The Secret of the Killer Bees
Killer Bees are about family. That’s something we appreciate every time we watch the team play or practice or attend a game surrounded by former players who are cousins or uncles or mothers and fathers of current players. We hear it every time speak to a teacher at Bridgehampton about his/her students or when a fan of the team grabs our ear to remind us that at one point all five players on the starting five were cousins: The Johnson Five.
This year the team has three more cousins on it and the JV team is coached by the father of the starting point guard. Family is the reason the Bees know each other’s back door cuts before they’re made, the reason the school’s student body is so close and well mannered, the reason the bleachers are so packed with fans who want to see relatives play ball on the same court on which they played.
This week we got a note from Jeffrey Clay, a former Bridgehampton School student who wanted to share his feelings about the team. If you want to understand the special power of the Bees simply must read it:
Greetings fellas,
My name is Jeffery Clay, and although I’m not a native of Bridgehampton, I consider it my second home.
I am from DC and spent every summer of my infant years all the way up to my teens up and down the Turnpike and all over the East End of L.I. chasing my big cousins Carl Johnson, Troy Bowe, Bobby Hopson and many others.
They were my idols. I spent countless hours at the center on the basketball court and at the summer program attempting each and every shot and pass that they ever attempted.
I was even lucky enough to play in the summer leagues that we used to have in Sag Harbor…and was set on upholding the family legacy.
In the summers I lived directly across the street from The Center with my Aunt Mag…she birthed 3 Bridgie/ Killer Bee players Andre Johnson, Chris Parker and Corey Johnson and a current administrator Aleta Parker. Summer nights I’d walk across the street with my big cousins…I was like 6/7/8/9 years old when they were teens…we’d flip on the lights at the court and shoot jumpers and lay ups all night…I thought all of them were just icons, Giants, legends!
I used to feel like royalty listening to all of my Aunts and Uncles talk about the exploits of my cousins on the court! It made them all from Poohjack, to Troy, to Bobby seem like super heroes!!
In a place that was paradise because of the affluent demographic, it is juxtaposed because my family was not affluent at all…in fact it was paradise to me because as soon as school was out in DC I was on a plane or in a car to the place that was paradise because of basketball and family.
There was a time before gentrification that I could ride my bike from Scuttle Hole Road to Narrow Lane and stop in just about every house without even knocking…go in the fridge and get a beverage or sit down and just chill!
The community was inherently unique that way!
Many of my family members, in fact most, settled there as migrant workers who grew tired of the back and forth commute from NC to NY.
Once we settled basketball became the pride and joy of our family!
At the end of every summer I would beg my parents to let me stay for the school year as I desperately wanted to wear the jersey and follow in the footsteps of my super hero cousins! I was lucky enough to go to Bridgehampton School in the 2nd grade….but that was it. My parents, to my disappointment said that Summers had to be enough!
Anyway, I simply wanted to share how I feel about that place, that school and that team!
The Killer/Bee Bridgehampton Community and Tradition is something that this DC kid holds close to heart!
That place instilled a competitive fire in me that ironically carried me on to a very successful high school and then college Football career!
That place is special, the people are special…THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TELLING THE STORY OF MY FAMILY & FRIENDS
If you have a story you’d like to share, please write to us. You can contact us through the contact page on our site. Thanks Jeffery, for reaching out.