Charlie Eisenbach is the unofficial photographer of both the Boys & Girls Archbisop Molloy High School basketball squads and runs a page dedicated to the Girls squad. Charlie took on the impromptu role when his daughter Averianna made the girls varsity team. Molloy is located in Briarwood, Queens and has been around since 1957 as boys catholic school until 2000 when it finally became co-educational and opened its doors to women.
The school has long been known for its dominant athletics program in New York City. Legendary baseball and basketball coach Jack Curran ran their program for over 50 years and produced two LeFrak City Queens born and raised future NBA point guards Kenny Smith and Kenny Anderson.
Today, the school continues its rich tradition in basketball dominance with the two basketball players shown in the photo above, Moses Brown, McDonalds All-American and the #1 ranked high school center in NYC is from Hollis, Queens and is pcitured in the foreground and Cole Anthony, who is being recruited by Duke, Kansas, & Georgetown, is the son of former NY Knicks guard Greg Anthony and hails from Jamaica, Queens is shown here in the back.
Back to Charlie:
This photograph is one of many great photos taken by Charlie which he features on both his personal Instagram page @kickhisasscbass as well the unofficial Molloy girls page @amhs.girlsbasketball.
By day Charlie, the Brooklyn native is a veteran employee of the City of New York Department of Sanitation, and how I came to learn about Charlie was through the photography he took of his DSNY co-workers. Via his personal page, Charlie posted images that showed an incredible insider perspective that could only be captured by one of its own.
To this day Charlies DSNY images are one of my favorite original photo stories that I have discovered on Instagram. I feel like I learn something new about his co-workers and the job, even though he doesn't provide much written context. His photos really tell a story on their own, highlighting the humility, strength and toughness of his co-workers. He is currently putting together a pitch deck for a coffee table book of these DSNY photos.
I consider Charlie a friend and have been fortunate to call him a supporter of Queenscapes for a while now. He attended our first photo walk in Long Island City back in 2015 and was the also the featured lead for our collaborative photo exhibit, #RootedInQueens16 that exhibited at the now shuttered QNS Collective also in L.I.C.
If you are a fan of portraits, or can just appreciate a good photo please check out Charlie's work now on his primary Instagram page now @kickhisasscbass. #BrooklynQueensConnection