‘These Guys Really Cared’

The Final Installment Of 50-Year Milestones Looks At The Resurrection Of St. Benedict’s Prep From The Perspective Of Students Who Were There.

When Myles Crumbley ’76 was applying to high schools in the fall of 1971, St. Benedict’s Prep was at the top of his list. He was elated to receive an acceptance, however, the School announced its closure a few weeks later. “It was such a heart break,” said Mr. Crumbley who matriculated to Essex Catholic High School. During his freshman year,the monks of Newark Abbey decided to start a new educational venture at St. Benedict’s, but Mr. Crumbley wouldn’t learn about it until sophomore year. He transferred to Benedict’s junior year, the second year of the School’s operation.

From the beginning, Anthony Badger ’77 and Tom Leahy ’77 knew there was a place for them at The Hive. Mr. Leahy, Benedict’s long- serving Director of Athletics, practically grew up on the Property having attended the matches and games of his older brother, Fr. Edwin Leahy, O.S.B. ’63. “The monks always talk about the 1973 re-opening as a new venture,” Mr. Leahy said. “But it was always St. Benedict’s to me. When the monks said they were opening a school, I was going to St. Benedict’s Prep.”

Mr. Badger lived in Newark and had “not a clue” about St. Benedict’s or its history in the city. He attended Project Link, a school founded by the Sisters of St. Dominic, Caldwell shortly after the civil unrest that devastated Newark in 1967. He also played CYO basketball in Shanley Gymnasium. In the winter of 1973, Fr. Edwin asked Mr. Badger and his teammates if they’d like to attend St. Benedict’s.

The freshman class was small, about 25 students. “We were very close,” Mr. Leahy recalled. “We had no choice. We were together all the time.” Students understood they were part of a startup school. “It seemed like we were trying to figure it out as we went along,” Mr. Badger remembered. Mr. Crumbley agreed, describing Fr. Edwin, the monks and faculty as often, “Flying by the seat of their pants.”

The Benedict’s pillars of community, student leadership, counseling and experiential education may have been in its infancy, but Gray Bees of this era knew they were a part of something special. “There were juniors that first year who were freshmen when the School closed,” Mr. Leahy stated. “They’d retained the tradition of ‘Benedict’s Hates a Quitter.’ The old traditions of grit and toughness were passed down from the beginning.”

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It wasn’t Newark’s best days. Fr. Al, Fr. Phil and Fr. Ed could have packed it in. They saw a need and they heard the call.

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“Fr. Declan [Cuniff, O.S.B.] would tell us all the time, ‘You are Benedict’s men,’” recalled Mr. Badger. “That resonated with me. It’s a powerful feeling that I’m still drawn to.” Decades later, Mr. Badger who volunteered to coach boy’s freshman basketball after retiring, heard Fr. Edwin tell Gray Bees at Convocation, ‘Why are these guys trying to help me?’” The statement brought him back to 1973 and the realization of how deep the commitment to kids from in and around Newark went.

“These guys really cared,” is something Mr. Crumbley says he felt from the start. “Otherwise, the monks wouldn’t have attempted to do what they did. It wasn’t Newark’s best days. Fr. Al, Fr. Phil and Fr. Ed could have packed it in. They saw a need and they heard the call. I’m a better man for it.”