Our first faculty member, Brooklyn native Leon Modeste, Coach Mo, joined PA when our class did in 1986.
Lou Bernieri's best pal since high school, Coach Mo filled the vacant football coach position at Lou's encouragement and after interviewing with Paul Kalkstein, a bed-ridden Kelly Wise, and a Bruce Springsteen-loving Mike Kuta.
Thrust into Bartlett, ill-prepared and learning as he went, Mo developed an immediate kinship with our class. He described that kinship as being easy since he taught almost all of us PE our junior or lower years.
Our class took him in, he said. He trained us as much as we trained him.
Coach Mo tells a poignant tell of sobriety, support, community, grit, resilience, and stick-to-it-ness.
As Coach says, "The try is all that matters." Oh, there's a great anecdote about someone from ten deep and the Abbott Bizarre dunk tank.
