Walt “Clyde” Frazier, who powered the New York Knicks to two 1970s NBA championships, was at Stew Leonard’s Yonkers grocery store Tuesday, June 16, to help honor a basketball team that did something not achieved in decades.
The Knicks legend was part of the celebration for Yonkers Montessori Academy’s girls team, which became the first Yonkers school basketball team to win a state championship since the Yonkers High School boys team did it in 1932. That’s 94 years. For the Knicks, their wait for another title clocked in at 53 years, winning the 2026 NBA title last week (Frazier, who was part of the 1970- and 1973-winning Knicks, was on hand Saturday, June 13, to celebrate the Knicks’ return to the pinnacle as well).
Yonkers Montessori Academy players and coaches received championship medals at the store Tuesday and the store made special blue and white ice cream, which matches the team’s championship colors.
“Getting to meet Walt Frazier, and having him know about our team, was insane,” said Arsela Mustafaj, Yonkers Montessori senior. “The girls were joking during the (NBA) finals like, ‘Yonkers hadn’t won a title in forever and neither have the Knicks. They’re gonna win because we did.’ For them to actually win it all, and then for us to get to meet a Knicks legend, I can’t wrap my mind around it. It’s been a great year.”
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, schools Superintendent Aníbal Soler Jr., and others were among those at Stew Leonard’s for the celebration.
Members of the YMA team went up to get their medals from Frazier.
‘No ‘I’ in team’
Frazier told the YMA team that they “know about teamwork — you’re champions. There’s no ‘I’ in team. If you ever heard about the team I played on, a guy named Willis Read, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere, Earl ‘the Pearl’ [Monroe] —we personified team. And that’s why we were champions.”
In March, the YMA girls were greeted by a police escort as their team bus got back to Westchester County from upstate Troy.
“It’s amazing,” Elie Moise, YMA girls basketball coach, told the Journal News/lohud.com Tuesday before the Stew Leonard’s event. “From the second we stepped off the bus in Yonkers, it’s been nothing but congratulations. We’ve gotten kudos from all over, been recognized by some incredible people, and it’s made all of us feel special. We feel blessed and honored, and we’re grateful for all of it.”
As for meeting Frazier, Moise said: “I’m a big Knicks fan, so I’m already on Cloud 9, and this is awesome. Meeting a Knicks legend after the Knicks championship makes this all the more meaningful.”
Mustafaj, the Yonkers Montessori senior, said that “most athletes never get to experience this, especially in Yonkers. A girls team from here had never done it before. I’m so thankful to have the teammates and coaches we did, and get to experience all of this with them.”
Since their season ended, Mustafaj said, “We’ve had a lot of appearances and heard from so many people, and now even an event at Stew Leonard’s. It’s been a lot, but I’m so grateful to be a part of it.”
Besides its Yonkers location, Stew Leonard’s has stores in Connecticut, on Long Island and in New Jersey.
Contributing: Peter Carr
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Knicks’ Walt Frazier honors Yonkers Montessori team at Stew Leonard’s
Reporting by Michael P. McKinney and Stephen Haynes, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Michael P. McKinney and Stephen Haynes, Rockland/Westchester Journal News | USA TODAY Network
