The following press release was issued on December 4, 2001, by the Fordham University Department of Athletics:

December 4, 2001

2000-01 New Jersey Player of the Year Inks With Rams

New York, N.Y. — Fordham University men’s basketball head coach Bob Hill announced the signing of John Blackgrove (Hillsdale, NJ/Pascack High School) to a National Letter of Intent during the early signing period.

“John Blackgrove is one of the finest shooters I’ve ever seen at the high school level,” said Hill. “He has an amazing instinct for the game of basketball and we are really looking forward to having him as a part of the Fordham basketball program.”

Blackgrove, a 6-2, 180-pound shooting guard who is prepping at Winchendon School in Winchendon, Massachusetts, was named New Jersey’s 2000-01 Gatorade Player of the Year. At Pascack Valley Blackgrove was twice named All-State, including a First Team selection in his senior year, while becoming the first Bergen County player in ten years to be named First Team All-State by the Associated Press and the first to earn consecutive all-state honors since 1990. He averaged a county-high 28.6 ppg as a senior, shooting 90.4% (217-240) from the free throw line, and led the Indians to the their first sectional title, in Group 3, North 1.

As a junior, Blackgrove was named Third Team All-State, averaging a county-best 27.4 ppg, shooting 92% (114-124) from the charity stripe, en route to his second county scoring title.

Over his high school career, Blackgrove scored 2,237 points, fifth all-time in Bergen County, becoming the first Bergen County player to go over 2,000 career points since 1991.

Blackgrove’s father, John, was an All-County player at Bogota in the 1960s who scored 57 points in a 1964 contest which remains the Bucs’ single-game record.

Founded in 1841, Fordham is New York City’s Jesuit University. With 22 men’s and women’s varsity sports teams, the Fordham Rams are members of the NCAA Division I and compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference in baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, indoor and outdoor track, women’s rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis and volleyball. The Rams compete in the Patriot League (NCAA I-AA) for football.