A t one time, girls sports were considered to be recreational and not to be taken too seriously.
Parochial schools weren’t always in the Shore Conference.
Thanks to the late Jack Rafter, high school girls’ sports are now on a par with the boys’, and parochial schools compete in the conference.
Rafter helped bring those changes about during his 45 years at Red Bank Catholic High School as a teacher and coach. Rafter, who passed away on June 6 at the age of 79, was considered the “Father of Girls Track.” He helped establish RBC’s great tradition in both cross country and track and field. “Jack was one of the first people to promote girls sports,” said RBC’s current athletic director, Joe Montano, adding that Rafter’s RBC girls track and field and cross country teams “broke through a lot of barriers.”
Rafter’s other big contribution was making RBC, Christian Brothers Academy, St. John Vianney and other parochial schools part of the Shore Conference.
“Jack asA.D. spearheaded the merger of the Catholic schools with the public,” said Montano. “He took them [Shore Conference] to court.”
It was in 1980 that the public and parochial schools merged. “That was a big thing for Red Bank Catholic,” said Montano, who pointed out that before the merger, the Shore parochial schools’ rivals were with schools like Bishop Ahr and St. Joseph of Metuchen.
Rafter served as president of the Shore Conference, the first parochialA.D. to do so, and that opened the door for Montano to serve as the conference’s president.
“He put a foot in the door,” said Montano.
Montano, an RBC alumnus, had Rafter as a teacher in history and current events. He knewRafter as teacher, coach and athletic director (1963-79) before he (Montano) became a coach (girls basketball) and A.D.
“Jack didn’t like to be told no,” noted Montano. “He had a strong desire to succeed and move teams forward.”
Montano was also impressed by the way Rafter retired from coaching in 1993. With all his success, he could have coasted for a few years, but that wouldn’t be him.
“He toldme, ‘I can’t do it the way it needs to be done,’ ” recalled Montano.
Montano remembers Rafter as “very charismatic” and someone who got along very well with the students.
“The kids loved him,” he explained. “He was a real important part of this school.”
Rafter was born in Newark, where he went to St. Benedict’s Prep, and then went on to Seton Hall University. He was inducted into the New Jersey Sports Hall of Fame and the RBC Hall of Fame.