RICK LEPRE

Rick Lepre, Brownsville's legendary baseball and softball coach, is part of the New York Prep Stars Hall of Fame Class of 2017.

Starring for the St. Philip Friars his senior year, the Bronx star fashioned a high school record that has never been equaled in state schoolboy history. Through his team's first 40 games, the sure-handed centerfielder batted a perfect 1.000 in 160 appearances at the plate.

He collected 125 hits, walked 25 times and sacrificed on 10 occasions. He led his Bronx Bombers into the state championship game against Rochester's Jesuit High. Playing at Shea Stadium, Lepre stroked four singles in four at bats, but he found his club down 9-8 when he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh with a runner on first and two outs.

After fouling off several pitches and working the count full, Lepre drove a fastball into the deepest regions of Shea Stadium. Ricky Henderson, the Rochester centerfielder and the greatest leadoff hitter in major league history, snagged the ball at the warning track, evoking memories of Willie Mays' over-the-shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series.

"It was the hardest ball I hit all season, yet it went for an out," reminisced Lepre, a bittersweet smile creasing his lined face as he listened to the blues on the deck at Cobbleheads. "Except for the first time I had sex with my third-cousin in her daddy's basement, I have never been more disappointed in all my life."