OETA to air inspiring documentary on high school coach Bob Hurley Sr.

 “The Street Stops Here,” an interesting documentary on Bob Hurley Sr., one of the nation’s top high school basketball coaches, debuts at 9 p.m. Wednesday on OETA-13. Hurley, whose son Bobby Hurley played for him before going on to a professional career, has had a career-long struggle to inspire and motivate those around him in order to keep the doors of St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, N.J., open.

 This is a story about teenagers fighting their way out of the ’hood, armed with little more than a basketball and the hard wisdom of a fierce, demanding coach.

For 35 years, Hurley has been an uncompromising teacher who demands perfection from kids who’ve known little discipline growing up on the streets of Jersey City. His methodical yet volatile style works miracles. He’s tallied 900-plus victories for a school that’s won 24 state championships.

According to the documentary, Hurley has sent to college all but two of the hundreds of players he’s coached, a feat that truly shows what matters most to him. In the season featured, Hurley faces challenges that will test his resolve. The most talented senior class he’s ever assembled, with six seniors headed to Division I schools, is about to graduate without having won a state championship — something that’s never happened to one of his teams. Even worse, a financial crisis threatens to close the high school to which he’s dedicated his life.

The  inspiring 90-minute documentary is the story of one man’s lifelong commitment to improve the lives of inner city kids and save the high school that gives them hope.

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