Bridgewater ramps up effort to restore storied Hobbstown park

BRIDGEWATER – The township has applied to the state for a grant to improve David and Phillip Miller Park in the Hobbstown section.

"The park is in dire need of an upgrade," Councilman Howard Norgalis said at the Feb. 15 Township Council meeting, adding that some people "might consider it unsafe."

He said the grant would fund upgrades so "kids could enjoy being kids and do it safely."

The Council's vote to approve the grant application was met with applause by neighborhood residents at the meeting.

In 2020, the township officially renamed Somerville Manor Park, commonly known as Hobbstown Park, on Monmouth Avenue to David and Philip Miller Park to honor the brothers who influenced generations of youths in the neighborhood, including their nephew, former NBA player Eric Murdock.

Last year Murdock and Bridgewater-Raritan High School teammate Lance Miller, who played professionally overseas nine years, told the Township Council they wanted to improve the park where they had developed their basketball skills.

When they visited the park, they were dismayed at its appearance. Grass grew in cracks in the basketball court and weather-beaten rims hung from metal backboards.

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“I hadn’t been down here in years,” Murdock told MyCentralJersey.com. “Last month I drove by and saw this and said, ‘Ah, man, we have to do something.'"

"I wouldn't have made it to the NBA if it wasn't for the park," Murdock told the Council, explaining that's where he and others learned "competitiveness, integrity, respect and how to be a team player."

In September the Eric Murdock Foundation and Team Miller held a basketball tournament at Bridgewater-Raritan High School to raise money for improvements to the park.

The competitive state grant, administered by the Department of Community Affairs, will award up to $100,000 with the township matching 5% from its Open Space Fund.

David and Philip Miller grew up in Bridgewater and both attended local schools – David graduated Somerville High School while Philip graduated from Bridgewater-Raritan High School. David was a player for the Raiders, a New Jersey minor league baseball team which he later managed in conjunction with his brother Philip, who died in 1999.

The Miller brothers served as positive role models for generations of youth from Hobbstown, to include other storied athletes like Ernie Van Ness, Jonathan Williams and Randy Johnson.

Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Bridgewater NJ ramps up effort to restore storied Hobbstown park