COVE R STORY
The commitment to cura
personalis, the care of
each individual student,
is at the heart of our
mission at Fordham Prep.
For young men seeking
to join our community,
our athletics program
is often a distinguishing
feature of why they want to spend their next four
years as a Ram. With 18 sports, 41 teams, and over
40 city and state championships in the Catholic High
School Athletic Association since 2010, our program
continues to challenge and inspire hundreds each year.
Our athletics program is an integral part of the total
education and growth of our students, promoting
discipline and teamwork, valuing the diversity of
teammates and competitors, and fostering a true
spirit of sportsmanship. The athletic field is a space
where character and companionship can be revealed,
challenged, and witnessed to our wider community.
In this issue of Ramview, you will encounter the
stories of our alumni who exemplify the virtues of
athletics at Fordham Prep and have carried them
into competition. Their formation as student-athletes
deepened during their time at the Prep, where they
learned from coaches and teachers what it means
to be young men of humility, integrity, and respect
on and off the field. May their example inspire our
current and future Rams to seek excellence in all
things so that their athletic gifts may be placed at
the service of others and ultimately of God. AMDG!
WITH A RAM FOR VICTORY:
How Prep athletes excel
on and off the field
Joseph A. Petriello, PhD ’98
Principal
REUNION CUP
CHALLENGE
COME BACK, GIVE BACK!
The Countdown to Reunion 2020 is on, and that means the Reunion Cup Challenge
is on! The Reunion Cup recognizes the class with the most attendance at Reunion,
and The Maroon Cup is awarded to the class with the highest percentage of giving.
Each Reunion Class is working to build attendance at Reunion and to encourage
as many of their classmates as possible to give a gift to the Prep. Classes of 1960,
1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015, it’s your turn!
The Reunion 2019 winning classes—1944 and 1969—have passed the torch (and the
challenge) on to you
Whoever claims the cups this year will have their class year engraved on the
cups, and will have a winner’s gift waiting when they sit down to dinner. Make the
commitment today to Come Back, and to Give Back.
Any gift you make to the Prep from now until your Reunion counts towards your
Reunion Class Gift. For more information about Reunion, to sign up, and to make
you class gift, visit fordhamprep.org/reunion.
By Sean Gregory ’94,
Senior Writer, covering sports,
Time Magazine and TIME.com
and an Adjunct professor
at Columbia University
Graduate School of Journalism
When Ryan Meara ’08 was a sophomore
starting goalkeeper for the Fordham Prep
soccer team, he soared for a save. An
opposing player knocked into him, sending
Meara’s head toward the rock-strewn
sur face on Allerton Avenue, where the Prep
played home games at the time. Meara
suffered a concussion that kept him out of
action for weeks. The Rams, however, kept
winning with his replacement, a junior, in
goal. So when Meara was cleared to play
as the Archdiocesan playoffs kicked off,
he figured he’d remain on the sidelines.
Why mess with success?
Plus, he was only a sophomore. Meara
was certain Prep coach Peter McNamara
would roll with the more veteran player.
But McNamara had a different idea. “We
all saw with Ryan that we had a future
star,” says McNamara, the Prep’s head
varsity soccer coach since 1991. “The
defense didn’t have to be so anxious
with Ryan behind them. He owned the
18-yard-box.” So McNamara reinstated
the sophomore as soon as he was
healthy. His replacement wasn’t thrilled,
but the players rallied around the lanky
kid from Crestwood. The Rams won the
Archdiocesan title that year -- and the next
two years -- with Meara in goal. Fordham
reached the state finals in Meara’s
sophomore and junior seasons, and
Meara capped off his senior season with
a CHSAA city championship.
SPRING 2020
15