Greater Middlesex Conference renames baseball tournaments in honor of Muldowney, Cipperly

It’s been almost a decade since the passing of Ray Cipperly, the longtime East Brunswick Tech (as it was called at the time) Athletic Director who also quite notably was their head groundskeeper.

It’s been less than a year since the passing of legendary former Edison baseball coach Jim Muldowney.

But both now are being honored by the Greater Middlesex Conference, which is renaming its two postseason baseball tournaments after them, following a vote Thursday night by the league’s Athletic Directors.

GMC President Mike Pede – who’s also the Athletic Director for the Middlesex County Magnet Schools, as they’re now known – says Muldowney’s name will be on the “main” GMC Tournament, which includes the top 16 seeds and was won last year by Old Bridge. The Invitational, which features the remaining teams and was won last season by Carteret – will be named after Cipperly.

Official names have not yet been determined, but the changes will take effect this year.

Muldowney passed away in late May of last season, and was coaching Middlesex College softball at the time of his death at the age of 68. A 1973 Edison High School graduate, he was hired as head baseball coach in 1988, and quickly turned the Eagles into a powerhouse. His teams went 275-75, won seven GMC titles, and two state Group 4 titles in 13 seasons before he stepped down at the end of the 2000 season.

*A team photo of the 1993 Edison baseball team, which won their division, the GMC Tournament title, and the state Group 4 title. Muldowney is on the far right. (Photo courtesy Brian Calantoni)*

Edison is tied with St. Joseph-Metuchen for the most GMC Tournament titles all-time with eight. All came in a 12-year span from 1990 through 2001.

His 1993 team – which included current Edison pitching coach Brian Appelman – became the first in GMC history to complete the trifecta of division, county and state champions in the same season, a feat only matched once since, by Spotswood’s 2007 team.

*This plaque sits outside the field Ray Cipperly built from the ground up at what then was known as East Brunswick Tech. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)*

Cipperly wasn’t just EB Tech’s AD, baseball coach and groundskeeper, though. He was nationally recognized, designing, building and maintaining a top-notch natural grass surface that was named National High School Baseball Coaches Association Diamond of the Year in 1996. He also was head groundskeeper for the Trenton Thunder, and later the Somerset Patriots. A graduate of Woodbridge High School in the 1960s – where he also played baseball – he passed away in October of 2015.

Click below to hear GMC President Mike Pede talk about honoring Jim Muldowney and Ray Cipperly by putting their names on the league’s postseason baseball tournaments: