Henry Zaleski

Henry Martin "Monjue" Zaleski


Born:
December 14, 1908
New Britain, CT

Died:
March 9, 1966
Remsenburg, NY


Career
1925-26 New Britain High School - Connecticut (High School)
1926-27 New Britain High School - Connecticut (High School)
1928-29 Fordham University (College)
1929-30 Fordham University (College)
1930-31 Fordham University (College)
1931-32 New Britain Seconds (Independent)
1931-32 All-Star Collegians - Middletown, CT (Independent)
1933-34 New Britain Palace (ABL)
1934-35 New Britain Jackaways (ABL)

PBE has this player as John Zaleski dying in December of 1977. However, John Zaleski was 62 at the time of his sudden passing and that would have made him 14 at the time of his enrollment at Fordham. This lead me to search a little deeper. According to Jeff Marcus' book, coach and owner of the New Britain Team, Henry "Monjue" Zaleski, also played for the team sparingly. His obituary states he played as well as coached.

Zaleski played football, baseball and basketball at Fordham, and after graduated, he played and coached around his hometown, and was the owner of the Palace when they took Camden's place midway into the ABL season in 1933-34. The next year, the New Britain ABL club, now known as the Jackaways, was owner, coach and player when he disbanded the team in January of 1935. At this point, he moved to New York City to concentrate on his legal career/ He served in the Counter Intelligence Corps during World War 2, and after his return was the town attorney in Riverhead, NY. He would be eventually become a NY State Supreme Court Justice. He suffered a fatal heart attack at his home in 1966.

He was married to Lea and they had one son and two daughters.

Source:
A Biographical Directory of Professional Basketball Coaches by Jeff Marcus
Hartford Courant, March 10, 1966


Stats:
http://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/john-zaleski/