On Thursday, February 18, LWA beat the Browning School 74-63 which resulted in Coach Weiss’ 400th career win. His overall win-loss record is 402-130.
Coach Weiss’ successes have not gone unnoticed and as a result he has been selected for induction into the State Basketball Hall of Fame of Basketball Coaches which will be held on March 27th. LWA is a small school in comparison to others but over the years it has had powerhouse basketball teams that have almost always been successful in their leagues. Of course, the wins can be attributed to the young athletes that play with all their hearts and amazing skill but the secret ingredient, the one constant, is Coach Jeff Weiss, who has been with the school since 1988. Jeff’s “no-cut” policy (allowing all students to join teams regardless of their ability), easy-going attitude and even temper seem to be what has contributed to the long history of the Tigers’ recipe for success. Some of the accolades that he has received is a six-time BCANY (Basketball Coaches Association of New York) area/section Coach of the Year, nine-time IPPSAL (Independent Private and Parochial Schools Athletic League) Coach of the Year, 2008 PSAA (Private School Athletics Association) Coach of the Year, and in 2006 he became the first independent school coach honored with the LI Newsday Coach of the Year award. In addition, in 2006 LWA honored him by dedicating an area of the gym as the “Coach Jeff Weiss Basketball Court.” Not resting on his laurels, on February 23rd, Coach and his Tigers continued their streak when they beat Bay Ridge Prep 88-57 in the PSAA semi-finals and went on to win their third straight PSAA championship in the finals against Evangel Christian 100-50 on February 25th. LWA’s record is 25-1. The team tied a school record, which has been done three previous times. The next game, at home, on Thursday, March 4th at 5pm, is the NYSAIS (New York State Association of Independent Schools) quarter-final, in which LWA is seeded fourth in class B tournament. The Tigers play Dwight School which is seeded fifth. Semifinals are on Friday, March 5th and the finals are on Sunday, March 7th.  Carlton Fleming ’89W currently runs a management firm with his partners, Sports Equity Partners, LLC (SEP), which was just awarded a new professional basketball team (starting 2010-2011 season) for the City of Tampa by the American Basketball Association. According to ABA CEO Joe Newman, “We are very happy to be returning to the Tampa area and particularly happy to have such an outstanding ownership group as SEP, …a remarkable company led by an extraordinary management team, … involved in a variety of initiatives including sports, entertainment, apparel, management and construction - and the ABA is delighted to be a part of their plans. This is the first of ten ABA teams that will be owned and operated by SEP in the Southeast. The additional markets will be named shortly.”
He is extremely involved in the Tampa community and sits on the Boards of Community in Schools, Pasco County Take Stock in Children, and the 100 Black Men of Tampa Bay. He holds a B.S. in Management from Georgia Tech and an MBA in Finance from Fordham University.
Carlton attended Woodmere Academy from first through twelfth grade. He went on to receive a B.S. in Management from Georgia Tech and an MBA in Finance from Fordham University. From 1992 to 1997 he played professional baseball with the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals. After retiring from baseball, he entered the investment banking industry as a Vice President of Merrill Lynch. Following a successful career there, he served as a Senior Consultant with Accenture and was formerly Vice President with the global consulting firm Jefferson Wells.
Since his 20th WA reunion, a few months ago “…I have felt strongly reconnected… and I don’t ever want to forget where I came from and it’s the foundation that was built in, within the walls of that building that has made me who I am today.”
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