The Untold Story of Stuyvesant Track and Field Star Maurice Silverman (‘68)

Hanging from the rafters of Stuyvesant’s gyms are giant posters commemorating Stuyvesant’s dominance in recent PSAL Championships, ranging from golf to soccer to gymnastics and so much more. Indeed, since Stuyvesant’s inception, it has had countless athletic victories and successes, all worthy of praise—yet they hardly ever receive it. Despite such a large number of accomplishments, and the importance they hold for many students, athletics have long been overlooked at Stuyvesant in favor of more academic pursuits. Maurice “Mo” Silverman (‘68) is trying to change that. 

“Mighty Mo,” as the Daily News dubbed him, was a two-sport athlete, competing in football and also track and field, of which he was the captain. He was also named “Athlete of the Year” by Stuyvesant in 1968, an award that he certainly earned. “Over time, I got to the point where I certainly was a top athlete at Stuyvesant,” Silverman described. “I got into the Eastern States [Championships].” 

However, Silverman didn’t start out as a star athlete, nor was he officially trained; rather, sports became a passion and escape for him from a young age. “I had some very major trauma in my family when I was 13,” Silverman described. “I dealt with that by just getting out of the house and playing basketball.” Though sports were a coping mechanism, they also evolved into some of his greatest skills, as he realized early in high school. “They had these tests where you did push-ups and chin-ups and the standing long jump,” he recounted. Fifteen years old at the time, the young Silverman expected to complete no more than five chin-ups. “So I get on the bar, everybody’s got their eyes on me. And I put out 19,” Silverman described. “So clearly I had a power, the fast twitch power gene and sports was a place that created sanity for me.” 

Originally, Silverman’s favorite sport was basketball, but his height proved a hindrance (even at six feet). “When I tried out, I didn’t make the team,” Silverman narrated. “After feeling really disappointed, I went out for the track team, and months later I won a gold medal at a novice meet, which then enabled me to compete in open competitions.” However, as soon as he began, Silverman realized his coach was unable to support him as much as he would have liked—the unfortunate side effect of competing for a large public school team. “My track coach lacked any knowledge of hurdling, [so] I kind of early on just didn’t rely on him for anything. So I really just, whatever I accomplished, I did it because I figured it out on my own. And I think one of the key elements of this is as a junior, I found an AAU [Amateur Athletic Union] club. He was holding practice three days a week. Nobody else was competing in open competitions the way I was. And I just felt like I had to get more training, more time and coaching. So I joined this club,” Silverman explained. He formed a relationship with the coach there, Dr. Richie Lewis, M.D., who served as his mentor and helped him train to reach the levels he was aiming for. After joining the club, on top of regular practice and school work, Silverman also commuted an hour and a half daily to Van Cortlandt Park—a testament to his dedication.

Silverman turned out to be a track superstar, winning meet after meet. Yet, regardless of how outstanding his achievements were, he felt that they were often overlooked at Stuyvesant, a school so focused on academics—which, by his own admission, were not his greatest strength. As a star athlete, he often went to track meets without the rest of the team, meaning even his coach didn’t see his best moments. “I was the only runner that I was aware of from 1966 to 1968 who competed in open competitions. My track coach [...] would not accompany me to meets when I was the only runner competing,” Silverman explained in a follow-up email interview. 

Despite his relative solitude, Silverman persisted, a theme throughout his athletic journey. Finally, after months of practice and training, he was able to make it to the most competitive meet he would ever face: Eastern States Championships. “My senior year, I took fifth place in one meet. Then I took the silver medal in the PSAL championships indoors, and that got me into the Eastern States,” he said. There, Silverman managed to make finals, putting him in the running for the greatest honor of his life: to be the Eastern States champion. However, this moment came as something of a surprise for him, a mentality that ultimately had a large effect on his performance. “I’m thinking, ‘I hope I can get a medal,’” Silverman described. “Now, you don’t see much when you’re running the hurdles, but you have a sense peripherally if somebody is near you, [and I] can’t see anybody. I’m thinking ‘I’m going to win,’ [and] it tightened me. I’m thinking, ‘I just want a medal, I’m not ready [to win].’ I hit the top of the fifth hurdle, and then this guy slips by me and nips me at the tape.”

As close as Silverman was, he just managed to come in second place, an experience that could’ve made anyone furious. Yet, Silverman managed to gain a lesson from the experience, one he would carry with him for the rest of his life. “I had to visualize myself crossing the finish line first and embody that feeling so that it wasn't a surprise to me. And so that’s a great metaphor. There’s something you want, you have to visualize it and then practice that. And then, when you get into the starting blocks, then you’re fully present, and you just [go straight] to that tape,” Silverman explained. 

Winning second place at Eastern States is an undeniably amazing achievement. However, according to Silverman, no one at Stuyvesant even knew about it when he did. “But at that time, because [my coach] wasn’t there for me, I did something that I wasn’t aware, in that era, of other athletes doing, and I kind of felt like, ‘Is this something I have to tell him about?’ [But] he didn’t ask me. [In fact], I can’t think of a single instance where the Stuyvesant Track Coach asked me about any of the races that I ran in,” he explained. As a shy teenager, Silverman didn’t ever tell his coach about the competition, something that he now regrets. “The predominant feeling was I didn’t feel it was my place to tell him what I accomplished, [but] I think people would’ve really liked to have known what I achieved,” Silverman elaborated. “That particular event wasn’t reported by The Spectator because nobody told [them]. I didn’t run and say, ‘Guess what I did?’ And it wasn’t in The Indicator. So it was one of these things that over time, the more I thought about it, I thought people should really know.” After years of reflection, he finally came back to The Spectator, ready and excited to share the story of his greatest athletic achievement. 

In addition to being a track superstar, Silverman also played the position of halfback on the football team, where he had some of his strongest moments. While playing, Silverman recalled absolutely putting every last bit of effort into each game, a work ethic that allowed him to prosper in his future. In one such game, against rival Curtis High School, he actually needed a break, struggling to breathe enough after playing so hard. “I said to the quarterback, ‘Just call somebody else’s number. I got to catch my breath,’” Silverman described. 

However, his coach called his number, forcing him to make a decision: whether to step back or step up, putting all his effort into the play. And, in classic “Mighty Mo” fashion, he didn’t let the team down. “The quarterback looks over at me, he says, ‘Can you do it?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’ At that moment, I sort of got into this mindset that I’m going to find whatever I have left, and I'm going to ‘give it my all’ kind of thing. And he gives me the ball. They converge around me, [but] I blast through and I get 10 yards and first down. [...] There's no blockers around me. I am just driving through,” Silverman recalled. “It put me in this place where whatever I’ve got, I’m giving it to this moment.”

This incessant drive carried Silverman through all of his athletics at Stuyvesant and beyond, truly giving him the life he has now. “In sports, I was super focused. And so I went towards where I had talent, thinking that I could get a scholarship. And my family had no money, so I thought this was my best shot. And look, I mean, the plain truth is I got a full scholarship to spend a postgraduate year at the Choate School,” the former star said. Though Choate is a top school academically, Silverman’s athletic ability was what really opened the door for him. “This was the result of my English teacher my junior year. His son was at Choate, and he heard they were looking to recruit top athletes. And I got the introduction and I went there,” he described. At the Choate school, a top-level boarding school in Connecticut, he continued competing on the track and football teams, where he immediately felt more supported. “Sports play a significant role in the New England Prep School experience, with extensive presence from the Masters who also coached. I got a lot of recognition from classmates because Choate was an environment that valued talented athletes,” Silverman said. 

 Attending Choate was also what allowed Silverman to attend one of the most prestigious universities in the country. “At Choate, I was interviewed by the Dean of Students of Columbia College,” Silverman admitted. “And he essentially decided that I would go to Columbia, So it definitely opened doors for me. Look, objectively, I wasn’t a Columbia College student based on my academic prowess.” Still, Silverman took advantage of this opportunity, even if the workload was often quite high. If it hadn’t been for his original interest in athletics and his incredible work ethic, none of this would have been possible.

At Columbia, Silverman initially continued competing in track and football. However, the football team’s toxic environment led him to quit just a few weeks into his freshman year. He stayed on the track team, where he was undefeated in the high hurdles in dual meets until a devastating ankle injury in his sophomore year. “Eventually, I made the hard decision to take time off—from the team, from the pain, and to focus on the intense academic demands at Columbia,” Silverman described. 

Since then, Silverman never returned to elite athletics, competing only in local competitions like marathons and tennis tournaments, the latter a sport he only picked up in his 30s. Still, he hasn’t yet lost his competitive spirit—that drive he has always had for track. “I still, however insane it might be, think that I would love to try and find a way to run again,” Silverman contemplated. He also still follows professional basketball, football, and track and field; sports will always be a major part of his life.

Looking back on his athletic career, Silverman found many lessons in both his wins and losses. His performance at Eastern States Championships especially sticks out to him as an important moment to learn from. “That silver medal taught me a lasting lesson: the race is won not just with speed or strength, but with intention and presence,” Silverman said. This is a piece of advice he believes all athletes should understand, one that could’ve made all the difference for him while competing. 

Regardless of not having as many resources as he would’ve wanted, Silverman is still incredibly grateful for his time at Stuyvesant. “Stuyvesant was a place where I hit the lottery and I found a way, at least, to maximize my potential. And I really noticed that the real benefit for me is that I got to be around the guys at Stuyvesant, [who] were all great, middle class, hardworking, talented guys,” Silverman recalled. Even if Stuyvesant was never the most athletic-focused school, it still gave Silverman the opportunity to be on a team that allowed him to shine and make some of his greatest memories. “Athlete of the Year” is still an award that Silverman holds close to his chest, remembering the pride that his school had in him, even without knowing about one of his greatest accomplishments. Still, only at Stuyvesant could Silverman face one specific problem: “I was Athlete of the Year and I had trouble getting a date,” he joked.