Ryan's Zeglinski picks Hartford

For Joe Zeglinski, despair has yielded to walking on air.

Zeglinski, a two-sport franchise at Archbishop Ryan High, has signed to play basketball at Hartford University, only 7 months after shredding his right knee in a football game.

"I never thought something like this would happen," Zeglinski said. "It tells you a lot about Hartford that they're willing to do this, and that they have this much faith in my athletic ability."

The 5-11, 185-pound Zeglinski is the only athlete in city history to rush for 3,000 yards and top 1,000 basketball points.

He was injured Sept. 30 while making a cut, with no contact involved, in a game against St. Joseph's Prep. That was beyond eerie, because his older brother, Zack, then a senior at Penn Charter, injured the same knee in the same manner 13 months earlier. Only difference: It occurred in practice.

Joe fiercely attacked rehabilitation and made it back for Ryan's final four basketball games, raising his career scoring total to exactly 1,300. His career rushing total was 3,289.

Joe's younger brother, Sammy, a junior at Penn Charter, already has committed to play basketball at Virginia. Joe was given a walk-on invitation for Cavaliers basketball, with the idea he could perhaps switch to football as a soph.

Also, Temple wanted to make Joe a preferred football walk-on.

"I visited both places and liked them a lot," he said. "But getting a scholarship, that's a big difference."

Hartford's new coach is Dan Leibovitz, the former Temple assistant. One of his aides is John Gallagher, most recently of Lafayette.

"Before coach Leibovitz got the job up there, my dad [John] got a call from coach Gallagher," Joe said. "He said we should hang on and not make any decisions because 'something could be happening' with Hartford.

"When coach Leibovitz did get the job, I was the first guy he offered. I was really excited. The first guy they wound up signing was a 7-foot Californian, from Sweden, but the call to me was first. The day after he got the job. That meant a lot.

"I visited Hartford last weekend. I like it. It's a good fit. I'm looking to go up there and do good things. To win some championships and be part of something really nice."

So, how's Sammy taking all this?

"He's not too mad," Joe said, dryly.

8:40 AM - May. 5, 2006 - post comment