The Golden Wave Club’s legacy finds a permanent home at Rossi’s Bar & Grill

Fish 4 Scores Sports
golden wave
Trenton Catholic alumni/Golden Wave Club members who were on hand to celebrate Rossi’s Bar & Grill in Hamilton as the new home to preserve its legacy, included (from left to right) Joe Fruscione, Ed Petranto, Vince Ardery, Pat Wilder, Jim Marue, Bob Plumeri, Jack Rafferty, Mo Rossi and Frank Bencivengo. The club’s banner hangs proudly behind them, where it will be displayed for all to see at the Whitehorse Road eatery.

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

The history and tradition of the Golden Wave Club, which honored Mercer County athletes, coaches and officials for 34 years, has found a home to preserve its memory in Hamilton Township.

On Oct. 18, members of the now-disbanded GWC met at Rossi’s Bar & Grill on Whitehorse Road to establish its new and permanent fixture to display their club’s banner and valued photos. The banner and pictures are proudly bestowed upon the walls of the restaurant in honor of the contributions the club made to the Trenton area’s athletic scene.

The Golden Wave Club was established in 1981 to honor the Rev. Clarence O’Shea, the legendary basketball coach of the original Trenton Catholic High School. The school closed its doors in 1962.

For those too young to know about him, Father O’Shea was to Trenton Catholic hoops what Bob Hurley was to St. Anthony’s. He was one of two coaches to be inducted into the inaugural class of the Mercer County Basketball Hall of Fame last March.

The GWC soon became an unofficial alumni association and initiated the Rev. Clarence O’Shea Coaching Award.

On the first Sunday of every May from 1981 through 2015, the O’Shea Breakfast was held and an area coach would receive the prestigious award. Not surprisingly, Hurley was one of the recipients. Other honors sprung from the breakfast that are still in existence, including the Jack Cryan Award for boys basketball and the Renee Keister Award for girls basketball.

Aside from awarding athletic figures of the past, the Golden Wave Club looked to the future as it presented over $250,000 in scholarships to high school seniors.

Those attending the celebration of their new “home” at Rossi’s were Joe Fruscione, Ed Petranto, Vince Ardery, Pat Wilder, Jim Marue, Bob Plumeri, Jack Rafferty, Mo Rossi and Frank Bencivengo

About The Author


Rich Fisher has been around the Hamilton Township sports scene for so long that he actually got Rich Giallella’s autograph when Giallella was still a player! Proud product of Hamilton YMCA and Lou Gehrig baseball leagues and former teammate of Jim Maher on a very average Barton & Cooney rec basketball team, Fish graduated from Nottingham Junior High and Steinert High school and has covered township sports since 1980. His goal in life is to convince Maria Prato that Jersey tomatoes are at least 100 times better than California tomatoes.