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Andrew Silberstein - North Rockland 1985

Andrew Silberstein
When you think of the throwing events in track & field, the shot put and discus go together. Performing both events is seen as a natural combination. Not so with the shot put and javelin. Few athletes have reached a high level of performance in both of these distinctive events. Andrew Silberstein was the rare athlete to have mastered the shot and spear with equal adeptness.

Andrew, the youngest of three Silberstein brothers to have thrown for North Rockland, won the 1985 indoor New York State championship in the shot put and added a silver medal performance in the Eastern States meet. That was mere prologue, however, to his history-making heaves outdoors in the javelin. At an international meet against junior competitors (age 19 or younger) from Mexico, Italy and Canada, held in July in Pullman, Wash., Andrew uncorked a mammoth toss of 225 feet, 9 inches to win the competition and establish a New York State schoolboy record. Twenty-five years later, it remains firmly lodged atop the State record board.

“It was exciting to have the U.S. uniform on,” Andrew remembers. “It was a real thrill.” Shortly thereafter he won another post-season meet against competitors from the same countries, this time in Vancouver, Canada. The two international triumphs culminated a stellar spring season in which he finished second at the U.S. Junior Nationals in Elmhurst, Ill.; qualified for and competed in the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento, Calif.; and took home gold medals at the Loucks Games and County championships.

In the shot put, Andrew was also a two-time County outdoor champ – following victories by his brothers David in ’82 and Dan in ’83 – and the ’84 Loucks Games titlist. His personal best indoor mark of 58-10 ½ ranks No. 7 on the all-time Rockland list (just ahead of brother David’s 58-7), while his outdoor best of 57-4 ¼, recorded at the Penn Relays, rates ninth among Rocklanders.

“In his senior year, he dedicated himself to be as good as he could be in the shot, and that made him a better javelin thrower,” says Bob Murphy, Andrew’s throws coach at North Rockland. “To be great as a javelin thrower, you have to have something else, and he had the shot.”

At 6-foot, 205 pounds, Andrew was not big as shot putters go, but he combined exceptional strength – “he had a cannon for a throwing arm,” Murphy says – quickness and agility to excel in the throws. He could bench press an impressive 365 lbs. for three reps and was fast enough to have been a sprinter for the Red Raiders, Murphy says. Andrew had thrown the shot indoors and was a catcher for the JV baseball team in the spring his freshman year. He planned on playing baseball again his sophomore year before fate intervened.

“On the first day of spring, I was sitting in the gym with the baseball team with my glove and cleats on,” Andrew recalls. “The baseball coach was running late, so I decided to go out to the track and see what was going on, and by the time the day was over I was sold on doing that instead. Murph had enticed me previously to throw the javelin, and I knew there were new events to try outdoors.”

Andrew remembers watching his brothers do well in the weight events and felt it was a natural to follow in their footsteps. The images that remain with him more than 20 years later are not thoughts of victories or records but rather of “hanging out” during indoor track meets at the Rockland Community College field house with his North Rockland teammates. “I was just having fun,” he says simply.

Andrew was recruited by Princeton coach Fred Samara (a 1976 U.S. Olympic decathlete) after performing well at a scholastic indoor meet at Princeton his senior year. He chose Princeton and competed for the team his freshman year but found the transition to the 16-pound college shot challenging. After taking a year off from school to work, he returned to Princeton in good standing and threw the shot indoors and javelin outdoors the next two years. Injuries took their toll, however. He hurt his elbow from javelin throwing and his wrist from the shot put, then broke an ankle while throwing the discus, effectively wiping out his senior year. “I was relegated to a cheerleader, basically,” he says.

After graduating from Princeton with a degree in economics, Andrew took some time to decide on a career path, and worked as a paralegal for a year. He then enrolled in law school at St. John’s, graduating in 1997, and went to work as an attorney for the Manhattan law firm Fried, Frank, Shriver, Harris & Jacobson, where he remains today (as of 2007). Andrew, who’s 39, and his wife, Debbie, have two young sons: Zachary, 5, and Noah, 18 months.

When Andrew looks back on his track career, he reserves special praise for his coaches at North Rockland, Murphy and Red Raider head coach Gene Dall. “They were both very good to me and my family,” he says. “I can only hope that my two boys find people who are such a positive influence as Murph and Coach Dall were with me.”