Garden City's Michael Berkery named Jay Fiedler Top Scholar Athlete

As impressive as Michael Berkery has been on the football field the last two years, his excellence in the classroom is just as admirable, if not more.

Berkery maintains a 99.43 weighted GPA while taking eight AP/IB classes. He scored 1,460 on the SAT and is a member of the National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society. He also participates in Garden City’s peer educators and miracle clubs, in which he talks with underclassmen and middle schoolers about the dangers of drug and alcohol use, as well as mental health awareness.

The senior running back/defensive back won the 2023 Newsday Thorp Award, given annually to Nassau’s most outstanding player, and was a finalist for the award this season. He is also a youth football clinic coach and is committed to Villanova for lacrosse.

Berkery was honored for all of his efforts at the Nassau Football Coaches Awards Dinner at the Crest Hollow Country Club Monday night when he was named the Jay Fiedler Top Scholar Athlete as part of the Golden 11 selected by the National Foundation Football Hall of Fame’s Nassau County chapter.

“Garden City has had some guys that were nominated for this award. Brendan Staub won it in 2021 and Matt Kephart was nominated a year ago,” Berkery said. “Those are guys that have great accolades for football and lacrosse and also did insanely well academically. I’m proud to be within that group of guys that can manage their time wisely by being an athlete that dominates on the field and a student that also dominates in the classroom. It was great to be up there with the rest of the Golden 11 and represent my school like that.”

The Golden 11 are Plainedge wide receiver/defensive end Alec Anderson, Oceanside linebacker/tight end Dylan Bender, Cold Spring Harbor quarterback/linebacker Sam Bruno, Hewlett quarterback/safety/punter Matthew DeCicco, Long Beach running back/linebacker Wyatt Katzen, Farmingdale linebacker Rocco Martillotti, Manhasset quarterback/defensive back/kicker Kyle Melkonian, East Meadow tight end/linebacker Ryan Michel, Port Washington running back Christian Sarchese, Massapequa running back/defensive back Tyler Villalta, and Syosset offensive lineman/linebacker Conrad Zheng.

“They’re some of the best football players on Long Island and they’re the best students,” said Frank Luisi, the director of the Nassau County chapter. “They make a great commitment to do both. Amongst them, they’ve taken 76 AP and IB classes. Of the 12 kids, 10 of them scored over 1,300 on the SAT and 10 of them have a GPA of 96 or better.”

Berkery rushed for 1,532 yards and 29 touchdowns this season after totaling 1,466 all-purpose yards and 23 scores last year. He led Garden City to Long Island titles each year.

“He’s statistically going to be one of the best offensive players we've had,” Garden City coach Dave Ettinger said. “Just an outstanding two-way football player that can kind of do a little bit of everything. He's going to be sorely missed, for sure.

“He’s competitive in everything that he does. Obviously, competitive on the athletic field and super competitive in the classroom as well.”

Outside of the classroom, Berkery dedicates much of his time to raising awareness for mental health through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

“I have a family member that attempted suicide a couple years ago,” Berkery said. “Me and my family have been doing blood drives and track walks in order to raise money for the foundation. We’re just trying to get everyone more aware of this concept of mental health that’s kind of new to our society.”

Berkery is the true embodiment of the upstanding character, academic excellence and athletic achievement that the Fiedler Award represents.

“The most important thing is their character and their sportsmanship,” Luisi said of Berkery and the Golden 11. “All 12 of them are captains. They’re all first-class people. We want people to know not just about their greatness on the field, but their goodness as people.”

With Ben Dickson