Post Classifieds
Ansari's proven pedigree lends itself to basketball program
By Leif Reigstad
On April 10, 2013
In the bottom drawer of a gray filing cabinet in the back of Fajri Ansari's first-floor
Buckham Hall office, there is a large envelope. It holds over a decade's worth of
memories, documenting one of the most successful high school basketball programs in
Western New York.
"I've got a lot of memorabilia," said Ansari, Buffalo State men's basketball coach, as he
sorts through the small mountain of newspaper articles piled at his desk. "I was supposed
to have somebody scan this stuff and put it in scrapbook form, but it hasn't gotten done
yet."
That "stuff" - mostly from past sports pages of the Buffalo News - is now faded and
grayer than it was when Ansari was churning out star athletes and winning state titles as
head basketball coach at Turner-Carroll High School, a private Catholic school on the
East Side.
Ansari started coaching at Turner-Carroll in 1990 and stayed there until 2003. In that
time, Ansari won two New York State Federation championships, five State Catholic
Association titles and three Monsignor Martin Manhattan Cup championships.
During Ansari's tenure, the Turner-Carroll basketball program produced some of the
area's finest athletes. Ansari coached eight All-Western New York first-teamers and three
Western New York Players of the Year, as well as 16 scholarship athletes.
Few coaches in Western New York can claim a more prestigious - or a longer - list of
accomplishments by former players.
That list includes: scholarship athletes at Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cornell and
Hofstra, a New York State Player of the Year, a Big East Conference Tournament MVP,
an All-Ivy Leaguer, a Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year, a Division II
national champion, players that have gone on to the NBA, NBA D-League, European
basketball leagues, Arena Football League, NFL and even a Super Bowl winner.
Ansari says the best part about coaching at Turner-Carroll was watching so many of his
players succeed at the next level.
"That was the best, to travel, to go to games," Ansari said. "I remember being in Madison
Square Garden to watch Julius Page play (for Pittsburgh in the Big East Conference
Tournament) and get the MVP. I went to Cornell to see Ka'Ron Barnes play. Those are
great memories.
"To watch them play at the next level, that was probably the most rewarding thing."
Barnes played at Turner-Carroll from 1996-2000 before going on to Cornell, where he
was named a first-team All-Ivy League performer as a senior. Barnes isn't sure he would
have gotten there if not for Ansari, who, Barnes says, made sure his players were as
prepared for the world off the court as they were for big games on it.
"Turner-Carroll was a place where you had to be on top of your game at all times,
whether it was academically or athletically, because no one was going to give you a
break," Barnes said. "If you weren't doing what you had to do to be successful, then you
weren't going to get anything. That culture was started by (Ansari). He started it, he kept
it going, and instilled it in us."
Even though Turner-Carroll had a small budget - Ansari often had to sweep the gym
floor himself before home games - he took the team on trips to play in tournaments all
over the country, including New York City, Las Vegas, Florida and Puerto Rico.
"I don't know of any other school in this area, any other coach that had their players
going to all these different places and seeing all this different stuff," Barnes said. "Just
seeing different people, knowing that the scope is larger than Buffalo, it opened our eyes
and broadened our horizons. It made us strive to be better."
For Ansari, who worked with his players year-round coaching AAU basketball, holding
summer camps and SAT prep classes, it was a chance to show his players that there was
more to life than high school basketball.
"I tried to do all I could to expose them and get them thinking about life beyond (high
school) and get them thinking broader to get ready for the college experience," Ansari
said.
"Everybody respected coach Faj," Barnes said. "We all knew his pedigree, we all
knew that he had a history of success and we all knew that he knew how to get guys
scholarships to Division I schools. Everybody respected everything he had to say. We
listened to him and we played hard for him."
Ansari instilled in his players a work ethic that was invaluable in both basketball and
life. That work ethic helped Corey Graham, who played four years under Ansari before
graduating in 2003, get to the NFL and win a Super Bowl as a defensive back with the
Baltimore Ravens last season.
"(Ansari) made sure you gave everything you had and were going to work as hard as you
could in practice," Graham said. "He taught me how to work and how to better myself
as an athlete. Nothing in life is going to be easy and you've got to give it everything you
have if you want to do something special.
"It was really one of my greatest memories playing for him. He taught me how to work,
how to achieve my goals, fight for what I believe in and push myself to the limit."
As Ansari's success grew, so too did Turner-Carroll's importance within the community.
Parents who were looking for an alternative to the Buffalo Public School system but
didn't have an elite private school budget could look at the young men Ansari helped get
scholarships and feel confident about enrolling their children at Turner-Carroll.
But then, in 2003, the school ran into financial problems. Not long after those troubles
started, the doors shut forever. Everything - the basketball team, the school - was
gone.
"It hurt a lot of people," Ansari said. "People still talk about it now. I think our last year
we were barely at 100 students, but it wasn't 100 students playing on the basketball team,
so it also impacted those students who were trying to move on. We had a good academic
record in terms of graduating students and having players go on to college. It just came at
an unfortunate time."
Ansari had several offers to coach at the collegiate level and chose Buffalo State shortly
after Turner-Carroll closed. But if it was open today, Ansari said he probably would still
be coaching at Turner-Carroll and he often thinks about his time there.
"I miss high school in a lot of ways," Ansari said. "I'm happy with what I'm doing now,
but what I do miss about the high school days was being able to work with players when
they're young and more in a molding shape and watching them develop.
"I guess one of the greatest pleasures after having worked with them as a player and as a
person was watching them graduate and go on, especially those who earned scholarships,
and watching them play. That was the highlight for me."
Leif Reigstad can be reached by email at reigstad.record@live.com
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