Duplex Deli Sandwich Club 002
The Winningest Team in Sports History
Welcome to Dupex Deli Sandwich Club 002, and thank you to everyone for your feedback (mostly kind, always helpful) on our inaugural issue, which you can find here if you missed it. Some of your replies were about soccer, but most were about The Commodore, which remains both a Williamsburg and fried chicken sandwich institution. I didn’t link to their site in 001, so I will here.
For this Sandwich Club, we are staying in the world of soccer, but moving a little further down the talent pipeline to the youth level and focusing on a pretty incredible story right here in Duplex Deli’s hometown of New York City.
Martin Luther King Jr. High School on the Upper West Side is like most public high schools in NYC: large, filled with black and brown kids, and underfunded. In the early 90s, the New York Post dubbed it “Horror High”. There’s been no shortage of media coverage about how messed up it is, or was.
But MLK is also totally unlike most public high schools in NYC or anywhere for that matter: it’s generally the only one ranked top 10 nationally in soccer, finishing this season this past season at #4 or #9 depending on where you look. And it’s currently on a 41-match winning streak.
“King soccer” is run by a man named Martin Jacobson, who as Coach and Athletic Director has made it his life’s mission to scoop up needy kids (often immigrants and occasionally refugees), give them a place on the pitch, and coach them up not only as players but as young men. Over his 28-year tenure – 27 seasons, with one canceled for Covid – he’s sent dozens of kids to the pros and hundreds to D1 college programs. Oh, and he’s also won 20 city championships.
20 for 27… which by our count makes this the most successful team, in any sport, at any level, in America and maybe the world. Ever.
Your Duplex Deli proprietors have spent a fair amount of time with “Coach Jake” (as you’ll see below in THE MEAT) and we are very excited to present an interview with this extraordinary man, currently gearing up for his 28th season and battling our mayor in the press over the displacement of countless youth teams from the soccer fields on Randall’s Island (more on that below), as this week’s…
THE BREAD
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
Duplex Deli: Coach, how are you doing today?
Coach Jake: Good, good. You know, I can’t believe I’m so busy. You know this field situation of course so I’m all over the news and stuff but that doesn’t mean shit to me... I’ve got at least six games affected, but I think I’ve got a solution so I’m happy now.
Duplex Deli: Glad to hear. Coach, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Coach Jake: Martin Jacobson aka Coach Jake. Longtime educator, and head soccer coach for Martin Luther King, Jr. High School in Manhattan. I’ve been coaching for close to 40 years. And our team is perenially one of the top teams in the country, winning 20 championships. I played since I was 11 years old, went on to play in college at Indiana and majored in physical education and health, and started coaching soccer and wrestling immediately afterwards. In 1968, which ages me quite a bit.
Duplex Deli: Tell us a little bit about MLK, both as a school and an athletic program.
Coach Jake: Well I didn’t mention I’m the co-Athletic Director and have been for two decades. King was one large urban high school, until eight years ago they split it into six different schools that share one campus. It’s a small school now, about 850 boys and 950 girls. The school when I got here was very troubled. We had shootings, stabbings, it was called “Horror High.” I believe that the soccer team helped create a better reputation for the school, and over the years the school has gotten better itself. And the only way to bring a campus school together is your athletic department. I love Martin Luther King. I love the kids who go there. It’s a challenging place, but it’s a great place.
Duplex Deli: You have a pretty astounding track record of success, how have you achieved it?
Coach Jake: When I first got [to MLK] we had 4,500 kids and I said this could be a great place to build a soccer team. The lightbulb went off in my head. It took me three years to win our first New York City PSAL Championship. There are 152 high schools in different categories and we’re in the top category, AA now and A back then, and what happened is that old adage of “if you build it they will come.” And that’s exactly what happened.
Duplex Deli: You’re running a soccer program at a public high school, but it seems like there are more options than ever for a talented kid in terms of where you can play. What does the youth soccer pipeline look like today?
Coach Jake: For most kids there are local soccer clubs. Downtown United, Asphalt Green, Manhattan Soccer Club, and the like. So, a talented kid will find a club that he’s comfortable with and that’s generally where I find out about him. A coach calls me from his team and says “hey, I got a great player and I want you to take a look at him.” I’ve developed relationships with all of the club coaches. The highly talented kid on the other hand has to make a decision. Because US Soccer insists that high school coaches don’t know what we’re doing, they say if you’re good enough you should come play for one of the academies. There are two high-level academies around here: NYCFC, and the Red Bulls’ academy out in New Jersey. But the percentage of those kids that make it, even though they’re highly talented, is like .0001%. So what I tell the highly talented kids that come play for us is we’ll help you get into college, we’ll help you with your life overall and see where you’re soccer career can take you.
Duplex Deli: Why is MLK the only public high school program in the country that seems to be able stay at the top of the national rankings, which is filled with private and Catholic schools?
Coach Jake: Other teams have gotten there. Newtown one time, Frances Lewis has been ranked before, Beacon too. Most of them are one-year wonders. Last year it was a team from Staten Island, Curtis High School, and they were able to do it. You know what it is? In Staten Island there was an influx of immigrants in an area near their school. There are some good players and teams in New York City, don’t get me wrong. A lot of them are new immigrants or first-generation immigrants.
Duplex Deli: Does the complexion of your team change year-to-year based on immigration patterns and who is coming to New York City?
Coach Jake: Well, it goes back to “if you build it they will come.” In New York City a kid can enroll in any school they want by just walking into the building. When I started, even though we’re on the Upper West Side, half my team came from Brooklyn. I had seven kids from Trinidad starring on my first championship team in 1996. I’ve had teams primarily made up of kids from West Africa. Last year my championship team was led by five kids from Honduras. Today we have 100,000+ undocumented immigrants arriving, and there’s going to be families enrolling their kids in school, and we have English as a second language so I’m hoping I can find some talented kids.
Duplex Deli: You’re in the news right now because of some of the challenges you’re dealing with on Randall’s Island, having your games cancelled so they can house some of those migrants, right?
Coach Jake: They took a group of soccer fields on and are in the process of making tents for 2,000 new immigrants that are going to live there. There are public school games, private school games, club games, and college games on those fields. To do this, they’re canceling 3000 hours of permit use, and 60 public school soccer games. And they gave us no backup plan for where those games could move. I’m an advocate for immigrants, clearly, but you can’t take away from the kids of the city of New York, many of whom are immigrants. Those are our kids’ fields. So I’m in the process of trying to readjust because we have a season coming up and the PSAL is going to have to figure something out
Duplex Deli: You have so many amazing stories of kids you’ve helped to a better life through soccer. But coaching soccer has also transformed, and maybe even saved your life. Talk a little bit about that.
Coach Jake: Coaching soccer has definitely transferred my life. When I was a mischievous youth, I discovered the sport through an immigrant Holocaust survivor who was my coach and that transformed me and gave me something in life to be passionate about. Listen, [as a player] I’m not a pro. I was good. When the North American Soccer League started I was good, but not good enough, and in fact I never even had the opportunity to try out because at that time I was in New Mexico and I was already the first public high school soccer coach in the state of New Mexico. I had put the passion I possessed for playing into coaching. And then, as has been documented, I fell into an incredibly horrible opioid addiction. I had quite a few downtrodden years on heroin, and eventually I left stopped coaching. But I made a comeback in New York City, where I grew up. I was able to find a home, again, and refind my passion to guide kids. And these kids have saved my life. The sport has saved my life. I’ve been clean for 30-something years. And it continues to save my life. I’m 77-years-old now and still coaching. So now I’m not only the winningest, but probably the oldest coach in the history of New York City right now.
THE SAUCE
There’s a rising senior named David Reyes on Coach Jake’s team that your Duplex Deli proprietors have gotten to know a little bit. A Bronx kid who came here from Honduras, we watched him contribute to their championship run last year as a bruising forward. We also watched him go viral as D-Dotty, rapper and entertainer who, along with his cousin Wavyrioo, created a stunningly infectious ode to the quintessential New York City sandwich. I dare you to find a better song about bacon-egg-and-cheeses than “Bacon, Egg N Cheese:”
THE MEAT
Now we’re going to break the fourth wall a little bit. Duplex Deli had the privilege of working with Shutterstock Studios (shoutout to Aiden, Mark, Zimam, Michelle, Gabe and the whole squad over there) to capture the story of MLK’s 2022 season and championship run. We spent countless hours with Coach Jake, his staff, the kids and their families to try and understand how you achieve this level of greatness and what the on- and off-field challenges you confront along the way. We’re biased, but we think it’s the next great New York City story. And it’s looking for a home. Check out the sizzle below, and feel free to pass along to any friends at streamers or networks who might be looking to air a story about the winningest team in all of sports:
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for:
#IRLSANDWICH
This is the Peck’s Breakfast Sandwich at (dramatic pause) Peck’s, arguably the finest in Duplex Deli proprietor Jon’s home turf of Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Yes, it’s a little bougie, and it’s 2x the B.E.C. price D-Dotty and Wavyrioo flipped out about in their video. But it’s just… really damn good. Like, spectacularly good. We think it’s the Portuguese bun, but frankly every element stands out. Nothing beats your local, tried-and-true (as of late) $4.50 bodega special. But if you’re feeling bougie, nothing beats Peck’s. Tell us if you feel otherwise.
And thus concludes another Duplex Deli Sandwich Club. Please keep the feedback coming, reply to this email with your #IRLSANDWICH-es, and hit duplexdeli.com if you want to talk business. Thanks for reading.