Wildcat MKG's High School to Close

St. Pats closing 
but the memories would never go away, 
My old teammates are now so called brothers 
& always will be
 
--Michale Kidd Gilchrist via Twitter

With Enrollment Plunging, a New Jersey Powerhouse Will Close

This from the New York Times: 

The oldest parochial school in New Jersey, St. Patrick High School in Elizabeth, which earned a reputation as a basketball powerhouse, will shutter at the end of the school year, the Archdiocese of Newark said.

Despite a shrinking student body, St. Patrick became well known in recent years for producing a disproportionate number of Division I college players, several of whom went on to play in the N.B.A., including Samuel Dalembert of the Houston Rockets, Al Harrington of the Denver Nuggets and Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“It’s a great school that did a lot of great things for a lot of kids,” said the longtime coach Kevin Boyle, who led the team to a 26-1 record last season before leaving for Montverde Academy in Florida.

He added, “It’s very unfortunate, but what are you going to do?”

Enrollment at the school, a stocky, red-brick building hunkered in the seat of Union County’s troubled First Ward, plunged precipitously in recent years, said James Goodness, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark. In the last five years, it fell by more than 100, to 151 students. Only 20 freshmen were signed up for the fall of 2012, he added. To compensate, the archdiocese had given the school $100,000 subsidies each of the last four years....