Major props, TD.
It's good to see people giving back after they've made it. The basketball community needs more positive guys like this.

You would think Healy could spread some of his Journal Square "vision" over here.

Bunch of ass-wipes running this place....

Ball back in his court
Ex-NBA star is pitching in to fix park named for him

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
By TOM SHORTELL
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

As a youth, Terry Dehere would spend hours playing basketball on the barren court across from his house on Garfield Avenue in Jersey City.

Neighborhood kids would go there to work out their frustrations.

"This was everything. This was therapy," said Dehere, the former NBA star and St. Anthony's High School stand-out who also remains Seton Hall's all-time points leader.

His love of Jersey City and the memories from the court led Dehere in 1994 to donate $75,000 to renovate the park.

But 14 years later, the park has become a haven for crime and drugs, Dehere said.

That's why he's using his own money to fix it up again.

"I never dreamed it would become an eyesore," Dehere said about the park named in his honor. "It (the renovations) was long overdue."

A new court surface, bleachers, basketball hoops, lighting and garbage cans will be installed, said Dehere, who is also an elected school board member, a builder of affordable housing, and owner of a bar/restaurant in Journal Square, Sanai's.

A retention wall will also be built on the hill behind the court so rainwater and dirt won't pool on the court, and bids for a new mural will be put out next week, he said.

Dehere, 37, would not say how much he is donating for the court, but said equipment alone will cost more than $20,000. "If you take care of something, people tend to respect it more," he said.

The city had not been able to upgrade the court since Dehere's donation in 1994, he said.

When children would ask him if the court would be fixed up, Dehere would have to talk about politics and process. "I got tired of not having the right answers," he said.

He thanked Councilman Peter Brennan for his work in getting the renovations moving. "He gave the project legs," Dehere said.

Dehere is planning a basketball tournament for the court for Independence Day next summer, with a grand prize of $5,000 to the winning team. He hopes to have 10 teams representing cities in the region involved.

"I want to get the excitement back into basketball in Jersey City," he said.