoyed following their careers.