John Brennan lost his life after seeing his beloved Johnny.
The coach of St. Francis Prep Boys and Girls High School, who attended St. John's and won the championship, where he played freshman basketball for a year at school before turning his eyes to tennis, met during his yard victory in Connecticut last Sunday, attended a bleeding stroke late in the victory.
Garden Security took him to Sinai Western Hospital near Midtown, where he died at the age of 73.
“He was a super fan of St. John's basketball,” his brother Kevin said in a phone interview. “It's a shame he lost his life in such a great season.”
Brennan survived two matches with oral cancer, which was isolated by 28.
60% of his original tongue had to be replaced with tissue from his right wrist, and his jaw was reconstructed with muscles from his fibre. Three main tasks could not slow him down.
He worked at St. Francis Prep in Queens for 33 years and still coached the city's best program, the boys and girls tennis team.
The girls won the Catholic League City Championship in the fall.
He developed them into a great power and led the program to a 203 consecutive win streak that was snapped in 2012.
The Terrier had won 12 Straight Mayor's Cup titles at that time. In 2014 he was led by the school's Terrier Red & Blue Ring of Honor.
Brennan is also a certified tennis pro at the North Shore Tennis Club, winning 25 titles between boys and girls.
“Unfortunately, there are few tennis experts who coach high school tennis,” Brennan once wrote in New York Tennis magazine. “If they're committed to coaching at the high school level and realised the privilege that it's really, I believe they'll become better tennis instructors. When you coach a team, there's a test of the different levels they're developing, limited time to do it, and how it's done every few days.”
Brennan has season tickets for St. John's Games at Carnecca Arena for 20 years and has participated in several contests in the yard every season.
“He really loved the work Rick Pitino was doing for St. John's,” Kevin said. “He couldn't stand UConn, he couldn't stand Danny Harley. He lived with that team and died. He's been rooting for them forever. This was a kind of pay-off season. Maybe he'll see them in his next life.”
