New building has arrived for Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball High School in The Bronx

It will be a historic day in Earl The Pearl Monroes long life on Wednesday when a new building opens at his high school thats located in The Bronx, New York.

Monroe, 79, has been hampered by health issues of late but will be there at the Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball High School to see the historic day.

We opened four years ago, and this was the dream so were all excited about whats coming, Monroe said by phone earlier this week.

Monroe, a Winston-Salem State graduate who played under Big House Gaines, joked that he can still hear his former coach in his head about giving back.

Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, who created a high school in the Bronx, New York in 2021 is getting a new building.

The guys from that era we all still talk to each other, and we talk about Coach like its still 1967, Monroe said about his teammates from the 1966-67 WSSU team that won the Division II national championship that season.

Its funny but all of those talks he gave us about giving back and about not waiting for doors to open.

Hed always say you are going to have to kick that door in yourself.

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The doors of Monroes charter high school are something Monroe is very proud of.

He went on to star for the New York Knicks and was part of the last Knicks team to win an NBA championship in 1973.

To do this in New York means a lot and the school is something I had thought about for a long time, Monroe said.

Earl The Pearl Monroe is shown with WSSU coach Clarence Big House Gaines in the 1960s.

The Rams won the Division II NCAA championship in the 1966-67 season.

The school has about 450 students and this spring it will have the first graduating class.

Its not a basketball school for players who are on their way to the NBA, its a school that gives kids chances to get into college or even a trade school.

We do have basketball teams and our boys' team actually went to China and won a tournament last year, Monroe said about the schools that play in the public leagues in the city.

The school has raised the average literacy levels from fourth grade to a notch below ninth grade and the number of students passing the New York State Regents exams from less than 1 percent to nearly 70 percent in four years.

Monroe said kids get into the school through a lottery and then the kids selected go through another process to get in.

Theres no tuition for parents, either.

Earl The Pearl Monroe helped Winston-Salem State basketball achieve national champion status.

He was later inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990 and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Its a true charter school that we are very proud of, Monroe said.

Its exciting that this building will open up so many more options for the school.

Joining Monroe at the announcement is expected to be Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Dan Klores, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Knicks star Julius Randle and Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau.

The school has an academic curriculum entirely designed around basketball and its many career paths.

Monroe said they are also considering a fifth-year option for students who might not know what they want to do after high school.

Giving kids another year at the school could give them more options so thats something thats on the horizon, Monroe said.

One of the many stories from the national championship team was that Monroe didnt come back with the team to celebrate in Winton-Salem.

Instead, he stayed behind to take a test to certify him as a teacher upon his graduation.

Gaines was most proud of that 1966-67 team because every single player graduated from WSSU.

The Winston-Salem State University mens basketball team won the 1967 NCAA College Division Championship.

Pictured are, first row, from left, Coach Clarence E.

Big House Gaines, John Michael, Bill English, John Lathan, James Reid; second row, Johnny Watkins, Earl Monroe, Vaughn Kimbrough, Ernest Browne, Brent Cromwell and Eugene Smiley.

Not pictured are Steve Smith, David Green, Frank Hadley and Donald Williams.

Coach preached education, and the school was a teachers college back in the day, Monroe said.

So its ironic that Ive got this school thats in my name.

I think Coach would be proud of how far this school has come and how we are catering to the youth here in New York City.

Despite his health battles in recent months Monroe, who doesnt live far from the school, makes his way there to talk with kids and see the school.

Its nice to talk with them and tell them Im the old guy that this school is named for, Monroe said with a laugh.

In all seriousness, Monroe, who is in the Naismith Hall of Fame and was one of the best players in NBA history, is thrilled that the school is thriving.

Its come a long way in four years and this new building is the icing on the cake, Monroe said.

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