Paul Hewitt, a Westbury native and current head coach of the Yellow Jackets - Georgia Tech Men's Basketball Team, came to Martin "Bunky" Reid Park last week. Hewitt, who once coached kids at the park - which was named in honor of his former high school coach, took some time out of his busy recruiting schedule on July 12 to spend some time with area children, teaching them some of the finer points of the game.

In addition, the town designated July 12 as Paul Hewitt Day. "It's great to see someone who has achieved a great deal return home to give something back to his community," said North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman. "Paul Hewitt is an example to us all and a model to these children of what they can do if they put their minds to it."

Councilman Robert Troiano added, "I am proud to see what a product of the Westbury school system can accomplish. Paul serves as an example to our children of what they can achieve if they put their minds to it and that you don't have to be a star athlete to succeed."

Born in Jamaica in 1963, Hewitt and his family moved to Queens when he was just 8 years old. In 1977, the Hewitt family made their permanent residence in Westbury and Paul attended Westbury Middle School and Westbury High School. In 1981, he graduated and enrolled at St. John Fischer College in Rochester, NY were he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and economics.

Following graduation, Hewitt was a junior varsity head coach at Westbury High School for three years and was coach at the summer league "Bunky" Reid Park. His first collegiate job came as an assistant coach at C.W. Post back in 1988, where he helped guide the Pioneers to the ECAC New York State Division Championship Season. He then moved as a graduate assistant at the University of Southern California for a year before moving on to serve as an assistant coach at Fordham University from 1990 to 1992.

His next stop was Villanova, where he spent five seasons - from 1992 to 1997, as an assistant to the head coach before being promoted associate head coach during his last season there. From 1997 to 2000, Hewitt was head coach at Sienna College. There, he revived a program that had been dormant since the mid 1990s and molded it into one of the best in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and among the best in the northeast.

In April 2000, Hewitt was named Georgia Tech's 12th head basketball coach and over the past four years. has earned a record of 76-54, with two NCAA appearances and one NIT berth. His overall record as a head coach is 142-81, a winning percentage of 63.7, with a total of five post-season appearances in seven years. Last season, the Yellow Jackets made it into the Final Four, defeating Duke before advancing to the NCAA championship game in San Antonio. Although the team fell to Connecticut by a score of 82-73, it was the highest achievement in the history of Tech basketball.

Hewitt, 41, has many personal accolades under his belt. During his own playing career, he was a four-year letter winner at St. John Fischer. On a coaching level, Hewitt was named District 5 Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NAMC) and was a finalist for the Naismith College Coach of the Year Award by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. In addition, he was recognized as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2000 and the Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 2001. Back in 1996, he was named one of the top four assistant coaches on the East Coast ready to take over a head coaching position by Eastern Basketball magazine and Basketball Weekly named him one of the top 10 assistant coaches in the United States that same year.

Hewitt, whose family still resides in Westbury, is married to former Westbury native Dawnette. The couple has three daughters, Olivia, Danielle and Kayla. In June, Hewitt served as the keynote speaker at Westbury High School's commencement exercises.

When asked how it feels to return to his roots, Hewitt said, "This is where I started. It's a beautiful place. Always was."