| Year: | 2016 |
| Team: | Men's Basketball |
For Jay Crowley, one of the first 1,000-point scorers in Suffolk University men’s basketball history, putting the ball in the basket was as natural an act as slipping on his uniform and tying his sneakers.
As a 6-8, 185-pound shooting guard, he was a match-up nightmare for every opponent. He would shoot over smaller backcourt players and drive past less versatile big men any time he wanted – like Suffolk’s answer to Larry Bird.
During his three-year varsity career, Crowley scored 1,332 points, good enough for 10th place on the all-time list. As a junior, he enjoyed his most productive offensive season by averaging 27.6 points per game, the highest single-season mark in the history of the men’s or women’s program.
He also finished his career with the top scoring average ever at the University with 23.3 points per game, a remarkable feat considering that there was no three-point line at the time.
Crowley surpassed the coveted 1,000-point plateau in storybook fashion at the old Boston Garden – hitting a jump shot from the left wing in a Suffolk victory over Nasson College of Maine. Following his performance on the big stage, the Boston Celtics played host to the New York Knickerbockers.
“It was a lot of fun and a terrific feeling to accomplish what I did at the Garden in front of so many family members and friends,” he said. “It is something that you remember for the rest of your life.”
Crowley was named Most Valuable Player of the Babson Invitational Tournament in 1967 and helped lead Suffolk to three consecutive winning seasons. He was also chosen as a third team Small College All-American as a junior, and named All-New England in his junior and senior years.
Upon earning a tryout with the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA, Crowley went from the court to the classroom. Over a span of 40 years, he was a social studies teacher/department head, principal, and superintendent at Northeast Regional Vocational High School in Wakefield.
Crowley and his wife, Marilyn, have been married for 47 years. They live in North Reading and have two daughters, Darlene and Alannah, and two grandchildren, Mia, 5, and Jimmy, 3.