By Jim Hague
Fateen Belfield made a critical mistake when he was 20 years old – and unfortunately he paid a very costly price.
But that error didn’t totally ruin Belfield, as he recovered enough to become a successful college basketball player, one who will receive his degree in sociology this semester from Rutgers-Newark.
Belfield never played high school basketball at Irvington High, where he attended more than a decade ago. In fact, Belfield never graduated from Irvington.
“I left high school early when my mom got sick,” Belfield said.
Belfield worked at a supermarket stocking shelves and at a local meat distributor while he played AAU basketball.
“I was trying to get to Essex County College,” Belfield said. “I had people who told me that maybe I could get a scholarship.”
One night, Belfield was with a group of friends in a car in Irvington.
“We got pulled over and it turned out that the car had been carjacked,” Belfield said. “I didn’t know. Everyone ran, but I figured that there was no need to run. I was just hanging out with friends. I had no idea that the car had been carjacked.”
Belfield was arrested for the first and only time in his life.
“They (the Essex County Prosecutors’ office) told me that I had to tell on the people in the car or do the time,” Belfield said. “I wasn’t going to tell on anyone. It’s just a code I live by. I figured that my family would be in danger if I told.”
So Belfield had to face the serious charges that came with carjacking. He was sentenced to seven years.
“It felt like there was a hole in my life,” Belfield said.
Belfield was sent to the Garden State Youth Correction facility in Bordentown, N.J.
“I realized that I put myself in that situation,” Belfield said. “It was a stupid decision. I knew that I was a wasted talent. Before I got arrested, I was getting recruited by colleges. I had a lot of good schools looking at me. I got arrested that summer and it was over.”
Belfield tried to make the most of the time that he was incarcerated.
“I took two college courses,” said Belfield, who had already secured his high school General Educational Development (GED). “I played on a basketball team there. I worked with others there and helped them get their GEDs. I was like a teacher’s aide.”
Seven years later, Belfield was paroled from prison.
“When I got out, I got a job at Prudential Center working in housekeeping and as an usher,” Belfield said. “I also started to play in summer leagues.”
Belfield enrolled at Essex County College, where he totally turned his life around.
“I averaged 20 points and 20 rebounds per game,” Belfield said. “I led the nation in blocked shots. I wanted to get a chance to play at a bigger college.”
After two years at Essex County College, Belfield first went to St. Catharine’s College in Kentucky.
“I just felt I wanted a different environment,” Belfield said. “It was very different from here.”
Belfield spent one year in Kentucky, but was always homesick. His fiancée, Iesha Brown, made several trips to Kentucky to see Belfield play, but he felt like he needed to come home.
“I wanted to be close to home,” Belfield said.
At age 32, Belfield remembered his relationship with Rutgers-Newark head coach Joe Loughran.
“I had been in open gyms at Rutgers-Newark,” Belfield said. “I always had a tie with Coach Loughran and I told him I wanted to come home. Rutgers-Newark is a beautiful place with a family environment. The school is great and Coach Loughran always treated me right.”
Loughran received positive reports about Belfield from Tarik Brown, the head coach at Essex County College.
“I’m friends with Tarik and he vouched for Fateen,” Loughran said. “Fateen came to visit and we had a heart-to-heart talk about what happened. He was straight forward and honest about what happened. He told me that his life had changed. He made a mistake and paid his dues.”
So Loughran gave Belfield a chance to make the Scarlet Raiders’ roster.
“After I did my homework, I realized that he was a great guy to have and I was going to give him a chance,” Loughran said.
In his lone year with the Scarlet Raiders, Belfield helped Rutgers-Newark win 20 games, reach the New Jersey Athletic Conference title game and earn a berth in the NCAA Division III national tournament.
Belfield averaged 5.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, but his presence was bigger than that.
“He was so big inside the lane and would block shots,” Loughran said. “Sometimes, he got just enough of his hand on the ball to alter a shot. He was definitely a physical presence and could score a little. Physically, he was great for us.”
Belfield was the same way off the court.
“He’s such a good guy that you want to have him around,” Loughran said. “His disposition is great. His attitude is great. He has an idea what he wants in life. The guys on the team looked up to him because he is older and he had been through what he had been through. The guys respected that.”
Belfield hopes to take his R-N sociology degree into a job as a youth counselor or a coach.
“I’m ready to move forward,” Belfield said. “I wanted to get my Rutgers-Newark degree. It means a lot to me.”
So does Belfield’s relationship with his fiancée.
“She’s everything to me,” Belfield said of Brown. “She has been with me every step of the way. She’s like my agent.”
Belfield said that his bride-to-be is a Syracuse graduate who once tutored Donovan McNabb and is now a math teacher in New York.
Belfield spends a lot of his time now telling his story to inmates in a halfway house in Newark.
“I want them to realize that I made a mistake,” Belfield said. “I tell them to make different decisions. I have the experience.”
Belfield also comes by the Scarlet Raiders’ practices and offers advice to the current team.
“I like being around here,” Belfield said.
“He does come and help out,” Loughran said. “I have no doubt that he will do what it takes to be respectful. Someone is going to be very happy hiring him. He has good work ethic and he’s a great guy.”
And Fateen Belfield is solid proof that sometimes, all you need in life is a second chance.
