The coach…and his pizza.

It takes $2 and a pizza to get Bob Hurley Sr. into a HS hoops game these days | Politi

“Two seniors, please.”

The man behind the ticket table at the Seton Hall Prep gymnasium has spent the past 45 minutes making change for a steady line of customers, so he barely looks up from the cash box when he hears the latest request. Then he catches a glimpse of the gray-haired man standing in front of him.

His eyes go wide.

His hand shoots out.

Bob Hurley Sr. shakes it and smiles. He is the most accomplished high school basketball coach in this state’s history — maybe in any state’s history — but here, before a game in the state tournament he used to dominate, he is just another customer.

He has to pay his $2.

He and his wife, Chris, head inside the gymnasium, and almost immediately, a dozen heads pivot in their direction. A fan in the bleachers whispers to his buddy and points. The referees, the coaches, the athletic directors — anyone within a few footsteps stops to say hello.

It seems totally normal, of course. Hurley, 70, has spent nearly his entire life in gymnasium like this one, including 45 years as head coach of powerhouse St. Anthony in Jersey City. Why wouldn’t he be here at the West Orange school for a playoff game against St. Peter’s Prep?

Little did everyone know that Hurley has attended just a handful of games this season, and in order to just get the Naismith Hall of Fame coach into this gym, we had to bribe him.

With pizza.

Read the full story on NJ.com.