Art Monk Elected to College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2012
Art Monk Way is a path that leads to Glenn D. Loucks Field, as you enter White Plains High School from Bryant Avenue. Many people walked on Art Monk Way last week to gain access to the 45th Annual Glenn D. Loucks Memorial Track & Field Games.
The blacktop roadway leading to athletic fields at White Plains High School was dedicated to Art Monk, one of White Plains High School’s most celebrated athletes, in October 2010.
On Tuesday, May 15, Archie Manning, the chairman of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, announced that White Plains native James Arthur Monk was elected to the Football Bowl Subdivision College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2012.
“I was a little surprised by the news,” said Monk, a 1976 graduate of White Plains High School. “When these things come up, I never put myself in the picture as being a candidate.”
Monk attended Syracuse University from 1976-1979. He will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, along with 14 other players and three coaches, on Dec. 4. “Honestly, I don’t know how to express my feelings about this honor. Certainly, I am thrilled and very excited,” declared Monk.
Some of the other notables of college football being enshrined with Monk this year are: Ty Detmer, (Brigham Young ’88-91) Steve Bartkowski, (University of California ’72-74) Tommy Cramer (Rice University (’73-76), Jonathan Ogden (UCLA ’92-95), Dave Casper (Notre Dame ’71-73) and famed former NFL and College Football Head Coach Jimmy Johnson (Oklahoma State ’79-83 and University of Miami (‘84-88) and nine other players and two coaches.
Monk grew up in White Plains on Battle Avenue and lived above the Shiloh Gospel Chapel with his father Arthur, his mother Lela and his sister Barbara. Monk loved playing football even as a young child and played since his younger years with the Pop Warner Football Team in White Plains.
However, after a stint with the Tigers junior varsity football team in ninth grade, Monk decided to join the track team when he graduated to White Plains High School in 1973. In those years White Plains High School consisted of 10th-12th grades.
Monk played lineman on the Tigers football team. However, he projected that rigorous Track & Field events would help him condition his body, so he could play wide receiver like his childhood NFL idols, Otis Taylor, Charlie Taylor and Paul Warfield.
Monk became an outstanding high school track and field athlete. He ran the 330-yard intermediate hurdles and won the interscholastic championship. Monk high jumped 5 feet 10 inches and triple jumped 47 feet in high school. He also put the shot 53 feet when his team needed him. Monk was the state champion of the 120-yard hurdles his senior year at White Plains High School.
After conditioning his body by participating in track and field, Monk played running back and tight-end for the Tigers football team. He caught the eye of Syracuse University scouts when he ran for 105 yards in the championship game his senior year.
However, besides his superior athletic ability, Monk had a very good academic resume and maintained a positive attitude, which prompted his high school coaches to recommend him for a football scholarship to Syracuse.
Monk began college in 1976 and graduated from Syracuse in 1979, and everything that occurred in between those years led the White Plains native to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Monk played his coveted wide-receiver position at Syracuse. He won the Lambert Trophy as the top college football player in the Eastern United States as a freshman and senior at Syracuse.
The Tigers graduate gained 1,644 career receiving-yards in 35 games with the Orangemen and set a school record by averaging 47-receiving yards per game. Monk also recorded the greatest game by a receiver in Syracuse history, by catching 14 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns against Navy, on November 5, 1977. Monk was selected a First Team College Football All-American in 1979.
Former White Plains High School Athletic Director Nick Panero was Monk’s Track Coach in high school from 1973-76. Panero congratulated Monk on his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. “Art is very deserving of everything that he has achieved. He was a good student and he still is a great individual,” acknowledged Panero. “Art has not forgotten his roots, he still contributes the Art Monk Football Scholarship each year at White Plains High School.”
Monk, whose nickname is “Quiet Man”, went on to play in the NFL for the Washington Redskins, New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles and was inducted into the National Football League Hall of Fame in 2008.
Monk was also inducted into the White Plains High School Hall of Fame in 1996. He is a member of the Westchester County Sports Hall of Fame.
Monk is the second cousin to famed jazz pianist Thelonious Monk. When the street on the WPHS campus was renamed Art Monk Way in 2009, the school also retired his NFL number 81 at the school.
Each year through his Art Monk Foundation, Monk has an elegant trophy designed and awards it with a $1000 scholarship, to the Outstanding Graduating Football Player at White Plains High School.
Dan Woodard has known Monk for many years, including when he was a student at WPHS. Woodard is a former Principal at the school and taught in the district from 1961 to 1996. Woodard is presently the chairman of the Glenn D. Loucks Memorial Track & Field Games.
“Art Monk is the most giving athlete I have ever known. He gives back to White Plains High School every year in a scholarship and a beautifully designed trophy,” stated Woodward, who was overwhelmed with emotion.
“Furthermore, whenever Art comes back to the school to speak, he never charges the school for anything,” explained Woodard. “The least we could have done was renaming the street on campus after him, Art Monk Way.”
Therefore, is Art Monk Way just a path to Loucks Field at White Plains High School? Or a path to show the way to prosperity for some White Plains High School student and possibly a route to the NFL and the College Football Hall of Fame.
