An honor as high as the rafters

Elmont resident Anne Gregory O’Connell has spent more than two decades living and teaching on Long Island, but years ago, she spent most of her time pulling more boards of the glass than any other woman in the history of college basketball.

O’Connell, a former Fordham University basketball star and Elmont resident, will have her number retired by her alma mater this season, the first woman and only the second student ever to receive the honor at Fordham. It’s an honor she’s receiving because of her dominant career in the paint, pulling down almost 2,000 rebounds in her four-year career.

“It’s a lot of really good memories,” O’Connell said. “We were scrappy and a really close team with a great coach. I really, really enjoyed it.”

O’Connell’s number 55, which she wore through four years of college, will be retired and hung in the rafters at Rose Hill Gymnasium on Fordham University’s campus on Dec. 5.

“Anne’s performance, character and leadership on and off the court set the standard for our student-athletes,” said current Fordham coach Cathy Andruzzi, “We look forward to celebrating her great accomplishment when her jersey is  hung from the rafters at Rose Hill.”

O’Connell pulled down her final rebound in a game in 1980 before graduating later that year. She said at the time that she was less worried about her record-setting mark, which had already been established, than about trying to join the class of male and female basketball players with 2,000 points and 2,000 rebounds, a lofty plateau.

“I do remember realizing that I need a certain number to get to 2,000,” she said. “Somebody came over to me towards the end of the game, and everybody worked really hard to try and get me to 2,000 rebounds. We tried so hard that people were just throwing up shots from everywhere, and eventually I fouled out. It is a wonderful memory though.”

Despite falling short of her 2,000 rebound goal, O’Connell still finished with 1,999 boards, enough to put her firmly atop the collegiate list, and keep her there for 29 years and counting.

O’Connell was born in the Bronx and lived there before attending college and joining a team that she credits with teaching her about teamwork and the importance of hard work.

Now, she teaches at Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville and tries to pass on those lessons to her students.

“We worked extremely hard, and it really paid off,” she said. “I try to impart that to these kids at Holy Trinity every day.”

She said she hasn’t told many of her students or much of the staff at the school about her impending honor, but expects the word to get out. She’s hoping the Fordham ceremony — which includes a luncheon and a meet-and-greet with Fordham students, athletes and donors — will become a big event, and yet another way to connect with the Fordham team that helped her to those 1,999 rebounds.

“I keep in touch with the team, we go out and eat together, really that’s why I’m excited,” she said. “If a lot of people show up it’s going to be a really good time.”

The honor itself, O’Connell said, still hasn’t sunk in.

“I’m very humbled by it, the more I think about it the more exciting it is,” she said. “It’s only happened to one other person in the school’s history.”