Before They Drew X's and O's, Football 2010

Before They Drew X's and O's . . .

As you can imagine, many of the head coaches and assistants currently associated with city
leagues' football teams are former players. Since I'm ancient (smile), I wrote stories about
many of them during their high school careers.
We hope you enjoy this feature.
Would you like to see a story about someone who played in the Public, Catholic or Inter-Ac
leagues and is now a coach (assuming I did one on him)? Send me a note at silaryt@phillynews.com.
Thanks,
Ted

These stories, from the 2005-06 school year, concern Episcopal assistant
Tim Ivory, a "quarterback" in two sports (football/basketball) for the
Churchmen. Two of Tim's claims to fame: When the Churchmen scored
FIVE defensive TDs in one game in '04, he scored one of them on an
interception return. And in '06, he was the point guard for the squad we
consider the best in Inter-Ac basketball history (with Wayne Ellington,
Gerald Henderson). He played hoops at Hobart.

When the huddle breaks, Episcopal's Ivory enjoys making the calls

By TED SILARY silaryt@phillynews.com

Tim Ivory is undecided whether someday he might want to coach football.

Ah, take the plunge, kid. You're already getting experience.

Often, Ivory is the man who calls the plays run by Episcopal Academy. On the fly, too. With the play-clock running down. And with growling guys standing in front of him, hoping to barrel across the line of scrimmage and loosen his teeth.

Ivory, a 5-10, 165-pound senior, is the quarterback. And, kind of, the offensive coordinator.

"It's pretty cool to have that kind of responsibility," Ivory said. "About 75 percent of the time, coach [Bill] Gallagher will send in the formation and then it's up to me to call the play at the line of scrimmage based on what I see from the defensive front. He trusts me to get us into something good.

"I'm no Peyton Manning at it, but I think I'm doing OK. It's fun. "

Saturday, Ivory showed well in all areas while leading the Churchmen past visiting Ss. Neumann-Goretti, 33-13, in a nonleague game.

Aside from passing 5-for-10 for 104 yards and one touchdown apiece to Sean Cohen, Matt Byrne and Andrew Kissner, he rushed nine times for 40 yards and just once (for only 1 yard) was dropped for a loss.

Also, from his outside-linebacker spot, he recovered an errant lateral at the N-G 37 and managed a 6-yard return, giving birth to a scoring drive.

"By their formation, I thought they were going to run," Ivory said. "But when they did [the backward pass], I was ready. My eyes lit up when I saw the ball on the ground. "

Episcopal's main rusher, sophomore Bobby FitzPatrick (21-74, TD), is the brother of last year's star QB, Brian FitzPatrick, now at Cornell. The line includes center Scott Ritrovato, guards Sam Daly and Matt Ebert and tackles Zachary Morse and Tom Mulligan.

"The protection was great and my teammates kept making plays," said Ivory, who has played QB since his football debut in the sixth grade at St. Margaret, in Narberth. "The catch by Charlie Barks on the sideline [leaping, well-covered, 16-yard gain in second quarter] was the best I've ever seen in person. Incredible.

"We don't have D-I prospects, but we get along and work well together. We put in our time at practice and so far it's showing. "

Ivory also plays baseball and basketball, and the latter is his favorite and what he hopes to play at the D-III level. More than once last season, he used his feisty ways to provide the heralded Churchmen with significant boosts off the bench.

"The whole city was watching our basketball games, so that was exciting," he said. "Dylan Brown was a great point guard, and I had no problem backing him up. My goal was to help us do well as a team. This year I'll be hoping to make a bigger contribution. "

Meanwhile, as he now watches NFL and college games, Ivory finds himself trying to call plays as offenses reach the line.

"Do they run what I think they should? Not too often, really," he said, laughing.

And, of course, the plays he calls for Episcopal sometimes flop.

"When I come to the line," he said, "a lot of thoughts are running through my head. I have to go with one. If a play doesn't work, coach Gallagher will give me a funny look that says, 'What the heck was that?' " *

----

Episcopal's steady hand
Out of stars' shadows, Ivory lends a hand in victory

Feb 08, 2006

By TED SILARY silaryt@phillynews.com

TIM IVORY needs to take a harder look at the pick-a-college process.

No offense to New York University, Hobart, Union and some other schools he's eyeing, with designs on playing Division III basketball, but there's gotta be a school along Tobacco Road that would make more sense.

Ivory could live a wonderful hoops life. Play on some nights. Spend others watching perhaps the nation's two most storied programs. After getting in free.

How could Duke-bound Gerald Henderson and North Carolina-bound Wayne Ellington possibly give Ivory the cold shoulder?

He's their main man. Their buddy for life. He's also their point guard. The guy who always tries to find a way to make them look good.

No matter where he winds up for college, Ivory said he's "going to try to go to all the UNC-Duke games. I don't know who I'm going to root for, though. "

Pause.

"And later I'll be hitting them up for NBA tickets. "

Ivory spoke yesterday after Episcopal Academy, in surprisingly no-sweat fashion, clinched its second consecutive Inter-Ac League title.

The Churchmen (9-0; one to go) jumped to a 10-0 lead in the first 4 minutes and went on to thump visiting Penn Charter (7-2), 70-43.

The headliners? The usual guys. Henderson mixed 20 points, 14 rebounds and five assists. Ellington, chosen yesterday to play April 22 at Madison Square Garden in a national all-star game, had 21 points and seven boards and helped hold PC's Virginia-bound junior guard, Sammy Zeglinski, to 11 points. Center Mike Yocum, who's headed for D-I Albany, added 15 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks.

And then there was Ivory, with nine points and three assists.

Though Ivory is not quite gigantic at 5-9, 160 pounds, he was the football quarterback and, as hoops coach Dan Dougherty likes to say, "No one takes his lunch money. "

No takes him for granted, either.

Ivory dismissed the notion he might have felt guilty at some points, especially earlier in the season, when he launched the occasional trey.

"As I went along, I learned that the more shots I take, the better it is, actually," he said. "As long as they're good shots. It means defenses can't focus in just on [Henderson/Ellington/Yocum]. But mostly I try to create and play good defense. "

Ivory came off football with a tender ankle and missed almost all of basketball's instructional sessions. He exhibited patience and maintained his hope and became a factor shortly before Christmas.

"I thank coach Doc for giving me a chance," he said. "Once that happened, it was up to me to make the most of it. "

Episcopal (23-4) has up to four games remaining and a chance to tie the 1991 squad (27-2) for most wins in school history.

The starters that season were Jerome Allen, Eric Moore, Brian Dougherty (Dan's son, now his assistant), Chris Wyszynski and Toebe Hinckle. Allen, a star at Penn, played briefly in the NBA. (This season's fifth starter is Charlie Barks. )

"Twenty-seven wins - that's one of our goals. But even if we don't get that, this has to be my best team," said Dougherty, who's in his 27th Episcopal season over two stints. "This year's schedule has been incredibly tough. "

Ivory said he'll always remember the shot by Ellington that gave the Churchmen a nationally televised Palestra win over Neumann-Goretti.

And a subsequent Big House loss to mighty Oak Hill Academy (Va. )

"Especially how the whole crowd was chanting 'Overrated!' when they held the ball on us," he said. "That was unbelievable. "

He added: "I'll always remember how amazing 'G' and Wayne are. And how they're better people than they are players.

"My kids will be able to watch them on TV someday. And I'll show them the game tapes from when I was playing . . . I'll tell them I was kinda good, too. "

No one will argue.*