By: Bob Nuse
Freddy Young is like the guy at the beach who gets sand kicked in his face, then turns out to be the toughest guy out there.
For years, the Princeton High graduate played in the Princeton Recreation Men’s Summer Basketball League. In eight of the first 11 years of the league, Young was part of a championship team.
After four years away from the league, he tried to get back last year. But when he showed up at Community Park, Young found out there wasn’t a market for a guy who was a proven winner on his home court.
"What really got me, was last year I came down here and tried to come out of retirement," said Young, who is back in the league this year with his own team, Tee-2-Green. "I went to every team and asked them if I could play with them. And they all told me I was too old. A couple teams had all their players. Some of the other teams didn’t have enough players, but they still wouldn’t let me play.
"I went out and got a bunch of guys I know from the Hamilton league and a bunch of guys I’ve played with in the past, and here we are. The good thing about it is, I’ll be 40 in November and I can still run with these guys."
Young dusted off the sand and has come back to Princeton with a team that looks like it will be in the hunt for a league championship. Tee-2-Green opened the season Wednesday night with a 49-38 win over Dr. Palmer, as Young scored 10 points in his return to the league.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Young made his return to the CP courts with a win, since that’s all he and his teammates did until he stopped playing four years ago.
"My team when we started was My-T-Sharp," Young said. "We won the league a lot the first eight or nine years. We had different sponsor names. But then my son (Freddy Jr.) was born and with him being born and the job that I have, I just didn’t have time to play. I needed to spend time with my family. Now he’s old enough to come out and watch himself, so now I can come back and play.
"It felt good. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work out today."
Young works as a behavioral assistant with the Mercer County Youth Advocate Program. He also works part time at the Hamilton YMCA as a fitness instructor and at Gold’s Gym in Lawrenceville as part of the performance training staff. So there was no doubt Young was fit enough to play, and as he showed on Wednesday night, he’s certainly not too old.
"I’ll stay involved with athletics as long as I can," said Young, who played college basketball at Mercer County Community College and Wilmington College. "I have a 5-year-old that is coming up and I need to be healthy enough to help and show him.
"I’m happy to be back, and I am in good shape. I’m not sore or anything. I scored a few points and we won, so it was a good night. My goal is to be the new team and win, just because no one would pick me up last year."
Now, Young has gotten together a talented group of players in hopes of making a run at another league title. Some of the players are older than the league average, but they’re players who know a thing or two about that it takes to win in the Princeton League.
"I got Dave (Johnson) to come out and coach," Young said. "Sean Gillette played with us at Tiger’s Tale. Wade Hall played with us. They’re all guys that other teams thought were too old to play for them."
So, after five years away, Young is back playing in a league that he helped get started. It kept moving along while he was gone, and now he’s back hoping to make a run at another title.
"I’m not surprised the league is still going, because none of the other leagues except the 6-foot-2 and Under League are left," said Young, who years ago nearly made the roster of the Trenton Shooting Stars semi-pro basketball team. "This is the league everybody talks about in the winter time. People keep saying they want to get into the Princeton Summer League. Now we’re back in it and we want to win it."
In the win on Wednesday, Reggie Wright led the scoring with 25 points. Gyl Vaught and Pierre Downing each had 11 points for Dr. Palmer.
In other games on Wednesday, Derick Grant made his season debut for Koehler & Company and poured in 20 points to help seal the win, 60-57. Will Rogers added 10 points, all in the second half and overtime periods as Koehler & Company shocked 2005 league champion George’s Roasters & Ribs. Scott Findlay paced George’s with 17 points, while teammate Mark Aziz added eight points. Chris Petrie scored 12 points to lead Coldwell Banker to a 41-29 win over Cool Runnings. Chris Edwards added eight points for the winners, while Derrick Brown paced Cool Runnings with eight points.
In opening night action on Monday, defending league champs Where2Ball.com opened the season with a smooth 53-41 win over newcomers Koehler & Company. Shahid Abdul-Karim led Where2Ball.com with 14 points, while teammates Alex Jerido and Kevin Holden dropped in nine points each. Wanny Carter led all scorers with 16 points for Koehler & Company.
Toussaint Davis scored 17 points to lead Cool Runnings past PrincetonYouth Sports, 49-45. Derrick Brown netted 12 points for Cool Runnings. Joe Rogers (13) and Michael Douglas (10) led the way for PYS.
Nick Wilson scored 17 points and Vernon Hicks added 16 to lead Mercedes to a hard-fought 55-51 win over Coldwell Banker. Edwards scored 14 for Coldwell Banker. Petrie added 14 in a losing effort.

