When the Bishop Brady varsity boys and girls basketball teams took the court Friday night, they did so wearing some fresh new gear.
We’re talking brand new Under Armour uniforms, travel suits and shooting shirts. Yeah, we told you it was fresh. That’s not a word we throw around lightly when it comes to athletic apparel.
While it may seem a little odd to get all this stuff midway through the season, there’s good reason for it. This wasn’t a case of the school’s order getting lost in the mail or someone putting the boxes in the back of a closet and forgetting to hand them out.
The new duds are actually because of yet another much needed and appreciated donation from the Frank Monahan Foundation. Yes folks, foundation president Marshall Crane and the board of directors are at it again, spending money to help improve the lives of young kids in the Concord area.
“(Bishop Brady) is where coach (Monahan) coached, so for us starting there was a no-brainer,” Crane said.
Just hours before the undefeated girls hosted Hollis/Brookline and the then-undefeated boys traveled to Manchester West, the players were presented with what will surely make them the best looking team in the state. There will probably be a few jealous teams along the way – and we can’t blame them.
The new home jerseys are white with two green stripes down each side and have Giants stitched across the chest in green lettering and yellow outline with the numbers looking the same. The shorts, also white, have the two green stripes to match. The road jerseys are dark green with white stripes on the side. Brady is spelled out across the front in yellow letters and white outline. The numbers also have the same look as the wording. And we can’t forget the Under Armour logo.
“These are awesome. It’s so cool they’re doing this,” said senior girls captain Sarah Thomas.
The travel suits are the same color as the away uniforms and the long sleeve zip-ups read Brady Basketball in yellow letters on the left chest area with a white stripe underneath across the entire front. The pants also so Brady Basketball on the left pant leg – in yellow – so no matter what the players are wearing, they’re representing.
We could tell you what the shooting shirts look like, but we also like to leave a little suspense, so you’re going to have to check out a game this season to find out.
“They look like a Division I basketball program,” Crane said.
When Crane played at Bishop Brady in the late 1990s, Monahan was his coach and got them sponsored by Converse.
“For us, we looked at it as the same thing Coach Monahan did for us,” Crane said. “We wanted to give back to the school the way coach did for us.”
So with 13 home and away uniforms for each team, along with shooting shirts and travel suits for each player, the grand total of the donation was over $8,000. And it greatly helps out first year athletic director Andy Lathrop. The plan was to maybe get new uniforms next year for the basketball programs, but they would be nothing as nice as these.
“Being a small school with a tight budget, it’s difficult to be able to go out and purchase new uniforms,” Lathrop said. “These are top of the line that we’d never be able to do without the generosity of the Monahan Foundation.”
Lathrop was first approached by Crane right around the time of tryouts, so you can see just how quickly the ball got rolling.
“It typically take months to get this done,” Lathrop said. “It makes my life a lot easier.”
The three captains for each team got a chance for input on the design side of things, and it’s almost like they knew who would be writing this story since they went with a style used by the University of Oregon. It’s only fitting, considering Bishop Brady’s colors match those of the Ducks.
“We picked all the colors. They had a book full of uniforms, so we looked through and picked these out,” said senior boys captain Jourdain Bell.
And with the varsity squads sporting new apparel, the junior varsity teams get the varsity hand me downs.
“It will be nice to pass on the old ones to the JV,” Thomas said.
As for the results on the court Friday night, the girls improved to 8-0 with a 20-point win, something Thomas had all but predicted. The boys on the other hand, down two starters, suffered their first loss of the year so they’ll have to wait for the first win in the new swag, but at least they looked good.
But this isn’t a one time donation by the Monahan Foundation. Next year, another local high school will receive the same upgrade, but in their school colors of course. The year after that, a different area high school will be fitted for new stuff.
“This will be an ongoing program and it’s obviously a huge commitment money wise for us,” Crane said. “But for the kids this is an incredible thing.”
Then for the 2017-18 season, Bishop Brady’s basketball gear will be freshened up. We could keep going but you see the pattern here.
“There’s a lot of teams that need to be upgraded and now I don’t have to worry about basketball,” Lathrop said.
For more on the Frank Monahan Foundation, visit frankmonahanfoundation.org. And to see the new unis live and in person, go check out a Bishop Brady game this year. What else do you have to do on a cold winter’s night?
