Five New Members Inducted into the Stepinac Hardwood Club
The Stepinac High School basketball program held its 2012 Hardwood Club Dinner on Thursday, July 19. The Crusaders anointed five new members into the Stepinac Basketball Hall of Fame at the event.
The 2012 Stepinac Hardwood Club inductees included Tony Taylor (’08), Kevin Doherty (’74), Tim Cohane (’60) and the 1981-’82 Stepinac basketball team. Also inducted was longtime league president of the Westchester Catholic Athletic Association Bud Tolomer, who received a Distinguished Service Award.
Taylor, 21 years old, is the youngest member inducted into the Stepinac Hardwood Club. “Tony is actually the first college-scholarship player that I had through high school who graduated from college. I am very proud of him,” declared Stepinac Head Coach Tim Philp, who started coaching varsity basketball at Stepinac in 2004.
“Tony has meant a lot to me and to the culture of the Stepinac basketball program,” continued Philp. “It is because of players like Tony, Melquan (Bolding) and Conroy (Baltimore) that we are in Class-AA today.”
Taylor, a Sleepy Hollow native, is the all-time leading scorer at Stepinac with 1,473 points. Taylor still holds the scoring record at the Slam Dunk Tournament with 54 points in a game scored in 2006, which he achieved while breaking his own record the previous year of 32 points scored in a game.
Taylor also holds the record for most foul shots made in the Slam Dunk Tournament, shooting 14 for 14 in 2006. Taylor was the leading scorer in Westchester high school basketball and the entire Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) his senior year, averaging 29.3 points per game. Taylor also made a remarkable 168 three-point shots during his two and half years playing varsity basketball at Stepinac. He excelled academically at Stepinac, attaining Honor Roll status every year.
