A chance to make a difference: high school basketball isn't the big time, but it's a great training ground for life.(My Turn)

As a probation officer for 30 years on the hardscrabble streets of Jersey City, N.J., I mostly would spend my days immersed in the most hardened of souls and most shattered of lives. In too many cases, there were men beyond redemption once they reached my desk.

When the clock struck 4, I could start on my way to basketball practice at St. Anthony High School, the sick feeling over those lost lives replaced with a determination to work with my young players. My kids came out of the same neighborhoods and housing projects as my cases did, but the difference was I still had a chance to steer my players toward a better future.

That's the essence of the reason I never accepted any of the offers that occasionally came to me to leave St. Anthony for college coaching. For me, high school hoops is where I can make the greatest difference in kids' lives. I believe I've developed a formula--built on old-school discipline--that helps young men start productive lives with a strong work ethic and good values.

During my 33 seasons at St. Anthony, we've won 843 games and have nearly a .900 winning percentage. We've won 22 state championships and two USA Today national titles and have bad four undefeated seasons. But what makes me proudest is that every one of my players--including my sons Bobby (Duke) and Danny (Seton Hall)--except one over these three-plus decades has gone on to college, many becoming the first in their families to do so.

What's more, the success of the basketball program has been the driving force in exposure and fund-raising that has allowed us ...