By Jim Hague
In 2005, when David Cherry was a high school basketball player at Roselle Catholic - now a major power in New Jersey basketball - he truly believed he was a scholarship player. And Cherry had reasons to believe that he was.
After all, Cherry had a host of scholarship offers to choose from, from places like NCAA Division I schools like Marshall and Stony Brook and Division II schools like St. Michael’s of Vermont and New Jersey schools like Felician and Bloomfield.
Cherry also had a constant reminder that he was indeed a scholarship player - Rutgers-Newark head men’s basketball coach Joe Loughran.
“Coach Loughran would always come by and stick his head into the gym to see me and say, ‘Just in case you don’t get anything, you could always come to us at Rutgers-Newark,’” Cherry said.
“But he always told me that I was a scholarship player. He made sure to let me know that he was more than interested in me. He would always call me, just to check in. Coach Loughran was the first one to recruit me and he was there a lot from the beginning. He pursued me more than any other coach. He recruited me the hardest of anyone and paid me the most attention.”
At the time, Loughran truly believed that recruiting Cherry was a lost cause. After all, Loughran really couldn’t offer what the scholarship schools could.
“I was actively recruiting David throughout his senior year, but when he received the offers, I honestly didn’t think we had a shot,” Loughran said. “I knew he was thinking of the higher level and I understood that. I was definitely interested, but I didn’t want to be overbearing. I think he appreciated that I was there. But I knew getting someone like David meant a lot to our program.”
No question, Cherry recognized Loughran’s persistence.
“I liked his personality,” Cherry said. “He knew what he was talking about. He cared about me in general, not just basketball. He cared about where I was going, what I was going to do. It was a huge form of respect that I really appreciated.”
Cherry decided that he didn’t need the scholarship and the frills that came with it.
“I went to visit St. Michael’s in Vermont and didn’t like it,” Cherry said. “I went to the other schools and didn’t feel comfortable in those places either. There was one main reason why I decided to come here. It was Coach Loughran.”
It was a marriage made in basketball heaven. Cherry decided to forego the free ride and headed to Newark.
Cherry ended up having a splendid career with the Scarlet Raiders, amassing 1,176 points, which was seventh on the all-time R-N scoring list when he graduated. He also collected 580 rebounds, 187 assists, 107 steals and 51 blocked shots as one of the most diverse, well rounded performers in school history.
While Cherry was part of a great program at Roselle Catholic, he wasn’t exactly ready for the rough-and-tumble world of New Jersey Athletic Conference basketball.
“Going from high school to college is tough,” Cherry said. “I was a skinny 18-year-old kid trying to play against grown men like 23, 24 years old. I also played behind Jermont (Horton). He’s one of the best to ever play at Rutgers-Newark. It wasn’t t that I came in right away and played. I had to work hard for playing time.”
Cherry, who grew from 6-foot-3 to 6-foot-6 while attending Rutgers-Newark, knows how he got his chance to crack the Scarlet Raiders’ lineup.
“It’s definitely how I got into the starting lineup,” Cherry said. “I loved playing defense. I loved getting a steal and if I did, it was off to the races.”
Many a time those steals used to lead to acrobatic and athletic dunks. Loughran also utilized a defense, a trapping half-court approach that featured Cherry at the top of the trap, making it almost impossible for teams to throw over the long and lanky arms of Cherry.
“It was great,” Cherry said. “Each year I expanded my game. Freshman year, I was out there just to play defense. I took a lot of pride in defense. I always had to cover the other team’s best player. I believed that defense turns to offense.”
Cherry averaged only 4.3 points and 2.8 rebounds as a freshman. Cherry’s numbers improved to 12.6 points and 6.6 rebounds as a sophomore, then 12.7 points and 5.9 boards as a junior. As a senior, Cherry earned All-NJAC Second Team honors, leading the Scarlet Raiders to the conference title game for the very first time in school history.
“By the time my senior year came around, I played all four positions that I could,” said Cherry, noting that he played the point guard, the shooting guard, the small forward and power forward slots at one time during the season. “I just had to be a leader and do whatever the team needed me to do.”
Cherry’s slight flaw was his shooting touch, but before the senior year began in 2008, Cherry worked diligently with assistant coach Nick Leonardelli, now an assistant at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
“Every day, I was in the gym with Coach Nick,” Cherry said. “I became a pretty good spot-up 3-point shooter. I knew then that I could make those shots.”
Loughran appreciated all that Cherry did for his program.
“David Cherry was a huge part of our success every year,” Loughran said. “He’s one of the first recruits we had to make such an impact and do all the right things we wanted on the court. Back in that day, (NCAA) Division II was really not established, so we were very lucky to get someone of his caliber. They don’t fall through the cracks like that now. He had everything. For us to get someone like him was huge. He was very talented and did everything well for us.”
These days, Cherry is still in Newark. A graduate from R-N with a degree in finance, Cherry is a coordinator for the Newark Housing Authority.
“I supervise projects for those who qualify for Section 8 housing,” Cherry said. “I work with the project managers to make sure that our tenants are being taken care of properly. It’s definitely a good thing for me. I went to school in Newark and now I’m happy I’m helping the people of Newark on a daily basis.”
“He comes back every so often,” Loughran said. “He respected his time here. He worked out well for us and he’s a great inspiration for the kids in our program.”
Needless to say, Cherry applauds the decision he made 10 years ago to come to Rutgers-Newark.
“It was a great decision,” Cherry said. “I can’t complain at all.”
