MUSTANG HOOPS HISTORY
Ed Bernardi
Bill Shaughnessy
Larry Kondra
1,120
1,019
1,015
AL YUHAS
his career. Yuhas lives in California and was named to The Bergen Record’s All-Century Basketball Team, the only Clifton player to be selected.
With a game honed in Sperling Park, nephew Ed was an outstanding shooter, penetrator, and passer. In 1975, Bednarcik averaged 22.4 points a game, scoring 515 for the season and totaling a career 1,120. Bednarcik’s senior season is remembered for his duels against Passaic Valley Hornets legend John Gerdy, the leading scorer in county history. In their three 1975 season meetings, Gerdy totaled 106 points while Bednarcik hit for 81, including a 34point effort in their final meeting. Bednarcik earned both first team NNJIL and first team All-Area honors during his senior year.
Clifton’s first 1,000-point scorer, Al Yuhas, a graceful, left-handed player who had excellent skills for his size, was one of the Mustangs’ greatest hoop talents, earning AllCounty honors three times and making the All-State squad as a senior. After his senior year, Yuhas sifted through over 200 scholarship offers before settling on Georgia. College scouts had good reason to be impressed. He was a deadly shot from within 15 feet and in 1966, Yuhas averaged 21.4 points a game for the Mustangs, totaling 1,143 for
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February 2011 • Clifton Merchant
ED BEDNARCIK A generation of Clifton kids grew up trying to play ball like the consummate point guard Ed Bednarcik. Few ever came close. A six-foot, pigeon-toed guard, Bednarcik was born into Clifton basketball royalty. His uncle, Emil, had starred for Clifton in the 1920s, then coached the CHS team for 42 years.