By Nathan Solomon, Contributing Writer
After three successful seasons playing for Howard University, Star Fitzgerald-Greer decided to take her talents to St. Bonaventure University to complete her final year of eligibility. She’s the goddaughter of Bona’s basketball hall-of-famer Fred Crawford and he helped her make her decision easy.
“Once I got a call from St. Bonaventure, it was like a sign,” said Fitzgerald-Greer. “I wanted to go to a place where I knew I would be loved, cherished, and appreciated for my abilities on and off the court and he assured me this is the place to be.”
Like Crawford, Fitzgerald-Greer is from New York City and grew up playing basketball in the Bronx.
“New York basketball players are extremely talented,” said Fitzgerald-Greer. “We play against the best competition and there’s just a whole bunch of diverse people.”
After graduating from Grand Street Campus High School in 2016, she took her talents to Washington D.C and Howard University to begin her collegiate basketball career.
“Howard’s a great school,” said Fitzgerald-Greer. “I learned a lot on and off the court, and I’m very grateful for that experience.”
In 81 games at Howard, Fitzgerald-Greer averaged 2.6 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. After seeing limited time in her first two seasons, she played in every game in her junior year, making 15 starts and nearly doubling her minutes.
But after the season, she decided she wanted to redshirt as a senior, but remain at Howard to get her degree. In the spring of 2020, she graduated with a sports medicine undergraduate degree. From there, it was time for her to head to Bona’s to pursue a championship.
“This season is definitely going to be one to remember,” said Fitzgerald-Greer. “Going into the season, everyone needs to have a positive attitude, no matter what circumstances are thrown at us. At the end of the day, a championship is a championship, whether it’s a COVID championship or a regular championship.”
Despite everything, Fitzgerald-Greer is proud of her team and her teammates’ mindsets.
“Everybody on the team is pretty locked-in and has a positive mentality,” she said. “We start official workouts in a couple weeks, so everyone’s looking forward to it and it’s something really positive to take on.”
So far, everything has worked out well for Fitzgerald-Greer at Bona’s and she’s content with her decision.
“This is one of the best basketball experiences I’ve had,” she said. “Everybody already knows what everyone is capable of and there’s less external pressure and distractions. My other school was in Washington D.C., and there were a bunch of other things going on outside basketball, and I feel being here in a closer setting and a smaller town, there’s less room for error and less room for distraction. Academically, I’ve been good, and socially, I’ve been good too.”
Being that her and her family have ties to Bona’s basketball through her godfather, Fred Crawford, the transition to St. Bonaventure has gone well for her.
“It’s been pretty smooth this far and I expect it to stay smooth,” she said.
Like her godfather, Fitzgerald-Greer would love to cement her legacy into Bona’s basketball forever.
“I speak to him (Crawford) probably every other day,” she said. “He checks in on me, asks how everything is going, how school’s going and how practices are going. He brings this sort of energy, this sort of mentality that is just ‘get up and go’, like just get up and make some change.”
Although a lot of unknowns remain this season, Star Fitzgerald-Greer is looking to make her performance felt across the A-10 and the NCAA. She has a fresh start in a new place and will look to lead her team to their first NCAA tournament bid since 2016.
