HOUSTON — Even if Villanova beats North Carolina Monday night, Josh Hart still won’t be the winningest member of the family.
He’ll still be five championships behind Elston Howard.
Hart, Villanova’s junior forward, is a not-too-distant relative of the legendary Yankees catcher.
Hart’s father, Moses, was the nephew of Howard, who spent the 1955 through 1966 seasons with the Yankees before finishing his career with the Red Sox. He spent his first three professional seasons with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League.
Howard died in 1980, some 15 years before Hart was born. But that doesn’t stop him from being one of Hart’s heroes.
“I never got to meet him,” Hart said. “Someone who’s in your family who got to the highest level, who won six World Series championships, was an MVP, is someone you look up to, is somebody you aspire to be in your respective sport.
“I used him as a role model, just everything he was able to do: The first black player to play for the Yankees. The character that he had is something that I try to resemble. Dad was always telling me stories about when he used to go to the ballpark and watch him play and just learn from him. It’s someone that I look up to, someone that I always wished I was able to meet.
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“Hopefully, a couple of generations down, someone in my family will be saying the same thing about me.”
Howard made the American League All-Star team every year from 1957 through 1965 and was AL MVP in 1963, when he hit .287 with 28 homers, 85 RBIs and an .869 OPS in 135 games.
But his best year may have been 1961, when he hit .348 with 21 homers and 77 RBIs in just 129 games.
Howard retired after the 1968 season with 1,471 hits, 167 home runs, two Gold Gloves and six World Series rings. His .993 career fielding percentage was a record for catchers until it was broken by Bill Freehan of the Tigers.
Hart will finish his junior year at Villanova Monday night when the Wildcats face North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament Championship Game (see matchup breakdown).
Hart leads Villanova with 15.5 points per game and is second with 6.7 rebounds per game. He scored 23 points in Villanova’s national semifinal blowout win over Oklahoma Saturday.
“When I was younger, I loved baseball,” Hart said. “I think there’s no better sound in sports than when that wooden bat makes contact with that ball.
“I definitely wanted to play baseball when I was younger. That’s one of my dad’s favorite sports and I think he was kind of pushing me in that direction. It just got a little bit too boring. I was in the outfield and it was like, ‘Well no one hits me the ball when I’m out here.’
“So I was just hanging out, picking grass and eating sunflower seeds. I thought about it, I just fell in love with basketball.”