Dennis DeBorger ’73

Baseball

Dennis was born on October 1955 in Mineola, Long Island (during the Fall Classic) so it seemed destined that baseball would be in his blood. His family moved to Maspeth, Queens where he attended St. Stanislaus for four years. The DeBorger family moved to Flushing, Queens where he finished his grammar school education at St. Mel’s.

Upon entering McClancy in the fall of 1969 (coincidentally when the Mets won the World Series), he quickly learned to use the mass transit system, having to take the Q16 and Q66 buses to school every day from Flushing to East Elmhurst. At McClancy, Dennis ran cross-country as a freshman, played basketball (freshman and sophomore years) and baseball all four years.

During his senior year, Dennis was part of an infield (Matteo, Reutter, and Bottiglieri) that was second to none. Though the Crusaders suffered only two losses that season (19-2), the second loss came during the City Championship game to that team from Briarwood. Having become the second member of the team to be selected to the All-Brooklyn/Queens team (Shortstop), Dennis then received a baseball scholarship to attend Iona College.

At Iona, he was selected to the All-Rookie team his freshman year. In a game against Seton Hall, he outslugged Rick Cerone (Yankees and Blue Jays) while collecting four hits (grand slam, 2 doubles, and RBIs) in a 11-10 loss to the Pirates, Rick had to settle for only 6 RBIs.

Other highlights at Iona were All-League selection (sophomore year), 16 hitting streak, and a career .287 hitter, and was co-captain his senior year. After tearing a ligament in his ankle upon finishing his senior year, Dennis found out that softball might be in his future. With the help of Don Holden ’64, he took his economics degree and went down to Wall Street. Dennis has worked on Wall Street for 27 years as a Government Agency Bond Broker. He worked for Chapdelaine and Co. for the first 10 years as a V.P. and is currently working for Garban-Icap in Jersey City (after their 9/11 relocation from the W.T.C.) for the past 17 years as a V.P.

In his spare time, Dennis has coached a 13 & 14 year old Little League Team to a Long Island Championship and has coached Our Lady of Victory (Floral Park, where he has resided for the past 25 years) girls CYO basketball team to 4 Diocesan Championship games.

Dennis enjoys spending time with his wife of 25 years, Joan, at their summer home in Cutchogue, Long Island, coaching softball with his daughter Michelle (24) at Sacred Heart High School, watching his daughter Jackie (21) hit three pointers at The Catholic University in Washington, D.C., seeing his son Eric (18) dive for another line drive in center field for Holy Trinity High School, and listening to his daughter Mary (16) hit another high note in one of her plays or concerts.

His favorite performers are Gregory Peck, Sandy Koufax, Joe Montana, Shania Twain, and Mike Piazza, but not necessarily in that order.