Back in the late 80’s Chuck Martin and Orlando Antigua played for the legendary coach Gary DeCessare at St. Raymond’s high school in the Bronx. Both of them became a factor to help the Ravens became one of the best teams in the CHSAA. Both Martin and Antigua are now assistants under John Calipari at Kentucky.
Each of them were head coaches at the Division one level (Martin at Marist and Antigua at South Florida) and bring a combined 40 years of coaching experience to the program. Both of them are great recruiters and have built a pipeline not only from the New York City area, but also nationwide.
Martin’s first stint under Calipari was at the University of Memphis from 2006-08. During his tenure at Memphis he had a 71-6 record in which the Tigers reach the 2008 NCAA Championship game. Derrick Rose was a member of that team and become the number one overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Also Joey Dorsey and Chris Douglas-Roberts were drafted. A few days later after the final four, Martin accepted the head coaching job at Marist in 2008.
Prior to his time in Memphis, Martin was also an assistant at St. John’s, Drexel, UMass, Manhattan, and Seton Hall. Antigua was under Calipari at Memphis as well in which he replace Chuck Martin in 2008. Antigua spend one season at Memphis and went with Calipari when he accepted the head coaching job at Kentucky. At Kentucky, he became the associate head coach. He spent six seasons in Lexington and played a huge role in the recruiting process that helped the Wildcats win the 2012 National Championship which was lead by Anthony Davis.
Both Martin and Antigua played under Gary DeCessare at St Raymond’s in the Bronx, New York. Martin played a key part of St Raymond’s 1987 New York City Archdiocese Championship. Martin was an All CHSAA player in 1988 and played at Monmouth College for four seasons. Antigua enrolled at St Raymond’s in 1987 in which he help led the Ravens to the 1991 CHSAA City Championship over Bishop Loughlin. He played for Pitt four seasons and played with the famous Harlem Globetrotters.
This season they will be coaching a highly touted Kentucky freshman class with DJ Wagner, Aaron Bradshaw, Rob Dillingham, and Justin Edwards. Next season Martin and Antigua went out got five star Boogie Fland of the Class of 2024 from Archbishop Stepinac HS in White Plains New York.
Antigua and Martin is a part of St Raymond’s High School alumni who have become part college coaching tree. Both of them have made an impact to their players in college. We give them their honor for making a difference in the New York City basketball community.
