SPORTS - Ben Gamble

From Hitter to Hoops

Ben Gamble’s biggest home run took him to BHS’s basketball court

Story and photos by Jim Hague

Though he’s enjoyed a successful career in basketball, Ben Gamble seemed destined for baseball.

Gamble, recently named head boys’ basketball coach at Bayonne High School, was well on his way to becoming a baseball star.

He was a standout in Jersey City’s Greenville National Little League. From age eight through 12, Gamble was one of the best players in a talent-packed roster.

“I was confident in baseball,” Gamble said. “I thought it was my future.”

Gamble played for the Greenville All-Star team that won the District 7 championship and went to the state championships. In one season, Gamble hit an astounding 12 home runs, including four in one game, three of which were grand slams.

“People kept telling me that I had potential to be a professional baseball player,” Gamble said.

In sixth grade at P.S. 38, all that changed.

Good Question

“I met a guy named Pat McCarthy, and in gym class, he asked me if I played basketball,” Gamble said.

He then started playing Catholic Youth Organization basketball for Our Lady of Mercy.

He first attended high school at St. Mary’s of Jersey City, where the head baseball coach was the immortal Ed “The Faa” Ford, who would later become a professional baseball scout.

“St. Mary’s had a great baseball program,” Gamble said “I figured I could go there and play baseball and basketball.”

Meanwhile, Gamble learned who’d officiated his CYO basketball games: Legendary coach Bob Hurley who, by the late 1970s, had guided St. Anthony to a handful of NJSIAA state championships.

“I didn’t even know who he was,” Gamble said.

But Hurley knew who Gamble was.

Greenville Guys

Hurley lived in the Greenville section and had his finger on the basketball pulse of the neighborhood.

Hurley stopped by the Gamble household when Ben was in eighth grade and told him about all the neighborhood kids who were going to play basketball at St. Anthony.

“I knew Jarrett [King], Phil [Robinson], and Felix Rivera were all going to St. Anthony,” Gamble said. “I thought maybe I had a chance to go to college for free.”

“I could see that Ben’s passion was for basketball,” Hurley said.

Gamble played baseball and basketball at St. Anthony, playing on two of Hurley’s NJSIAA Parochial C state championship teams.

“I was still being recruited for baseball,” Gamble said. “Coach [Mike] Sheppard wanted me at Seton Hall. St. Peter’s wanted me. But I decided to go to Walsh College in Canton, Ohio.”

Canton, birthplace of football and home to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was about as removed from the streets of Jersey City as you could get. At Walsh, Gamble encountered Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins.

But during the first week of practice, Gamble dislocated his elbow joint.

Homeward Bound

“I was 17 and far away from home,”

Gamble said. “My grades were failing. I had to come home.”

He spent one year at Union County

College and tried to play baseball there. But he ended up at Pace University in New York City and played basketball there.

“I knew I wanted get into law enforcement, so I thought Pace was the best place for me,” Gamble said.

Gamble launched a 27-year, awardwinning career at Newark’s Northern State Prison as a senior state corrections officer.

What made him a sterling corrections officer also made him a natural coach.

“Even playing in the schoolyards, I always organized the teams,” Gamble said. “I didn’t even realize it, but I was working on my coaching skills.”

“Coaching has changed a lot since then,” Hurley said. “It really wasn’t a way to make a living. Ben had a family, and it didn’t seem plausible.”

But it seemed plausible to Gamble.

Coaching Was in the Cards

“I would go to a lot of coaching clinics and meet a lot of college coaches,” Gamble said.

He became an assistant coach at Kean University to Bruce Hamburger.

But at age 32, Gamble felt he was ready to become head coach, so he was hired as head coach at Hudson Catholic High School.

“But when I think about it, I wasn’t ready,” said Gamble, who spent three years at Hudson Catholic. “I knew that I had to deal with the parents better, and I had to be more patient with the kids.”

Gamble left Hudson Catholic in 2000 and went back where he felt most comfortable: St. Anthony, becoming an assistant coach to his mentor.

Sister Mary Alan was St. Anthony’s longtime athletic director.

“When I got back there, she used to tell me that Coach Hurley was going to groom me to replace him,” Gamble said.

It looked that way when Hurley made room for Gamble next to him on the bench.

“He said, ‘I want Ben near me, so everyone else has to move down,’” Gamble said.

“He took over scouting the opposition,” Hurley said. “His attention to detail was unbelievable.”

The relationship strengthened.

“It got to the point where he could literally finish my sentences,” Hurley said. “I had other coaches who might make suggestions, but he was the one I was going to listen to.”

Gamble said, “Coach Hurley gave me most of the game preparation. He gave me the confidence to do public speaking.”

Passing the Torch?

In 2006, Hurley announced that he would step down and turn the reins over to Gamble.

“I understood the magnitude of it,” Gamble said.

It was like Jay Leno taking over for Johnny Carson.

And then, Hurley pulled the plug. “I realized I was going to miss it,” he said and remained head coach.

“I was disappointed,” Gamble said. “I think it was because he didn’t tell me; Sister Alan did. I really thought I was ready to be a head coach. I just knew it was never going to happen at St. Anthony.”

Gamble stayed with the Friars and was part of a great run that included an 83game win streak, winning the national championship in 2008 and 2011. The team featured Kyle Anderson of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies.

In 2014, a head coaching job opened at Cardinal McCarrick High in South Amboy.

Wins and Woes

McCarrick had a 6-17 record. Gamble posted a 21-5 record in his first season.

“I asked if the school was in financial distress, and the school president told me three times that the school was fine,” Gamble said. “But the school closed.”

From there, Gamble went to Mater Dei in Middletown. The Seraphs won 10 games in 2014. With Gamble’s wizardry the team posted a 26-2 record with a 23-game win streak his first season, finishing No. 10 in the state. In 2016, the team won the Shore Conference Tournament for the first time in the school’s history, posting a 25-4 record. In 2017, the school won its second consecutive Shore Conference Tournament championship, posting a 24-6 record.

But Mater Dei was also in financial straits. “We had three different principals and three different ADs,” Gamble said. “They announced that the school was closing, then they kept it open.”

Home Turf

At the same time, Gamble heard from Marist High School in Bayonne.

“I really always wanted to coach at Marist,” Gamble said. “I was finally getting a chance to coach again in Hudson County.”

In his first year, Gamble turned around a team that was 10-16, posting a 20-7 record and a landing berth in the Hudson County Tournament championship game. In 2019-2020, the Royal Knights were 22-4 and returned to the county tourney title game.

At the end of the school year, Marist closed forever. Gamble was 56.

Down the Road

Enter Bayonne High School athletic director Mike Pierson.

“I always knew him as a classy individual,” Person said. He’s the kind of coach that can return us to some of the success we’ve had in the past.”

“I loved coming to Bayonne and playing pickup basketball all over the city,” Gamble said. “It’s a good basketball town. This will be the biggest challenge I’ve had.” Gamble’s decision 40 years ago to choose basketball over baseball is going to benefit Bayonne mightily over the next few years.

“Ben is going to work hard to keep as many kids in town and get kids to love to play the game,” Hurley said.

Come December, if there’s a basketball season, there will be a Hall of Fame celebrity in the stands.

“I’ll be there,” Hurley said. “I’ll be there with a Bayonne shirt on. No doubt.”—BLP