Westinghouse basketball: Winning with one of their own

Former Major League Baseball catcher Joe Pignatano is smiling. He’s not alone.

Joining him are former NBA player Larry McNeill; Roosevelt Chapman, a star basketballer at the University of Dayton; and actor Michael K. Williams.

Oh, there’s more, with a wide grin.

How about Jay Z aka Shawn Carter; Busta Rhymes, aka Trevor Smith, Jr.; The Notorious B.I.G., aka Christopher Wallace; and Theophilus London?

Yup, they’ve all got smiles, from ear-to-ear. And, they’re all graduates of George Westinghouse High School.

Those smiles are well earned — the basketball team of their alma mater is on a roll.

Thanks to yet another grad of the school , located at 105 Tech Place, Downtown Brooklyn.

Everett Kelley, a 1990 Westinghouse grad, is the school’s basketball coach — and the team has rattled off a perfect 8-0 mark in the PSAL thus far and 10-1 overall.

“I started teaching at Westinghouse in ’92,” the coach told the Eagle this week. “This will be my 33rd year in the classroom.”

Oh, did we mention Kelley also played basketball for Westinghouse? “I had some offers,” he said. “Seton Hall, Rhode Island, but I went to junior college.”

And he returned to coach basketball for the school 20 years ago.

“All the kids know my history,” Kelley says. “In fact, I wasn’t very motivated when I played at GW; but I had a great feel for the game.”

Kelley says Westinghouse is his whole life.

“As a student, I walked to school; now, I walk to work,” he said.

But he admits the career and technical education high school has seen some changes over the years. “We had over 10 vocational areas — machine repair, electrical computer repair and more back then. Now, we have four programs — computer repair, IT support, STEM and culinary.”

And a super basketball team.

Kelley teaches electrical info at the school, but his best work is in the gymnasium with his team.

“Two of my best…