Baldwin honors late girls basketball coach Anthony Bolden with benefit tournament
Inside the huddle with Baldwin girls basketball coach Tom Catapano (middle) and his team against Elmont at the Anthony Bolden Classic on December 2. The event was to honor former assistant coach Anthony Bolden, who died from complications with pulmonary fibrosis on September 7, 2021 at age 40. A pixelated picture of Bolden is in the background made by a Baldwin middle school class project. Credit: Handout
It was exactly the type of day Anthony Bolden lived for.
Baldwin hosted its first Anthony Bolden Classic, which featured four varsity girls basketball games at Baldwin High School on Dec. 2.
Bolden, who played football and basketball at Baldwin, was a beloved assistant coach on the Bruins varsity girls basketball team before passing away at age 40 on Sept. 7, 2021, from complications with pulmonary fibrosis.
Head coach Tom Catapano knew he wanted to put a day of basketball together in Bolden’s honor. And the girls who played for Bolden know that’s exactly the environment he would have loved.
“No one in the program will ever forget him,” Baldwin senior guard Renelle Grannum said. “He’s not that type of guy that you can just forget. Playing for him that day was honestly a special thing and just the energy from the crowd and knowing everyone was there for him and to honor him, it was just a great day overall.”
Baldwin defeated Elmont, 74-34, in the final game of four contests.
“I definitely think he was smiling down on us that day and seeing what his legacy was able to accomplish with all those people being there for him,” Catapano said. “It was just a day to celebrate him and not only what he meant to the basketball program, but to Baldwin and most importantly the people that he worked with and molded and mentored over the course of his whole life.”
Garden City defeated Freeport, 39-33, Lindenhurst defeated Calhoun, 52-33, and Wantagh defeated Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK, 45-42, in the other three games.
Catapano said the event helped raise money toward the Anthony Bolden scholarship, which is given out annually at Baldwin’s senior banquet. Catapano said he plans to run the Anthony Bolden Classic annually on the first Saturday in December.
“Anthony had a gift,” Catapano said. “He was a phenomenal athlete but more importantly, he could connect to young people and he was a mentor and a role model.”
“He was just an amazing guy,” Grannum said. “You could never be mad at him and he was just that type of coach, that type of person.
"When I first started playing under him, I was in seventh grade and I’m a senior now and he treated everyone the same no matter what grade you were in. He was coaching everyone the same, giving everyone the same advice no matter how old you were. He saw potential in all of us. He’ll never be forgotten.”
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