BASKETBALL PLAYER WHO DREAMED OF MAKING DIV. I TEAM VICTIM IN QUEEN'S CAR CRASH THAT KILLED FOUR

JALEEL FEURTADO

Former McClancy basketball player Jaleel Feurtado (in white) was one of the four people who was killed in a car accident in Astoria, Queens last week.

Jaleel Feurtado spent just one year at St. Petersburg College in Florida, playing basketball for coach Earnest Crumbley’s team during the 2012-2013 season.

In his short time there, Feurtado made an impression on Crumbley, who recalled the former guard as a “great character kid” who was a “good teammate” and a “workaholic.”

“If he knew he had something in his game that he had to work on, he worked on it,” Crumbley said.

Despite his fondness for Feurtado, Crumbley was the one who advised the East Elmhurst, Queens product to leave the two-year junior college program after one season.

“He was just a little homesick — that was the final thing that hurt him, I think,” Crumbley said. “We spoke last year and I told him I thought it would be best for him to get in a school closer to home so he could flourish as a person.”

By all accounts, Feurtado was on the road to doing just that before his life was cut short last Friday, when he was one of four people who were killed when the car they were riding in went off a rain-slicked road in Queens and landed in a creek. Feurtado — who was 20 — and three friends drowned. The driver of the car survived.

Crumbley was shocked when told of Feurtado’s death on Tuesday. He remembered the Monsignor McClancy graduate as a “good teammate” who “played hard.” He wore No. 1 on his jersey.

COURTESY OF ST. PETERSBURG COLLEGE

Longtime McClancy coach Don Kent had similar memories of Feurtado, who graduated from the East Elmhurst school in 2011. Feurtado took a traditional path through the McClancy basketball program, playing for the freshman and junior varsity teams there before spending two years on the varsity level.


Jaleel Feurtado played one season at St. Petersburg College in Florida after leaving St. Peter's University, where he once wanted to try out as a walk-on.

After graduation, Feurtado enrolled at St. Peter’s University in Jersey City and was hoping to become a walk-on player for the Peacocks, who compete in the MAAC. According to a member of that school’s athletic department, Feurtado was known by the team’s coaches but never had an official tryout. He headed to St. Petersburg after one year at St. Peter’s.

“He had a dream to play Division I basketball,” said Kent, who has been McClancy’s basketball coach for 32 years. “That’s why he went to St. Peter’s. I think he got hurt and that’s why he didn’t try out.”

Anthony Olszewski, the junior varsity coach and varsity assistant at McClancy, would see Feurtado often because he frequently returned to the school to use the gym and play basketball with former and current students.

Olszewski said Feurtado was distraught in October 2009 when he learned of the sudden death of former teammate Dominic Murray, who collapsed on the court at Farmingdale State College after suffering sudden cardiac arrest. Murray’s mother, Melinda — who after her son’s death fought for a bill to require schools to teach students how to perform CPR — is the one who called McClancy athletic director Gerry O’Riordan with news of Feurtado’s death.

Kent has now lost two former players within the past five years.

“Both kids had their lives ahead of them,” Kent said. “It’s sad that they never got to live a full life. It also puts the realization in, no matter what age you are, that life is very precious. You can be here today and gone tomorrow.”

Kent said one of Feurtado’s strengths was his build, comparing him to a football cornerback. During the summer of 2010, Kent went up to Syracuse with Feurtado for a tournament at the state fair and Feurtado made the all-star team. 



ROBERT STRIDIRON

A horrific car crash in Queens on Friday night took the lives of four young people, including former McClancy basketball standout Jaleel Feurtado.  

“I watched the game and he played very well,” Kent recalled. “In fact on a fast break he dunked the ball and people were amazed at his jumping ability.”

Feurtado, listed at 6-3, 170 pounds on the St. Petersburg roster, had an Instagram account featuring several videos and pictures of him dunking.

“He just got better and better from his freshman year,” Kent said. “He worked at his game.”

O’Riordan remembers Feurtado the same way the others do — as someone who loved to play basketball and did so whenever he could.

“Jaleel would come back to school, he would be in the gym playing pickup games and adult league basketball games,” O’Riordan said. “He was always very friendly and had a great smile on his face. It’s just a shock, someone so young.”

“He still had eligibility left,” Kent said. “He never got to finish what he wanted to do.”

Feurtado’s wake and funeral mass will be held at the Mount Horeb Baptist Church in Corona on Wednesday. The wake is from 4 p.m.-7 p.m. and the funeral will begin immediately after. The church is located at 10920 34th Avenue.


Author: JULIAN GARCIA