Ocean City, NJ, High School Achieves Feat Not Seen Since 1964

Ocean City High School Boys Basketball Head Coach John Bruno was one of my favorite head coaches to officiate.

He is intense, but, always displays a highly polished, professional demeanor.

Below, is Coach Bruno with Ocean City Councilman Bobby Barr, following Ocean City’s South Jersey Championship victory … which was the prelude to yesterday‘s state championship victory.

Bobby Barr photo.

Bruno Has Coached The Ocean City High School Boy’s Basketball Team For The Past 37 Years

Bruno has maintained a high-energy level and commitment to winning that is rare to see for almost 4 decades.

It is a testimony to Bruno’s longevity and loyalty to one program for so many years.

Ocean City High School Boys Basketball Team Wins The 2026 NJSIAA State Group III Championship

This is Ocean City’s first boys basketball state championship in 62 years. It is so hard to win a state championship.

Ocean City defeated Colonia 55-46, when they scored the last 9 points of the game.

This was Ocean City’s first appearance in a boy’s basketball state championship game since 1972.

They had last won the boys basketball state championship in 1964.

Ocean City High School Is The First Since Atlantic City High School

Ocean City is the first Cape-Atlantic League public school boys basketball team to win a state championship since Atlantic City won the Group IV in 2013, under Atlantic City Head Coach Gene Allen.

Allen is the only Atlantic City head boys basketball coach to ever win a state championship.

Randy Fox Wrote An Amazing Facebook Post About The Ocean City High State Championship Title

Fox’s Father was a star player on the 1964 Ocean City boys basketball state championship team.

Fox wrote this profound social media post yesterday:

62 years ago, the Ocean City boys basketball team won their last state championship. The year was
1964. My Father was on that team, and he became a legend with his dominating performance in the biggest game of his life. He helped build our family's name to even greater heights in our small town. I grew up hearing all about my dad's basketball career. I never lived up to that legacy haha. Today, the Ocean City boys fought long and hard to bring another championship home. They were down by 7 at one point and only held the lead a few separate times. But they retused to quit. Two back-to-back 3's by #23 put them in a great position heading into the 4th quarter, up by 2. From there they kept pushing the pace. Coached by one of the greats in OCHS basketball history, Coach Bruno kept pushing the pace. The defense, which struggled most of the game, stepped up huge in the 4th quarter with four steals to help seal the state championship and end a 62-year drought. 55-46 final score! I'm proud of those kids and coaches. I hope they enjoy every second of it. My dad loved talking about that championship in his later years of life. Those were his glory days. Today I had the chance to take my son to watch Ocean City win another state championship. My son never got to meet his grandpa. He only knows the stories I tell him. But today he got to learn about him in a different way.
let him wear his grandpa's state championship jacket for good luck. All day people kept coming up to him-some who knew exactly what the jacket was, and others who actually knew my dad. They shared stories with him about his grandpa.
For the first time, it felt like my son really got to know who his grandpa was... and he was proud to be a Fox.
After the long drive home and hours of celebrating with the team, we sat down to eat. At the dinner table Keenan said to his mom,
"Everyone kept coming up to me and asking me about my grandpa's jacket." Those words "My grandpa's jacket" meant something special to me.
He's never had a reason to say those words like that before.
That moment meant everything, wrote Randy Fox.