Before He Fathered a Star Athlete . . .

As you can imagine, some of the players now starring for city leagues' teams are the sons of
guys who also starred. Since I'm ancient (smile), I wrote stories about them during their high
school careers.
We hope you enjoy this feature (a takeoff of Before They Drew X's and O's).
Would you like to see a story about someone who starred in the Public, Catholic or Inter-Ac
leagues and now has a son doing likewise (assuming I did one on him)? Send me a note at
tedtee307@yahoo.com.

Thanks,
Ted

This story concerns Mastbaum quarterback Leonhard "P.J."
McCray, who earned coaches' All-Public honors in 1995. His
son, LaPri McCray-Pace, is a junior basketball star at
Conwell-Egan. This story was written in the fall of 1994.
Best of luck to dad and son!

McCRAY'S PASSES GO A LONG WAY TOWARD LIFTING BAUM

by Ted Silary, Daily News Sports Writer

There are touchdown passes and then there are touchdown passes.

Some quarterbacks are content to complete a 5-yard flip to a halfback, then watch and cheer as the guy bobs and weaves through everyone for whatever number of yards en route to the end zone.

Not Leonhard "P.J." McCray. Yesterday, he was in no mood for cheapies as Jules Mastbaum Tech bested Benjamin Franklin, 38-14, in a Public League game at Abraham Lincoln.

His touchdown passes - all three of them - were absolute bombs.

McCray hit sophomore Ed Bowman for two scores of 43 yards. In between, he hit Antoine Brown for a score of 46 yards.

All three passes were caught just in front of, or just into, the end zone. All three were sparkin', even after traveling 50 to 55 yards in the air.

"After one of them," said Franklin coach Bob Kozlowski, "my sophomore d- back came over and said, 'What'd I do wrong? ' I said, 'You didn't tackle the receiver before the ball got there. ' He said, 'You can't do that. ' I said, 'You're right. But that was all you could have done. ' All three of those passes were perfect. "

Who is, you're wondering, this Leonhard "P.J." McCray?

Well, he's a 5-11, 170-pound junior, and he was making only his second varsity start at quarterback. It wasn't like he needed to launch the ball 20 times to get the job done, either. He threw only one other pass, thus finishing 3-for-4 for 132 yards.

It was the first time since Nov. 1, 1990, also against Franklin, that a Mastbaum quarterback had thrown three TD passes in one game. Doing the deed that day was first-team Daily News All-City quarterback Marc Baxter, who is now a receiver at Temple.

"Let the Public League know that there's a new sheriff in town, and that his name is P.J.," McCray said, laughing.

We'd been warned.

"On the field, P.J. is all business," coach John Murphy had commented. ''Off it, he's kind of flaky. He's impish, mischievous. "

After serving as Mastbaum 's punter and backup quarterback as a sophomore, McCray began this season as a messenger wide receiver. His first meaningful playing time at quarterback came two weeks ago, when Brown suffered a lower back injury during a 34-16 loss to Martin Luther King.

He passed 1-for-2 for 8 yards last week in a perfunctory drubbing of Thomas Edison, then wasn't sure where he stood as Brown's back improved.

"I thought I might be staying at quarterback because I wasn't doing any wide receiver plays in practice, but I didn't know," McCray said. "Then, coach Murphy's son (Jonerik, a volunteer assistant) told me, 'You'll be the QB. ' I like that better. I like throwing.

"Jonerik has been a big help to me. I always had a strong arm, but I used to throw sidearm. He's got me throwing overhand. He tells me, 'Just lay it out there. ' I'm confident in my receivers. They've got good speed and hands. I try to lead them so they can run under the ball. "

As last school year wound down, John Murphy and offensive coordinator Ralph Ricapito were unsure what to do about the quarterback position.

They took McCray, Brown and Bowman to a quarterback clinic at a high school near Lancaster and, according to Murphy, "Nobody there was a better QB than all three of our guys. They were just outstanding.

"Honestly, I was kind of pushing for Eddie to win the job (because he would have had it for three years). But Antoine has such good speed. With him at QB and Chafie Fields at tailback, hey, how do you defend that? But now, we have P.J. with the strong arm, we still have Chafie at tailback, we have Eddie at wideout and we move Antoine around between tailback, slotback and wideout; he helps us a lot of ways. "

Fields, still hobbled by a groin pull (and looking slightly tentative), yesterday rushed 17 times for 130 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore Kyle Shedrick was at fullback because Marcus Godfrey was nursing a tender left shoulder. Thus, McCray's aerial contributions were much appreciated.

Franklin's touchdowns came on David Carter's 37-yard fumble return and Jermaine Frasier's 13-yard run.

McCray lives near 29th and Diamond streets, in North Philadelphia. He enrolled at Mastbaum at the suggestion of a cousin who'd gone there, and had enjoyed it, and of Tyrell "Magic" Cromwell, a star basketball guard at Mastbaum in the mid-1980s who is something of a mentor to McCray.

P.J.'s chief inspiration, though, comes from memories of his mother. Marie Stephens was only 41 when she died last Nov. 29 of heart failure.

"Every time I walk on the field, I dedicate the game to her. I carry her spirit with me," McCray said. "She got to see me score my first varsity touchdown (against Overbrook), then about a month later she was gone.

"I've got two things in my locker - her picture and her obituary. They're always the last things I look at before I go to the field.

"My mom was a proud, independent woman. She never talked about her (health) problems. She kept them to herself, but sometimes we could see the pain on her face. "

McCray's father, Leonhard McCray Sr., is an iron worker and is better known as "Poppy. "

"That's how I got my nickname," young Leonhard said. "People used to call me 'Poppy Junior' after my father. They shortened it to P.J."