(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone, Steve Adubato.

I'm about to introduce you to a segment we did over on Lessons in Leadership with the legendary coach, Bob Hurley, wrote this book a few years ago called "Chasing Perfect".

Bob Hurley over at St. Anthony's in Jersey City.

The school doesn't exist anymore, because they frankly couldn't stay afloat financially.

But Coach Hurley 50 years coaching on the high school level, what he learned as a coach, what he learned about young people, the importance of having recreational and sports activities in urban communities like Jersey City.

The coach talked about that.

By the way, his son, Danny Hurley, University of Connecticut, he was there when they won the NCA National Championship, Coach Hurley and the entire Hurley family.

It's a fascinating interview with not just a great coach, a great leader, a terrific guy from over in Jersey City.

Coach Hurley.

Lessons in Leadership is honored to have one of the greatest coaches on any level, one of the greatest leaders on any level when it comes to the sport of basketball.

He is Bob Hurley, Coach Bob Hurley, President of People's Park Foundation, author of this great book, "Chasing Perfect", Bob Hurley and the legendary coach at St. Anthony's in Jersey City for how many years there, coach?

- I was there total of 50 years, Steve.

I was varsity coach for 45 years, and then the freshman JV coach for five for that.

- Let's do this.

I would be remiss if I did not ask you, since this is a leadership show, we'll also use that on some of our other platforms.

Of all the many leadership lessons that you have learned and that you've taught others, the most significant lesson that translates from basketball to every other aspect of life we learned from John Wooden and other great coaches who wrote about basketball and leadership as well.

- Yes.

- I know there are many, but what jumps out at you that will be helpful to our audience?

A great leadership lesson.

Please, coach.

- Well, I just think it's probably something along the lines of what Malcolm Gladwell espouses, Steve, that to become good at something, you really have to invest a tremendous amount of time.

And in this microwave society now, people don't understand how to grind something out to become successful.

So, Malcolm Gladwell would say, to become a master of something, you're gonna put about 10,000 hours in it to become good at.

And if you're in the basketball world, perhaps you're Steph Curry and no one is recruiting that kid as a high school kid and be sheer effort and time and doing the right things becomes two time MVP in the MBA with one scholarship to college.

- Awesome.

Hey, coach, we'll come back to leadership in just a second, but the President of the People's Park Foundation, tell everyone what that is as we put up the website, please.

- Yes.

Well, a group of us got together here in Jersey City, because the Liberty State Park is at a point where they're going to clean up all of the contaminated area.

And now these hundreds of acres are gonna be turned into something.

The people that have controlled the park for a long time wanted the entire park to be just a natural preserve, basically remain like it is right now.

And as someone who has raised children in Jersey City, I have grandchildren who come to the house now, and know the plight of all of the local coaches, educators, police, I know that we need more of an opportunity for young people.

So, what we're striving to do, and we've had a lot of success, is to put the brakes on it being solely passive recreation.

And we're gonna get about 15% of the park now is gonna be turned into multi-practice, multi-purpose practice fields, tennis courts, things that you know young people can use and it'll greatly benefit the 30,000 kids that are in the Jersey City schools.

- Good stuff.

Mary, jump in.

- Yeah, definitely.

Bob, you're talking about that park.

It's such an inspiration.

Talk about that connection between sports and leadership, especially for our children.

Steve and I both have kids, as you did, that went through the whole sports thing.

Everything from baseball to softball, ice hockey, you name it.

What is that- - Mary, hold on.

I still have, we still have a 13-year-old daughter, best athlete in the family.

- That's why I said softball.

Somebody hit a home run the other day and it wasn't me.

I hit a home run about 40 years ago when I played softball.

But yeah, (Bob laughing) so that's why I did put softball into the equation.

So, children, I should say.

- Thank you.

- But yeah, Bob, talk a little bit about that connection and the lessons and why our kids need sports for discipline, et cetera.

- Particularly, sports has always had a place of importance.

Teaching so many lessons in life with kids, being on time, being prepared to work, learning to work together, so many different things.

But post-pandemic, we had years where our kids were in the house.

They became just consumed with information they would get on their phones and iPads and things.

And we started a foundation in Jersey City, the Hurley Family Foundation, when St. Anthony closed.

And we were back working with young people and we could see the value we were getting here.

Kids were doing better in school, they were getting themselves involved in more activities, clearly staying away from influencers that are not good.

And then, we kept looking at it and saying, well we have so many kids here, our facilities have to be better so we can reach more kids.

And I can use the example of my own children going to Bayonne Park as kids to run there, to do things there, and not using other parks.

Now, I live in downtown Jersey City.

I have two grandkids at the house.

And they'll say to me, "Hey," they're half a day of school, "pop, can we go to the park?"

And we will literally drive through Liberty State Park to go all the way back to Bayonne Park, because there's basketball courts, there's a running track, there'll be a food truck someplace.

A variety of things they can do.

And, uh... we shouldn't have to travel all the way to Bayonne to do that.

A recent example, my grandson is a freshman at St. Peter's Prep and he played Ferris High School the other day in a JV soccer game.

And the two schools, which are about eight blocks apart in downtown Jersey City, had to go to Bayonne Park to play.

And that shouldn't be.

We should have more opportunities for kids.

We want the kids to have so many opportunities that they're not gonna walk away from something, 'cause they feel like they're being treated like a second-class citizen.

And for our teams locally here, Mary, when a team from Jersey City travels someplace to play, they think they've gone to like professional stadiums, because their lack of facilities we have right here.

And that's not fair.

- Hey coach, let me try this.

You mentioned your grandchildren, and by the way, have your children accomplished anything much in the world of basketball?

(laughs) - Well, you know what, the biggest thing they got, the two oldest, I have three, my best students- - So, Bobby, Danny, and- - And Melissa, who's a teacher here in Jersey City.

- Okay.

Right.

- By far our best students.

But they worked hard in basketball.

And my wife and I said, if you work hard, you'll be able to determine what colleges you're gonna be able to go to, because we're not going to be able to just write a check for any school in the United States.

Your success in sports and doing well in school will dictate that.

So, Bobby was able to get a scholarship to Duke University and Danny was able get a scholarship to Seton Hall.

And because of their involvement in sports, like so many other kids, it's an avenue.

- And PS, Danny was the coach, is the coach of the University of Connecticut.

And how'd they do this year?

- They had a surprisingly good year Steve.

(Mary laughing) And I can tell you that when the NCA tournament began, we were hoping for some success, because there's a lot of pressure coaching college.

And then, for three weekends, we were on a magical mystery tour.

It was unbelievable.

My grandson, who I just mentioned, I think he missed 10 days of school in those three weeks.

And he's a very good student.

And no one at his school, none of his teachers, the principal, nobody said anything, because they saw him on television doing things that they certainly would've liked to have done themselves when they were younger.

- And then, not only got to the dance, but UConn, congratulations to them.

I happened to be a Seton Hall Pirate fan.

And so, we watched UConn win that national championship.

- Yes.

- Mary, jump back in.

I got a few more for the coach, but jump back in.

- Yeah, definitely.

I'm just sitting here, I got goosebumps.

And one thing that I wanna talk a little bit about, and it goes to everything you're saying was just trying to build that park in Jersey City.

Talk a little bit about grit.

Steve and I, this is something newer that over the last three years, the pandemic, Steve always has that book right to pull out.

Talk about grit and your views on that.

When we're talking about sports life, business, leadership, share your thoughts on grit.

- Yeah, I think, and sports, it's a great way to just try to learn many, many less lessons in life.

In basketball, simply, if I'm not a good foul shooter, I can talk about it, I can have a sports psychologist talk to me about it, I can get advice from awful lot of people, or I can take a ball and I can go out and I can shoot until I feel more comfortable shooting free throws.

And the more I do something, the better I get.

So, I think, unfortunately, old school and sports coaching is repetition.

And it's very difficult now to get kids to repeat a particular thing over length of time, 'cause they're so used to going from one thing to another very quickly.

But the basis for a lot of success is building a fundamentals, and anything that we do, when I'm strong with my basic fundamentals in business, in school and sports, I can expand it as it would be logically a time to do that.

So, so important.

And I gotta handle all the obstacles.

Major league baseball players in the Hall of Fame make out 7 out of 10 times.

And how do you respond to those times after you failed?

Mike Krzyzewski would say to the Duke players all the time, move on to the next play.

Just go on to the next play, because it's gonna be a lot of failure.

- That guy, Bob?

- Wow.

(Mary laughing) The timing of this, amazing.

- Hold on.

Mary.

- I can't tell you the props that he has there, Bob.

(Bob laughing) I can't.

- The two of the greatest coaches and leaders of all time.

Coach K would say what?

Go ahead.

Coach K would say what?

I got it.

It's the Other way.

- He would say, move on to that next play.

Don't linger.

Let the thought of what happened linger in your head as you move on, because the failure is something you just have to deal with.

It's part of life.

- But, Bob, before I let you add, I gotta do this.

In our leadership seminars, Mary and I know, I know as I say this all the time, that our goal is not perfection.

Our goal is progress.

And I'm always pushing progress, improvement.

That there is no perfection.

You got "Chasing Perfect".

Coach, is there such a thing in leadership and in life as quote, perfect?

- Well, I think what you do is if you chase perfect, you may wind up accepting excellence.

So, if you're shooting free throws and you're Steph Curry and he's made the one day, how about this number?

He took 103 point shots one day and he made 97.

He made 97 three-point shots.

Now, most people would not pick up a ball for a while, but Steph Curry shoots out of season, he makes 500 shots a day.

And during the season, he makes 200 a day.

So, it's that pursuit of like the, you're being your best version is what I think the great ones have in them.

- Coach has it right.

You can talk about all the sports psychologists and the whole new different ways of coaching and playing, but there is no substitute for putting in the time.

Hey, Coach Bob Hurley, to you and your family, we say congratulations on a national championship.

- Thank you so much.

- And beyond that, thank you for so many years of coaching and leading and mentoring so many young men at St. Anthony's, prepping Jersey City, and making a difference in the lives of so many.

Thank you, coach.

- Thank you so much, Steve.

- Stay with us.

We'll be back after this.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Kean University.

Atlantic Health System.

The North Ward Center.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Wells Fargo.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

PSE&G, PSC.

And by The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Promotional support provided by Northjersey.com and Local IQ.

And by BestofNJ.com.

- [Young Girl] I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when I was two.

It's hard to grow up with CF.

But I have an awesome care team at Goryeb Children's Hospital.

Helping me do the things I want to do, like play lacrosse.

And now, I've been recruited to play in college.

- Where you go for pediatric care matters.

- [Announcer] Atlantic Health System, because every moment is a moment that matters.