"WOJO" HOMECOMING

By Keith Mills

Two years after Hebron left Cardinal Gibbons, basketball ace Steve Wojciechowski arrived. "Wojo" played for the late Ray Mullis at Gibbons, where he was the Gatorade State Player of the Year in 1994, leading the Crusaders to the 1994 Catholic League championship. And, like Hebron, he is now coming home.

On Oct. 6, Wojciechowski will put on a basketball clinic for area high school and recreation coaches at the Leadership Through Athletics Center on Hollins Ferry Road in Baltimore County.

"We are very excited," said Dr. Tom Grace, who played on the great Gibbons teams of the mid-1970s with Norman Black, Mark Massamini and the Valderas brothers, Mark and Rob. "We watched Steve grow up and it is great that he would come back."

Wojciechowski grew up in Severna Park and played youth basketball on a team that included future Dunbar standout Norman Nolan. He exploded on the national prep scene in the summer of 1994. His smaller stature was offset by his natural leadership and an almost maniacal intensity and tenacity that wore down opponents and attracted the interest of both Dean Smith at North Carolina and Mike Krzyzewski at Duke.

In August of 1993 I received a phone call from Mike Dahlem, then an assistant to Mullis at Gibbons, who alerted me that Krzyzewski was at Gibbons to watch Wojciechowski’s soccer practice. Wojo was also an All-State soccer player at Gibbons and, sure enough, the school’s marquee read, "Welcome, Coach K.’"

Not only was Krzyzewski watching soccer practice, but so was Carolina assistant Phil Ford.

Of course, Wojciechowski picked Duke, where he was a two-time All-ACC selection and the national Defensive Player of the Year in 1998. He has been an assistant coach to Krzyzewski for the last eight years.

Now he’s coming home to take some bows and continue a series of clinics that began two years ago when Jay Wright of Villanova spoke to 125 area coaches. Last year, Maryland's Gary Williams spoke to another 120 coaches at the Leadership Through Athletics Center, which was built by Tom Grace and his two brothers Mike and Pat for athletes in the Lansdowne, Arbutus and Catonsville areas.

"We really want the clinics to take off," Tom Grace said. "We’ve been involved with basketball and coaching for a long time, and we’re real pleased that Stevie would take time out of his busy schedule to come home and help us out."

For more information, visit http://www.leadershipthroughathletics.org

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