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08/25/2015 12:00 AMAll-time East Haven High School and Quinnipiac University basketball star Al Carfora has added another accomplishment to his already impressive résumé. Al, a Branford resident who’s already a member of the East Haven Hall of Fame, as well as the one at Quinnipiac, was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame at a formal ceremony at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts on Aug. 8.
“When I got the call, a bunch of feelings go through your head. I’m in the East Haven Hall of Fame, I’m in the Quinnipiac Hall of Fame, and now I’m told I’m being inducted into the New England Hall of Fame,” says Al, a math teacher and the boys’ basketball coach at Joseph Melillo Middle School in East Haven. “It’s just kind of elation, being a little stunned, a little disbelief, and I start thinking about Quinnipiac, I start thinking about East Haven, and, when things start to settle down a little bit, I start to think about just how I got there.”
There were approximately 1,900 people in attendance with about 100 inductees at the Hall of Fame ceremony and Al felt honored to be part of such elite company.
“Basketball was invented in New England, so they tout themselves on that. They recognize all levels and all kinds of people who’ve made accomplishments and contributions to basketball,” Al says. “It’s cool. You’re walking around and rubbing elbows with all kinds of people who are on all different kinds of levels of basketball and there you are, sitting there with them going into the same Hall of Fame that they are. It’s pretty intense.”
Al, who graduated from East Haven in 1976, still holds nine prominent boys’ basketball records and ranks fourth all-time with 1,223 career points. Al’s records include the highest season scoring average (22 points per game); most field goals in a game (19 versus New Britain) and a season (224); most rebounds for a season (300) and a career (822); the most rebounds per game in a season (13.6) and for a career (10.9); and the best field goal percentage in a game (79 percent against New Britain) and in a career (51.6 percent). Al was also an All-Housatonic and All-State selection his senior season.
“First and foremost, I had a great opportunity to play for Frank Crisafi. I think that the thing it means the most to me was that we won. That was the thing,” says Al, who stands 6-foot-5. “I tell people this a lot—my guard was Bobby Sembler, who still holds the record for assists. He just wanted to pass the ball. In high school, I would’ve never gotten those accolades if it wasn’t for playing for people like Bobby. It was a true team effort. I’m in the New England Basketball Hall of Fame because of the guys I played with. That’s why I’m there.”
Crisafi’s assistant coach during Al’s playing days was Steve Narracci, who worked closely in the paint with the big man throughout his tenure.
“We worked every day before practice and I’d help Al in the post on his moves. He’s very attentive and would do what I told him. He just kept working at it and became a great player,” says Narracci. “I think it’s great for him and all he’s accomplished. It’s also great for the town and the school. He certainly deserves it. There’s no question he was an outstanding player.”
Al says he was fueled toward attaining greatness on the basketball court from the time he first stepped foot in East Haven High School.
“Obviously, I went to the old high school. When I got to the old high school, where the gym is, there was a hallway that had a bunch of trophy cases and wall frames with glass over it with every single basketball team’s—amongst the other sports, too—pictures there,” says Al. “I remember vividly like it was yesterday, walking down the hallways and looking at the rich history of East Haven sports and East Haven basketball, especially, because that was my niche. I would gaze at that stuff all the time and, the more I would look at it, the more I wanted to be a part of that and that was my goal. I’ve always been focused on basketball and it made me become more focused.”
Al graduated from Quinnipiac in 1980, captaining the Braves to a 22-7 record in his final campaign. He played 111 games for Quinnipiac, ranking 10th all-time in points (1,647) and eighth on the boards (846). Al’s best season came in 1978-’79, when he averaged 19.7 points and eight rebounds per game, while shooting 59 percent from the floor. He helped the team go 20-7 that season.
Just like at East Haven, Al feels fortunate for the great coaching he received at the collegiate level—coaching that played a huge role in getting his latest call to the Hall.
“I played for Frank Crisafi and then when I went over to Quinnipiac, I played for Burt Kahn, who was another great coach,” says Al. “I was very fortunate to play for, no doubt, two of the best basketball minds that anybody can ever play for. I was just around a lot of good basketball people.”