Jon Rich is the coach of his alma mater Ida Crown Jewish Academy and played in Sarachek 1995. Junior Aiden Rich is playing this year in his first Sarachek.
In 1995, I had the privilege of participating in the YU Sarachek Tournament as a player for the Ida Crown Aces. We had a very talented team and won 3 of our 4 games but lost in the semifinals to the eventual champions, MTA (squandering a 4th quarter lead).
To this very day, my teammates and friends from that team still lament the loss and genuinely believe we were the most talented team to not win the tournament. However, despite the painful defeat, we had a great experience and it began a tradition of Ida Crown students attending the tournament nearly every subsequent year. In fact, sometimes it feels like the Sarachek tournament is all any of the players want to talk about at the beginning of each basketball season.
On a personal note, I represented Ida Crown on that 1995 team in the annual Sarachek three-point shoot-out (which sadly no longer takes place)…and somehow I won first place. In fact, I have a vague memory of Jon Bandler himself handing me the champion’s trophy (which was like 3 feet tall!)
Incredibly, 30 years later (wow) I have the privilege of not only returning to coach my alma mater at this tournament, but my very own son (Aiden Rich) is a junior on our team. The fact that something like this can even happen is pretty darn special and a testament to Yeshiva University’s incredible legacy in many notable areas, including investing in Jewish high school students from across North America. While I hope my son enjoys his experience on the court, even more so I look forward to him immersing himself in the entire extended weekend of networking and meeting students from other schools, experiencing a special shabbos in the hotel, and feeling the electric energy of Yeshiva University.