Pascack Valley head coach Jeff Jasper during the preliminary round Bergen County Tournament girls basketball game between Pascack Valley and Northern Highlands at Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, NJ on 1/30/25. Scott Faytok | NJ Advance Media Scott Faytok | NJ Advance Media
Jeff Jasper leans forward at the restaurant table and warns his breakfast companion that the story he is about to tell is a sensitive one. Without it, he explains, it is impossible to understand the why behind his 52-year coaching career.
“So I’m in the Mekong Delta, okay, which is the southern part of Vietnam,” he begins. “We’re right in monsoon season, torrential rain. I’m literally up to my ass in water behind a dike. We’re in the middle of a firefight. I got my poncho up over my head.”
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