Smithtown West's Patrick Burke standing tall for team, family
Smithtown West forward Patrick Burke drives the lane with the layup for two points against Northport on Dec. 17, 2022 at Smithtown West. Credit: George A Faella
The growth spurts started in eighth grade and haven’t stopped. Patrick Burke sprouted to 6-foot tall when the school year ended. He grew three more inches as a freshman at Smithtown West High School and then two inches as a sophomore and two more as a junior.
The Bulls senior forward stands 6-8½ today. With an interior game both forceful and crafty and ballhandling skills not lost in the growth spurt, he also stands as Long Island’s top public school big man. And with a 19.3-point scoring average, Burke may be the biggest of many reasons reason that Smithtown West (12-0) is last undefeated boys basketball team on the Island.
If there is a downside to standing so tall, it would be how it distracts from all the other things that Burke is. He is an exceptional student with a 4.2 weighted GPA while taking a slate of advanced placement courses and a 1,360 SAT score. He is a high achiever, one who made Eagle Scout before finishing the eighth grade. And he is funny – funny enough that being voted “Class Clown” at the senior banquet was a compliment.
One other thing Burke has is the grace to be all these things and cope with the fact his mother is in a daily battle against a diagnosis of metastasized cancer she received this summer.
Taxed and tired from a recent round of chemotherapy, she vented to him about the treatment.
“His head is always in the right place,” Nicole Burke said. “He said to me ‘It’s not the chemo – we like the chemo – it’s the cancer.’ He’s an amazing kid.”
“She gets drained from it, but it's about getting a better outcome,” Burke said. “I am prepared for whatever comes, but I hope for the best and believe the best outcome is possible.”
Nicole said that if her health causes him angst, he likely shares that with older sister Ciara.
His father, John, pointed out that Burke has a maturity about this as well as the many typical situations high school students encounter.
“He identifies what’s controllable and what isn’t,” he said. “The cancer? His mother is handling that. He spends time with her every day and you can see he is happy about that.”
“Nothing shakes him”
John Burke grew up in the small Irish town of Naas and said he was a ‘failed soccer player and failed footballer’ until the revelation his 7-foot height better applied to basketball. He played college ball at LIU-Southampton and went on to play five seasons professionally overseas before becoming a teacher and girls basketball coach at Truman High in the Bronx.
When the coronavirus pandemic closed schools, it gave him an opportunity to work out for two hours daily with Burke at their hoop in the driveway. Of the workouts, Patrick said ‘we’re both really competitive and went at it’ and John said “if there had been film of it, I’d be arrested for child abuse.”
John said the biggest part of Patrick’s development during the pandemic is that through repetitions – and a little hard contact – he “learned to do simple things quick without hurrying.”
“I never thought I’d get the chance to coach him, but that was (rewarding),” John said. “He learned to slow the game down and that’s what makes success. When the game slows down, that’s when a player gets really good.”
It’s created a sort of confidence and poise. “Nothing shakes him,” senior forward Landon Schneider said. “If he starts a game poorly, he’s not affected. He just start’s contributing in other ways – passing, defense, rebounding – because there are a lot of aspects to his game.”
Every team has a personality and Bulls coach Mike Agostino said “the trademark of this team is unselfishness – they are all out for each other.” And there’s a reason for that.
Burke became a team captain this season and takes the role to heart. He and co-captain Schneider insist on running team practices on team ‘off’ days. He also coordinates team dinners at players’ homes before games.
“He believes that getting guys together is good for team chemistry and it correlates,” senior guard Sean Mensch said. “Our closeness off the court shows up on the court.”
“The right ending”
Burke may have the credentials to play in the Ivy League or at other Division I schools, but this summer committed to accept a scholarship at Division II Adelphi. Playing for the Panthers may bring bigger playing opportunities sooner, but Nicole said “they really wanted him and I think that mattered to him.” On Friday night he was accepted to Adelphi’s exclusive Honors College.
Burke hopes one day to play professionally overseas, as his father did, but the next goal is crafting the ending he wants to his final high school basketball season. In the most recent NYS Sportswriters poll, the Bulls are the top-ranked Class AA public school team and No. 5 overall (Long Island Lutheran is No. 1). There will have to be a lot more work and a lot more winning for them to end up playing in Glens Falls.
“We have a really good team, a really talented group, and a state championship would be the right ending for us,” Burke said. “I’ve always wanted to be on the team that wins the last game of the season.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
