B
ob McKenney was driving to practice when he heard Bishop Grimes Jr./Sr. High School could close.
He was shocked. The Cobras’ athletic director parked his car and took a moment to collect himself. Once he gathered his emotions, McKenney walked onto Tony Smarrelli Court to begin drills with his varsity boys basketball team.
He hoped what he’d heard over the phone wasn’t true. But the thought of Bishop Grimes closing at the end of the school year lingered in his head throughout practice. With the news not yet confirmed, McKenney struggled to process his emotions, stepping out of the gym multiple times to stop himself from breaking down.
“It was devastating,” McKenney said. “I just don’t know how else to describe it.”
On Feb. 27, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse formally announced Bishop Grimes — a private Roman Catholic high school in East Syracuse — would close at the end of the 2024-25 school year. Over 59 years, the DeWitt-based high school’s class sizes dwindled from 200-plus students to 50, while it dealt with fiscal mismanagement and saw its declining infrastructure occupy valuable land.
Beginning in the 2025-26 academic year, the school will merge with rival Bishop Ludden, which alum Donna Ditota compared to the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox merging. The merger has left students, staff and alumni with more questions than answers.
But current and past athletes won’t remember Bishop Grimes as decaying. They’ll remember it as a tight-knit community where they forged relationships beyond the playing field. Additionally, Grimes molded students into Division I athletes, professional draft picks and general managers, leaving a lasting athletic history despite its closing.
“At the end of the day, we’ll always still be a community,” former Grimes lacrosse and soccer player Rhonee Shea Pal said. “I fully believe that (Bishop Grimes) made boys and girls into men and women.”
Bishop Grimes Jr./Sr. High School sits empty. The school will officially close at the end of the academic year in June and merge with rival Bishop Ludden. Leonardo Eriman | Asst. Video Editor
• • •
An early bright spot at Bishop Grimes came in the 1970s, when its girls’ basketball team featured several future Division I players, including Linda LeMura, Theresa Quilty, Joanne Lesnau and Ditota.
Then, not many women played D-I basketball. In 1974, Ann Meyers received the first-ever D-I women’s basketball scholarship.
The Cobras followed in her footsteps. Lesnau and LeMura — now Le Moyne’s President — signed with Niagara, Quilty starred at Syracuse and Ditota emerged as a standout center for St. Bonaventure. When Ditota graduated, she’d become the Bonnies’ all-time blocks leader.
“I just happened to be friends on my high school team with girls who were really interested in getting better,” Ditota said. “We played together all summer, so it helped (influence) my college career in that I was always somebody who was playing.”
Each summer, LeMura and Ditota biked to Henninger High School, meeting their teammates at Sunnycrest Park. There, head coach Barb Pfefferle made the Cobras repeatedly run up hills, oftentimes carrying basketballs to practice ball handling. After they finished, they played pickup games until they could barely stand.
Members of the team still tell tales of Pfefferle’s notorious toughness. If Bishop Grimes won, but it wasn’t by a satisfactory margin, she would make them scale flights of stairs in their uniforms as their parents waited outside. But they still grew to love her, Ditota said.
By LeMura’s senior year, she wasn’t ready to leave. Her last game with the Cobras was a playoff contest against Marcellus High School, where she fouled out in a narrow loss.
Afterward, Ditota consoled LeMura as she cried into her uniform. They sat together in a shared locker room while Liverpool High School was amid a playoff contest. When Liverpool entered the room hours later at halftime, the pair was still there. It was the final time they ever played together.
“I just felt sick,” LeMura said. “I knew how much I was going to miss that team.”
Bishop Grimes’ basketball team poses for a team photo in the 1970s. The team included future Division I players in Linda LeMura, Theresa Quilty, Joanne Lesnau and Donna Ditota. Courtesy of Linda LeMura
• • •
In 2015, the Bishop Grimes boys’ basketball team needed rejuvenation. After back-to-back losing seasons, the Cobras turned to someone who’d similarly endured difficulties.
After spending 19 years at Jamesville-DeWitt, accumulating over 500 wins and five state titles, unsubstantiated allegations of player mistreatment forced McKenney out in March 2015.
McKenney wasn’t sure if he’d reached his last stop in a storied 30-plus-year coaching career. But Grimes, where he already worked as a physical education teacher, gave him a new opportunity.
The season before his arrival, Grimes finished 9-11. In McKenney’s first campaign with the Cobras, he led them to a state Final Four appearance and their first sectional title in nearly a decade. Grimes finished below .500 in just one of McKenney’s 10 seasons at the helm.
Former players say his competitiveness is infectious, helping Grimes compete with larger schools on any given night. In 2022, though, he faced an opponent nobody could prepare for.
While walking through the halls, McKenney bumped his elbow. He was holding his computer, which knocked into his chest, uncovering an unusual bump in his breast. McKenney set up a mammogram in October, which revealed he had breast cancer.
The diagnosis was season-altering. But McKenney didn’t let it stop him. He missed just one day of class and coached every game.
“He could have easily said, ‘I’m not going to coach for the rest of the year, I’m battling cancer,’ and nobody would blame him for that,” former Grimes and current Le Moyne guard Deng Garang said. “But he saw it through because he wanted to be there for us.”
Though he’d occasionally forget instructions and sometimes tire easily, McKenney wasn’t deterred. His players were determined to reciprocate the effort.
“It made our problems on the court less worrisome,” Garang said. “Like, ‘I’m tired, but my coach is going through cancer, so I can fight through this.’”
McKenney, who’s served as Grimes’ athletic director since 2020, has instilled that resilience in every athlete. While his 600-plus career wins speak for themself, his love for his players stems far beyond the court.
That’s why the now-66-year-old coach who’s battled cancer twice won’t give up. Until he feels he has nothing left to give, he’ll offer his all. That’s just the McKenney way.
“You could sit around and pout and be miserable, or you pick yourself up,” McKenney said. “Hopefully that’s something those kids will take with them for the rest of their lives.”
Bishop Grimes Athletic Director Bob McKenney stands at the middle of the Cobras’ Tony Smarrelli Court. McKenney battled through two cancer treatments but still coached Bishop Grimes’ boys’ basketball team. Leonardo Eriman | Asst. Video Editor
• • •
When Jamie Cangemi entered Bishop Grimes in 1979, he did everything. He pitched. He played center field. He starred at shortstop. But he said he was never a “school guy.” Cangemi grew up loving baseball — that was about it.
Bishop Grimes changed that. He said he felt connected to his teachers, classmates and the nuns, but his goal to play D-I baseball remained. His coach, John King, emphasized how discipline translated to excellence in all aspects of life. Daily practices started as early as January.
The structure was initially challenging for Cangemi. But, by the time he graduated, he succeeded in the classroom while throwing seven no-hitters and notching a .450 batting average on the field.
Cangemi couldn’t have been the player he was without his team, especially his best friend Jeff Nesci. A year younger than Cangemi, Nesci held similar aspirations. While Nesci excelled in basketball along with baseball at Grimes, he and Cangemi starred on the diamond.
In Nesci’s three years on varsity, Bishop Grimes won two league titles. His senior year, the Cobras made a run in the state tournament before falling short of a title.
For Cangemi, each win was expected. When people doubted him, it motivated him even more, he said. In 1982, Bishop Grimes played rival Christian Brothers Academy in the first round of the playoffs. Cangemi’s friends at CBA claimed they’d rip him apart.
He instead tossed a no-hitter to push the Cobras onward. Those performances were only possible due to King’s standard of excellence.
“Work hard for what you want. That’s what our coaches always said. If you don’t work hard, you’ll never go anywhere,” Cangemi said.
As Cangemi attended Ithaca College, Nesci continued his legacy. He hit .594 with 15 home runs as a senior, putting a final touch on the two’s triumphant Grimes careers.
Decades later, Cangemi and Nesci were inducted into the Bishop Grimes Athletic Hall of Fame. Cangemi was eventually drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the seventh round of the 1986 MLB Draft. Meanwhile, Nesci went on to play baseball at Le Moyne.
“That legacy is gonna be strong. It will definitely be something that’ll be in the history books for Onondaga County and Upstate New York forever,” Nesci said.
Jamie Cangemi pitches for the Stockton Ports after being drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1986. Cangemi starred for Bishop Grimes in the early 1980s, throwing seven no-hitters. Courtesy of Jamie Cangemi
• • •
Bouncing around three different countries before his 12th birthday, Byan Mugushu never felt at home until he arrived at Bishop Grimes.
As a 1-year-old, Mugushu was forced to flee from his home country of Congo to Malawi due to the Second Congo War. He remained there until he was 11, when his family relocated to Syracuse after being granted refugee status.
Upon arriving in New York, he cycled through three schools, attending Grant Middle School, Lincoln Middle School and Henninger. But none of them were the right fit.
Soccer was the only constant in his life. So, upon choosing to transfer from Henninger to Grimes as a sophomore, he hoped to join its soccer team.
Since Mugushu switched schools without a coinciding change in residence, he sat out his sophomore year at Grimes due to a transfer rule. But he thrived as a junior, leading the team with 26 goals and 13 assists, propelling Grimes to the 2018 sectional semifinal against Beaver River.
Admittedly, it wasn’t Mugushu’s best game. He notched just one goal and no assists in a 4-2 loss to the Beavers, his lowest point total of the season. He promised his teammates he’d make up for it.
It didn’t look like Mugushu could follow through initially. After their 4-1 loss to Geneva High School, the Cobras started 2019 at 2-3. But led by Mugushu’s 39-goal season, Bishop Grimes won 15 straight games before its sectional final against Westmoreland-Oriskany High School.
Mugushu describes that day as a nightmare. After 90 minutes of play, the teams were deadlocked at 1-1. He’d been kept off the scoresheet, and the pressure weighed on him.
Off the field, Bishop Grimes gave Mugushu a renewed sense of faith. As he waited for the sudden-death overtime period, he knew exactly where to search for answers. Before he stepped back onto the field, he said a brief prayer to himself.
It was answered. Mugushu’s final shot snuck into the back of the net, sealing Grimes’ first-ever soccer sectional title. The medal hangs in his bedroom to this day.
“I got light blue and white in my heart,” Mugushu said. “I’m always gonna be a Cobra, no matter what.”
Byan Mugushu dribbles the ball down the field in one of Bishop Grimes’ soccer games. Mugushu led the Cobras to their first sectional championship in 2019 with a team-high 39 goals and the game-winner in the final. Courtesy of Byan Mugushu
• • •
The first person to put a basketball into Byron Perry’s hands was Tony Smarrelli. Perry was a child at H.W. Smith Elementary, where Smarrelli worked as a physical education teacher when he wasn’t coaching Bishop Grimes basketball.
Over the summer, Smarrelli ran a basketball camp through Grimes called Cobra Camp. He noticed Perry’s potential and convinced him to register in fourth grade. Perry obliged and utterly dominated.
Smarrelli quickly recognized the caliber of player he had. As he watched Perry score easily at all three levels, he looked to the other campers and told them they were witnessing Bishop Grimes’ next 1,000-point scorer.
Three years later, Perry had to stop going to Cobra Camp. None of the other kids wanted to guard him anymore.
As a freshman, Perry stayed on the bench while Smarrelli led Bishop Grimes to its second sectional title. He was ruled academically ineligible, so all he could do was watch as Smarrelli put in Chris Ignacio, his best friend.
It motivated Perry to take things more seriously, both on and off the court. His grades improved, and he got in the best shape of his life.
His work paid off. In his senior season, Perry validated Smarrelli’s claims, becoming Grimes’ second all-time 1,000-point scorer. While leading the Cobras to their third sectional title in a 68-52 win over Hamilton High School, everyone on the team knew their role.
“They knew, ‘OK, if (Byron) gets the ball, we’re gonna win or he’s gonna take a shot,’” Perry said. “And they accepted it.”
After becoming a JUCO All-American at SUNY Cobleskill, he moved to Atlanta, where he became a music producer. He’s since worked with legends like Eminem, Dr. Dre and Natalie Cole. But as he navigates an entirely different world from the one he grew up in, it’s impossible to forget where he came from.
“You have to be open-minded in this music business, and I think I got (99%) of that from Grimes,” Perry said. “I don’t think I would be where I’m at right now if it wasn’t because of Grimes.”
Byron Perry is featured in a newspaper clipping after scoring his 1,000th career point for Bishop Grimes. Perry’s dominance was rooted in his time at Bishop Grimes’ Cobra Camp. Courtesy of Byron Perry
• • •
In Bishop Grimes’ hallways, the Falgiatano last name has spanned decades. Starting with Charlie, his brother John, and eventually, his son Anthony, the Falgiatanos’ success now features five alumni and two current students.
When Anthony entered seventh grade in 2014, he was coached by Charlie on Grimes’ junior varsity boys’ basketball team. However, he often played a minimal bench role, averaging 12-13 minutes per game, he said.
After an injury playing basketball sidelined Anthony, Grimes introduced him to competitive golf, which he played at the D-I, II and III levels. Bishop Grimes basketball often made the sectionals during Anthony’s career, but the Cobras couldn’t compete against Class A-sized schools with their Class C size.
That didn’t matter on the golf course. Bishop Grimes proved it could hang with central New York’s best schools — some with 900 students — despite having just 40 to 50 students per class, Anthony said. Other schools fielded more talent, but the Cobras’ triumph stemmed from team chemistry.
Forty-minute bus rides to Port Byron and Weedsport allowed coach Pete Capponi and his team to fine-tune their game plan. It paid off, with Anthony setting program records while becoming a five-time all-league selection. In 2019, Bishop Grimes won the sectional title. Anthony remembers anxiously watching his final teammate finish the last hole at Pompey Club, unsure if Grimes had won.
“All of a sudden the last score (came) in and we’re like, ‘Holy sh*t, we’re gonna win,’” Anthony recalled. “There’s no better feeling, and you’re doing it with some of your best friends.”
Practice at the Links at Erie Village turned into launching golf balls in the inflatable dome at Turning Stone in Verona when it snowed. Hard-fought victories led to team dinners at Trapper’s Pizza Pub with coaches, teachers and friends.
Now, Anthony finds himself on the other side, substitute teaching and walking the same halls where his family’s legacy lives and where his journey began.
“I think the culture at Grimes really shows that by being good athletes, we became better people,” Anthony said. “Your paths go away, but you can always come back to Grimes.”
The Falgiatano family poses at Anthony’s basketball Senior Night in 2020. Anthony played both basketball and golf for Bishop Grimes, adding to his family’s legacy at the school. Courtesy of Anthony Falgiatano
• • •
Jason Smorol graduated from Bishop Grimes nearly 40 years ago. Now, as the general manager of the Triple-A Syracuse Mets, he’s surrounded by Cobra alumni daily.
Smorol attended Grimes in the mid-1980s, where he wrestled, played golf, ran track and played football. When Grimes’ varsity football team won its first and only sectional title in 1984, Smorol was on its junior-varsity squad.
But Smorol grew the most off the field. Grimes was a smaller school where everybody could be involved in everything. So, Smorol sang in the chorus and acted in school plays like The Wizard of Oz and Godspell. He still remembers enjoying Mr. Daly’s physics class and coming up with ridiculous cheers in Grimes’ student section, “The Cobra Pit,” during basketball games.
“The jocks were the nerds and the nerds were the jocks,” Smorol said. “We were all in choir, we were all in the plays, we all did sports and we all went to the dances. It really shaped who I am today.”
After Smorol graduated, he delved into sport management after receiving advice from a professor at SUNY Fredonia. That decision led to stints across Minor League Baseball before he returned to Syracuse in 2013 as the general manager of the then-Chiefs.
After 10 seasons back in Syracuse, he runs into familiar faces at NBT Bank Stadium on game days. He works with fellow Grimes alumnus. He sees his old principals in the stands. Former coaches are season ticket holders.
The Mets’ community involvement has helped Smorol reconnect with the community that shaped him. Smorol has returned to speak in Grimes’ sports management classes to show students and athletes the big leagues are achievable — even in their backyard of Syracuse.
Grimes will always be a cornerstone of Smorol’s development, he said. Even 38 years removed from graduation, he’s surrounded by reminders of high school daily at the ballpark. When Bishop Grimes is gone, he’ll still be engulfed in its memories.
“The Grimes lore will continue,” Smorol said. “We’ll look back and remember it, and we’ll be part of that group that gets to say that we went to Bishop Grimes.”
Syracuse Mets General Manager Jason Smorol stands on the field of the Mets’ NBT Bank Stadium. Smorol attended Bishop Grimes, where he acted in school plays and sang in the chorus. Courtesy of Jason Smorol
• • •
Sophia Hatton frequently traveled between Boca Raton, Florida, and her hometown of Syracuse. Simultaneously, she was enrolled at Laurel Springs School, an online private academy based in California.
Hatton’s childhood was shaped by her mother’s Russian heritage, where tennis players chase professional careers from an early age. She needed to start young, compete internationally and sign sustainable deals — which Hatton initially followed.
She spent the beginning of high school traveling to Mexico and Costa Rica, playing in tournaments from Thursday to Monday. But after deciding to pursue a college degree, Hatton enrolled at Bishop Grimes midway through her junior year.
Facing burnout and recognizing the lack of elite-level training in Syracuse, Hatton put her professional aspirations on hold. She took on mid-distance running to stay sharp for when tennis resumed.
Hatton quickly succeeded on the track, setting a school record in the 1500-meter race, a breakthrough that earned her a spot in the state qualifiers. She placed third, surpassing her previous personal record by 10 seconds, she said.
Her new sport prepared her for both tennis and for what would come after Bishop Grimes. As the once-No. 10 player in the class of 2020, Hatton was flooded with D-I offers before choosing Clemson.
As Bishop Grimes’ only current Power Four alumnus, Hatton has become a star with the Tigers, earning a winning record in singles through five years.
While Hatton’s time at Bishop Grimes was short, she recognizes its lasting impact on her career. After bouncing between countries and online classes, Grimes gave her a community and a true home.
“I really loved the people there. That was probably my favorite thing. (Bishop Grimes) was just such a tight-knit group,” Hatton said. “I think that’s its legacy.”
Sophia Hatton screams after recording a point for Clemson tennis. Hatton went to Bishop Grimes for her final two years of high school, where she took on mid-distance running alongside tennis. Courtesy of Clemson Athletics
• • •
Students, alumni and staff weren’t prepared for the news on Feb. 27. When the diocese confirmed the decision, it sent shockwaves through Syracuse.
“I felt like I got stabbed in the heart,” Anthony said.
“To this day, I still don’t believe it. It still doesn’t feel real,” Mugushu added.
After the initial shock settled, the real consequences began to sink in. With Bishop Ludden holding its own staff, teachers and coaches will have to fight to keep their jobs, students will scatter across new schools and alumni will mourn the erasure of their alma mater.
“There’s not a new direction for the two schools to merge together,” Smorol said. “I don’t know what the opportunities are for the staff. It’s not going to be an easy transition.”
“All our dreams and our good times, that’s gonna vanish into thin air,” Perry added.
But the community wasn’t ready to give up on Grimes. On the evening of Feb. 27, the girls’ basketball team took the court for its first-round sectional matchup in a packed house. It defeated Clinton 57-32 before eventually snagging a sectional championship. In what was otherwise the darkest period in Grimes history, the girls’ basketball team represented a necessary bright spot.
As the closure loomed in March, McKenney was similarly determined to help lift spirits. So, when asked to act in the student body’s musical rendition of “Mamma Mia,” he obliged. While performing on stage, several teachers and students collided. McKenney felt something was wrong with his foot and hobbled off the stage.
He visited the paramedic’s office soon after. As he laid on the table, nurses revealed he’d torn his Achilles tendon. All McKenney could do was laugh. He’d come too far to worry.
“Your life’s gonna have bad breaks,” McKenney said. “You have two choices when there’s a bad break, you go get depressed and be down and miserable, or you bounce back.”
A similar mantra has kept McKenney going through Grimes’ final days. As a child, his mom often told him, “‘God closes one door, but he always opens another.’” In his time at Grimes, he refined the saying to, “As long as you’re not looking behind you, you have to look forward.”
With two months until the school officially closes, McKenney still struggles to digest the news he heard on his way to practice. But in times of hardship, all he can do is keep looking forward — even with teary eyes.
“Sometimes crying is how you heal,” McKenney said. “There are gonna be a lot of tears before the year ends. And that’s okay. It’s part of moving forward.”
Collage by Leonardo Eriman
Published on May 1, 2025 at 1:45 am