Ex-Manhasset basketball star kills self

The Long Island basketball community struggled to come to grips Wednesday with the unexpected death of former Manhasset standout Tom Emma, who was one of the area's most prolific scorers ever.

A two-time All-Long Island player who once held the Nassau County scoring record, Emma jumped to his death from a Manhattan building on Tuesday, New York City police said. He was 49.

Police said relatives told them Emma had been depressed. Family members declined to comment.

"Tom was just a very polite young man," said Fritz Mueller, Manhasset's coach from 1953 to 1982. "Never had a bad word to say about anybody. And he just loved basketball, and he enjoyed being around everybody."

A 1979 Manhasset graduate, Emma set a Nassau record with 1,983 points in his career without the benefit of a three-point line. His record stood until 1991, when another two-time All-Long Island player, David Mascia of Lynbrook, broke it.

A 6-2 guard, Emma played four seasons at Duke, with coach Mike Krzyzewski naming him a captain for his senior year. He averaged 7.1 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 110 collegiate games.

"He was a good man and fine representative of Duke University," Krzyzewski said in a statement. "Our hearts go out to his family and friends. He will be missed."

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Southern Methodist University coach Matt Doherty, who grew up in East Meadow and played at Holy Trinity in Hicksville, recalled getting to know Emma during a visit to the Duke campus as a recruit. Emma, then a freshman at Duke, was given the task of showing the fellow Long Islander around campus.

Doherty ultimately chose rival North Carolina, which Emma did not hold against him. Doherty said they later became friends after college.

"He was always an upbeat, positive, friendly guy," Doherty said yesterday. "Here's a guy who was one of the best players to ever come out of Long Island and he could have been a stuck-up, snobby guy. But he was so down-to-earth, the nicest guy I've ever met."

Becoming the Nassau scoring champ didn't have much of an impact on Emma, Mueller said, and competitors from that era noticed that about him, as well.

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"As good as he was, with all the records he set in high school and all that, you would never know because he was so modest and so matter-of-fact about everything," said Iona coach Tim Cluess, who played against him in pickup games. "He was modest and quiet, just a gentle person. He wouldn't trash talk. He would just go out there and compete, and you had to respect him whether you played with him or against him."

Emma was selected 210th overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 1983 NBA draft but never played a game for them.

He founded Power Performance in 1991, a training service for athletes. Mueller said longtime NBA player Grant Hill, another Duke product, used Emma's training services.

"I was with Chris Mullin today and Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy, Mike Breen, a bunch of New Yorkers who are in town for the NBA Finals, and I shared the news with them about Tommy," Doherty said. "And jaws just dropped. They couldn't believe it."With John Valenti, Anthony M. DeStefano & Zachary R. Dowdy