Don Marbury And The Forgotten Side of Coney Island

New York Daily News Sports Writer Ian Begley has penned a moving obituary for Don Marbury, father of Knicks star Stephon Marbury:

Jerome Hagan grew up a few floors above Don Marbury's apartment in the 2940 building of Surfside Gardens, a Coney Island housing project.

Hagan recalled an afternoon more than 20 years ago when he and a few friends were fighting with a small group from the building across the street. He said it was Don, Stephon Marbury's father, who came out to break up the altercation. Two decades later, Hagan can still recite the message Don Marbury delivered to each kid involved in the scuffle.

"He came out and broke up the fight, and he told all of us we shouldn't be fighting each other because were from the same neighborhood, we're all from Coney Island," Hagan said yesterday outside the same building.

The obituary goes on to describe Marbury as a father figure to many young men in the neighborhood, as well as a role model to many other fathers.

The Daily News probably only ran an obituary for Don Marbury because his son is a celebrity, and because he dramatically died while watching his own play in Madison Square Garden. Nonetheless, it is nice to read a positive story in the paper about the Coney Island projects. The thousands of people who live in these buildings are often ignored in discussions of Coney Island and its redevelopment. In general, the media only likes to talk about life in the projects in terms of crime and violence. It is a nice change to see a positive story about community in the projects of Coney Island, even if it is in the form of an obituary.


Stephon Marbury'd Dad recalled as Coney Island's leading light [Daily News]

- post by Ben Nadler