SEPT. 28
TEDBIT
  In the 1992-93 school year, which turned out to be the final one for St. James High, in Chester, Michael Menichini filled the role of class president and basketball captain. In the Bulldogs' final game, a loss to Carroll on Feb. 28, he scored eight points. Six years later, he was fatally injured in a Jeep accident in Florida. Tomorrow, Michael will be inducted into the Saint James Wall of Honor. Nineteen years ago, a group of friends and family members started a scholarship fund to honor Michael's memory and, thanks primarily to the Michael Menichini Golf Classic, held each June at Paxon Hollow Country Club, in Broomall, more than $300,000 has been raised and distributed to high school and college scholar-athletes in the Delaware Valley. Jim Tucker, long a Catholic League football official, grew up with Michael's parents, Ralph and Helene, and their families have remained close to this day. Michael's sister, Lauren, was an All-Catholic basketball honoree at O'Hara and played in college at Mount Saint Mary. "Tuck" is heavily involved with the scholarship fund and we thank him for letting us know about this special honor for Michael. Congrats and best wishes to everyone involved.

A pic of Michael, as shown at the Wall of Honor ceremony. Provided by
Jim Tucker.

Here is a bio, as also provided by Tuck . . .

JULY 26
  Kevin Silary's report on a game from the 2008 season . . .
FEB. 2, 2008
FINALLY . . .
Kevin Silary's FULL Report on the GAMP-Audubon game, which was played LAST Saturday
(He had exams this week. He did half earlier, then finished up today under pressure from Dad -- smile)
Audubon 74, GAMP 72 (3 OTs)
  It's really hard to write game reports, and I don't like it, but it's all good!
  Last Saturday I went to another GAMP vs. Audubon game, at Audubon. It was better than last year's. Very exciting, considering the triple overtime and all.  Anyway, I don't know much about basketball these days, but I'd have to say that despite the score GAMP was definitely the better team. Junior PG LaRon Byrd and senior WG Stefan Thompson led the team through great hardships and havoc.  Audubon's team was good, I'll give them that, but I just didn't really like them. They were like real stupid and stuff. But, uh, I guess I'll get to the actual game.
  The jump ball was in the air a really short time because neither team had tall starting centers! The first point was by GAMP at 6:43 by Foster McKoskey. Then, more than three minutes later, the Green Wave got their first point. And that's about all that happened! At the end of the first quarter, it was boring but I could already sense some tension between the two equal teams. The score was 15-7 GAMP
  W-A-V-E Audubon's Butt. I don't know why that's in my notes. I think that's what I thought their cheerleaders were saying, probably! ha, ha.
  Anyway GAMP was playing much better b-ball at this point. Byrd and Thompson were tearing up the Green Wave like they were on jet skis. Um, #10 from Audubon shouldn't make no-look passes because he messed up one too many. I don't think I took good notes at this point, so, um, the score was 21-15 at the half. Sorry 'bout that!
  OK, so the start of the second half was when it started getting good! The refs in the first half were good, but through the 3rd quarter they were getting real bogus! They were calling traveling on GAMP every other play, which really hindered their chances for a win.  Audubon got the lead by a missed and-1 rebound play. The quick play proved to be enough to boost up the score to an Audubon lead, 35-34 . . .
  I'll finish this later. My pop has been bugging me all week. I had midterm exams. He told me, "Do the report! Get your priorities straight!" Ha, ha, ha. First he said to do the rest of this "within a month." Then he changed it to "within a DAY." It's not easy being this guy's son, and stuff.
 -- BREAK OF A COUPLE  DAYS TOOK PLACE HERE --
   The refs were still killing the game for my boys from GAMP, and it was starting to get everyone pretty upset. The score was flopping back and forth till the end of the 4th. With 33 second left it was 45-44 GAMP.  Audubon was getting restless and their coach was jumping around like a little leprechaun, which wasn't too intimidating. Some foul shots from each team made it 48-46 GAMP. Then #3 from Audubon drove in from the top of the key and made a layup to make it 48-48. GAMP got the ball and let the clock tick down.  It appeared Thompson thought they were still up by one (he was pointing like that right after) so he let the clock run down almost all the way, and unfortunately GAMP wasn't able to finish off the Green Wave (Byrd missed a buzzer-beater), so the game went into overtime.
    Overtime started off with a bang!  Unfortunately the bang was coming from Audubon, which made the score 55-49 at one point. But of course, the refs were favoring Audubon and still stinkin' big time and the guy sitting behind me (well, up behind my pops) was really creeeeepy. GAMP was pickin' it up now and things were getting crazy. It was 58-57 Audubon and their ball at the end line. Byrd forced the 5-second rule on Audubon when they failed to pass it in on time, and that gave GAMP the ball. It went back and forth now. Byrd then got fouled driving in and got two shots. He made both and before we all know it, it's 61-59, GAMP! But, then again, Audubon drove through the Pioneers' defense and tied it up at 61.
  Now double OT. GAMP started things off with Byrd and Thompson having their share of buckets and boost up the score to 66 points, but the verdant shaded wave is following in their footsteps, and they get 66 as well.  Both teams miss their chances for points at the foul line and it was 66-66 at the end of double OT.
  TRIPLE OVERTIME NOW. AND THINGS WERE GETTING INTENSE. Both teams scored 2 and it was 68-all! It was getting crazy in this tiny gym, and the Audubon coach and the guy sitting behind me were still buggin' me. Thompson rebounded a shot and made it 72-69! 44.6 seconds left and Byrd dropped a pass. The score was 74-72, Audubon. GAMP was driving. Byrd passed it to Christian Matticks and he missed a 3. Carl Guignard went after the rebound and forced a jump ball. It was GAMP ball, along the baseline. Thompson passed it to Guignard with less than 4 sec. left. He shot the ball, and missed. Audubon won, 74-72. =(
  You GAMP guys played great and you should've won. There were many obstacles you had to overcome and you cleared all except for one. Everyone was cool!! GAMP RULES!! Audubon does not!!
  Here are some stats from my Pop . . .

JULY 20
TEDBIT
  My report on a crazy game from the 2007 season . . . And make sure to check out the bonus tidbit, which focuses on the legendary Thomas "Hockey Puck" McKenna.
MARCH 24, 2007
PIAA CLASS AA STATE FINAL
Prep Charter 68, Aliquippa 66
  Anyone have a Bible? Before writing this report, I should probably place my left hand on the Good Book and raise my right hand and then swear/affirm/whatever that everything will be the whole truth, etc. And even THEN you might not believe it. As mentioned in the Alerts section, this game featured circumstances for the ages and somehow, incredibly, PC wound up with a second consecutive state title. We'll list some now, in no special order . . .
  *With exactly 4:00 showing on the clock in the fourth quarter, PC trailed by 14 points, at 60-46.
  *PC committed 33 turnovers, with SEVENTEEN coming from the team's far-and-away best players, the Memphis-bound Morris twins, 6-9 Marcus (10) and 6-10 Markieff (seven).
  *PC used its last timeout with 5:31 left in the THIRD quarter.
  *Marcus posted one field goal for the GAME.
  *In the first 12-plus minutes of the game, the twins combined for FOUR points.
  *Just before the third quarter began, a PC fan seated right behind press row yelled to the players, "It's a long bus ride home, without a W!" He did not get the desired response. Aliquippa scored six consecutive points in 48 seconds to zoom further ahead, at 37-23.
  *Markieff was the only Husky with a field goal over an 11-minute period that spanned from late-first to early-third.
  *Markieff incurred his fourth foul with 35 seconds left in the third quarter (and never fouled out).
  *Sr. G Kevin Radford incurred HIS fourth foul with 8 seconds left in the same session (and never fouled out). Side note: the official box lists him with three fouls, but No. 4 was announced at the time. It's a mystery (smile).
   So, how did Prep Charter win? In wild and wacky fashion. As much as PC slit its own throat again and again in the first 28 minutes, that was exactly what Aliquippa did in the final four. The Quips rushed and lost their poise and suffered a big blow with 2:24 left when their franchise player, sr. F Herb Pope (New Mexico State), fouled out with the score at 62-57. From then on, Aliquippa unraveled and the Huskies said to themselves, in effect, "These guys are pooping their pants. This game is ours to WIN!" PC caught two big breaks to help make up for the absence of timeouts. There were delays for injured players with 5:41 (a Quip) and 5:06 left (a Husky) and PC had a chance to collect its breath and regroup. And then, late in the game, as he later admitted with a smile, Marcus untied his sneaker and then got to re-tie it with the referees' permission before shooting crucial free throws, again buying valuable collect-yourself time. Here are the major moments of the final minute: Q went ahead, 66-63, at 0:57 on the follow of a missed free throw (made possible in part because Markieff, with four fouls, shied away); PC turned it over at 49.1; Q missed a one-and-one at 42.7 (with Marcus rebounding); Markieff dunked on a feed from Marcus at 0:32; Q missed a double-bonus at 0:22 (with Marcus grabbing the rebound); Marcus got the ball on the left wing, backed his defender into the lane and was grabbed as he began to execute a move at 0:11; he missed the first freebie, but hit the second to create a 66-66 tie; Marcus stepped forward to help on defense and made a steal at 0:07 at close to three-quarters court; Marcus was fouled almost immediately at 0:06 and nailed two FTs to make it 68-66 for just the Huskies' third lead of the game (also 6-5 and 8-7); before he could launch a desperation shot, which would have come from a shade inside halfcourt, a Quip was called for traveling at 1.4. Phew, what an amazing turn of events! PC wound up putting four players in double figures in points: Markieff (16), Marcus (11, thanks to nine FTs), Radford (14, 4-for-5 on treys!) and soph PG Parrish Grant (13). Markieff (16) and Marcus (11) enabled PC to ring up a 47-43 rebounding edge. Radford's importance to this win cannot be minimized. Aside from the treys, he was EXTRA disruptive on defense. Frosh Shaquille Duncan also posted an effort to long remember by grabbing six rebounds in just eight minutes. Aside from its cheerleaders, PC had maybe 30-35 rooters. Aliquippa, almost the exact same distance from Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center (it's 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh), appeared to have a couple thousand
   BONUS TIDBIT
   Meanwhile, this was the most time I've spent in a car in one day in my LIFE. Just short of eight hours. Phew! The ride home featured a guest appearance by Puck, who was (by choice) in the back seat the whole time and spent part of the journey napping and snoring, big-time! We stopped at a rest stop near King of Prussia and got some Burger King food. Puck thought we were going to eat there. No way! So, we're heading for the door and Puck says, "'Hold on, I gotta take a cwap." Oh, baby. He puts his soda and bag of food on top of a trash can. I walk out to go get the car. I pull up in front of the door and wait and wait and wait . . . and finally, I see Puck bobbing and weaving inside the building, blurting out comments. People are looking at him . . . yeah, like he's nuts (brilliant deduction). He finally comes out and I say, "What the heck were you doing?" He plays dumb (not a stretch). "Whatcha mean? Nothin'." I say, "I know exactly what happened. You put your food and soda on top of that trash can, then couldn't remember where you put it. You were looking all over, asking people if they saw your food." He starts laughing. "How you know? I thought somebody stole my stuff." We drive a little more and I call the wife to let her know our locale and to provide entertainment with assorted Puck stories. She's been listening to them for almost 15 years now. She always loves them. After maybe 30 seconds, I tell her, "Here, say hi to Puck." I hand Puck the cell phone. He starts blabbing about all the day's crazy stuff and then says, "Yo, who winning the game?" I tell him, "Puck, she doesn't watch basketball on TV. Unless I force her to!" He says, "Yo, what you watchin'? Put the NCAA game on for me. Channel 3. I need to know who winnin' for my pool." Anne's place in heaven is sealed. She actually changed the channel and told Puck that UCLA was winning, 32-31. "Yeah!" Puck roared. He gave me back the phone and I said to Anne, "That was fun, eh?" She said, "Was that really him? I thought it was you, imitating him!"

JULY 5
TEDBIT
  Now that our Inter-Ac scoring numbers go back to the 1949-50 season, we can offer this nugget . . . Over the last 68 seasons, just three I-A players have averaged at least 18 points in as many as three league seasons. Bill Soens, a 1963 Penn Charter grad, was first and his lowest average, was 19.6. The other two guys, Malvern's Charlie Floyd ('74) and Episcopal's Nick Alikakos ('17), had two averages lower than that. Also, his No. 1 total (24.6) was also the highest and 63 of those points were scored in a blowout of Germantown Academy. That's still the I-A's one-game record.

JULY 3
TEDBIT
  The guys with high scoring averages don't always play for championship teams. But these guys did. Wilt Chamberlain owns three of the top six efforts and I guess we shouldn't be surprised by that.

JULY 1
TEDBIT
  Yesterday, a file featuring individual league/playoff scoring totals for all Public League champs from 1950 to 2015 was posted. While working on that, I noticed one unusual accomplishment for Edison's Mark Peterson in 1996 and then found two more -- for Gratz' Andre Griffin in '91 and Strawberry Mansion's Dawud Morris in 2002. From 1983 through 2006, the Pub playoffs included four rounds. Over those 24 years, Griffin, Peterson and Morris were the only guys whose scoring totals went up and up and up. Peterson had the most impressive climb, from five to 27. In the Owls' 74-48 overtime win over Gratz in the championship game, Mark shot 6-for-9 from the floor and 15-for-16 at the line. Also, he snagged a game-high 10 rebounds. If you're guessing he received major ink in the next day's Daily News, you're correct (smile).

JUNE 30
TEDBIT
  Over the 66 seasons from 1950 to 2015, 16 Public League champs finished the season with just one loss. The details are below. Three teams did not lose until they faced the Catholic League champ for the City Title. Overbrook's 1955 team, featuring Wilt Chamberlain, fell to host Farrell, a Western Pennsylvania power. Wilt's teammate and best friend was Vince Miller, who coached Frankford to Pub titles in '88 and '89. Vince told me several times that Farrell fans came into Overbrook's locker room after the loss to Farrell and apologized for the fact that suspect officiating had allowed Farrell to win . . . In the '78 season, Overbrook beat West Philadelphia, 62-61, to end the Speedboys' state-record, 68-game winning streak. In the next season, also in regular season play, West turned the tables by 58-55. 'Brook stormed to a 34-0 record in the 1980 season. So, if not for that loss in '79, the Panthers would have gone a combined 69-0.

JUNE 28
TEDBIT
  Folks of a certain age are likely aware that Wilt Chamberlain posted his 90-point performance against Roxborough. Some might even remember that he also racked up 74 vs. that same opponent and that BOTH outbursts occurred in the same season. In that season, 'Brook played 12 league games. It played 'Borough, West Philly and Dobbins twice apiece while facing six schools once apiece. Wilt averaged 47.2 points in those 12 games while the Hilltoppers averaged 94.4. Roughly, he averaged one and a half points per minute and his team averaged three PPM. In the PL playoffs he racked up 48 of 83 vs. Bok in a semi and 33 of 78 vs. West in the final.

JUNE 24
TEDBIT
  This list shows Top 10 "Our Guys" picks in the NBA draft. Territorial selections are not included. George Hauptfuhrer, a product of Penn Charter and Harvard, opted not to play. Instead, he attended Penn for law school. His son, Barnes, starred for PC in the '72 season and had a great career at Princeton. He was a third round draft choice. There have been no Top 10 guys since Roman's Eddie Griffin in 2001.

JUNE 23
TEDBIT
  . . . And the drought continues. For the sixth consecutive year, no graduates of Public/Catholic/Inter-Ac schools were selected in the NBA draft. Because the draft includes 60 picks these days, here's a list that shows all "Our Guys" picked within the Top 60 since the first draft in 1948. The list is broken down by 10-year periods -- 1948-57, 1958-67, etc. -- and this last period produced just five draftees. That ties the span from 1978-87 for lowest number picked. And these last 20 years formed the most unproductive two-pack, by far. Just 12 guys were picked. Can we get back to the old days? Let's hope. . . . (Territorial picks can be found the main list. That rule bit the dust after 1965.)

--

JUNE 22
TEDBIT
  Back on June 11, we posted a list of the Inter-Ac's Top 15 scorers in league play for the 49 seasons from 1969 through 2017. Research conducted since then has fleshed out the scoring back to 1949-50, so the numbers on the list below include 68 seasons and Top 15 has been expanded to Top 25. The top two spots belong to Germantown Academy's Eric Minkin ('68) and Paul Hutter ('70). Both guys played five varsity seasons. The Inter-Ac had more teams for five of the seven seasons from '64 through '70, so the games played were 12 in '64 and 14 from '65 through '68. The I-A has played 10 games in every season since '69.
  UPDATE: Made a trip today to Temple's Paley Library in search of missing boxscores for I-A and CL games. Alas, only one that was NOT published in the Daily News or Inquirer WAS published in the ol' Philadelphia Bulletin. But it did involve GA during the Eric Minkin Era (vs. CHA in '65) so 15 points have been added to his total. The only missing game now was played 2/18/64, also vs. CHA. Minkin had only six points in that season -- don't hold it against him, he was only in the eighth grade -- so it's possible 930 IS his final total. 

JUNE 20
TEDBIT
  Some nuggets discovered while researching Inter-Ac basketball from 1950 to 1968 . . .
  The 1949-50 season was Malvern's first in the Inter-Ac. Toward the end, Charles "Jerry" Kehoe scored 40, 31 and 25 points in consecutive games. His coach was Stan Jaworowski, who later changed his surname to Javie and served as the back judge in four Super Bowls. Stan's son, La Salle High product Steve Javie, was a long-time NBA ref . . . For whatever reason, I'd always believed Charlie Zoll had set Germantown Academy's still-standing school record for points in one game vs. Bryn Athyn, now known as Academy of the New Church. Innnnnncorrect. He dropped his 54-point bomb on Akiba Academy on Feb. 12, 1952, and did so while notching 21 field goals and 12 free throws. GA won, 97-23, and the score was 55-5 at halftime. Ouch. Zoll averaged 14.1 points in Inter-Ac games that season . . . On Jan. 13, 1956, Malvern's Don O'Neill, also the quarterback, scored 20 points in a 53-28 win over Haverford School. And he tallied just one field goal! He sniped 18-for-20 at the line . . . This has nothing to do with hoops, but it's interesting/sad. In the Inquirer on Feb. 11, 1956, there was a picture of an Ursinus senior named Virginia Stecker being wheeled by police out of the swimming pool area at Penn. During a meet vs. Drexel, she'd dislocated her shoulder while competing in the 50-yard backstroke . . . In 1959 Malvern had a player named Plater-Zybeck. In those times, can't imagine too many people had hyphenated surnames . . . The late Steve Sabol, of NFL Films fame, was a sub for Haverford School in 1960. He scored four points in league play, two apiece vs. Germantown Academy and Penn Charter . . . In 1962, Chestnut Hill fell to Friends' Central, 34-28, and just two players scored for the Hillers -- Al McCook (22) and Don Gehman (six) . . . In a 1967 game vs. Chestnut Hill, Malvern's Joe Walters and Rick Barone scored 32 points apiece.

JUNE 19
TEDBIT
  A recent nugget pointed out that Bishop Kenrick's 1976 team won all three of its games in the Catholic League playoffs despite receiving no points from substitutes, and that NO other CL champ over the last 68 seasons has accomplished that feat. And now there's this: Over the last few days, I've been researching Inter-Ac League individual scoring back to the 1949-50 season and one of the focus campaigns last night was 1954-55. So, I'm jotting down the numbers for Germantown Academy and it hits me after five games. "Hey, only the starters have scored so far. How is THIS going to turn out?" Next game. Only the starters. Next game. Only the starters. By this point I'm thinking, "How cool would this be if they went through all 10 games with no points from the subs?" Next game. Ohhhhh! The boxscore for an 86-56 loss to Penn Charter showed one point for a guy named Holmes. Scott Holmes, it turned out. He scored two points apiece in the final two games and a guy named Walt Mayer had two in No. 9. So that was it. No points from subs in the first seven games and seven total over 10 games. The starters were Bob McCaughey, Dick Crawford, Jack Turner, Don Crawford (Dick's brother) and Jim Fraser. Bob, Don and Jim were seniors. In the next season, Dick and Jack were starters along with Holmes, Mayer and George Tattersfield. Two names should ring big bells for folks of a certain age. Jack Turner was GA's football coach for 23 seasons and won I-A championships in '66 and '73. Football was also the primary sport for Jim Fraser. A linebacker and punter, he played for six seasons in the AFL/NFL after starring at Wisconsin. As a rookie, he even did some kicking and went 2-for-2 on PAT. His career included 278 punts for 11,737 yards (42.2 average) along with three interceptions. Those stats were found on www.pro-football-reference.com. The scoring numbers for those 1954-55 GA Patriots (5-5 record) are below.
  UPDATE: Received an email this morning from Ted Rauch, who captained Haverford School's 1957 Inter-Ac champs and earned first team honors. Ted is a regular at the Fords' games and checks in every so often to discuss assorted HS/I-A matters. And guess what . . . He and Scott Holmes are fast friends. They attended Cornell together and served as each other's best man in wedding ceremonies. They even hung out for a short spell yesterday. Niiiice! Thanks for offering this info, Ted. All the best to you and Scott.

JUNE 16
TEDBIT
  Can't imagine too many basketball/baseball combos in any state have experienced this kind of success, let alone in Pennsylvania. Since the Catholic League joined the PIAA for the 2008-09 school year, N-G has captured nine state titles (seven bask/two base) and racked up a record of 58-8 (.879). Plus, seven of the eight setbacks have featured deficits of no more than five points/runs. Plus, part two, the combined record over the last four years is 33-2 (.943). The breakdown is right below.

JUNE 12
TEDBIT
  The list below shows the Catholic League's Top 25 scorers in league play AND playoffs from 1950 through 2017. Bonner's Jeff Jones leads the way with 1,094 while Roman has the most players with six. In case you're scrambling for a calculator, relax. I've done the deed for you (smile). Those six Cahillites combined for 5,469 points!

JUNE 11
TEDBIT
  The list below shows the Inter-Ac's Top 15 scorers in league play for the 49 seasons from 1969 through 2017. Episcopal's John Phillips leads the way with 738 and his school has the most players with five.

JUNE 9
TEDBIT
  When alumnus Bill "Speedy" Morris was hired as Roman Catholic's coach for the 1967-68 season, he was not exactly given a powerhouse. Over the previous 19 seasons, the Cahillites had gone 83-185 (.310) in Catholic League play while posting winning records just two times. Morris guided the Cahillites for 14 seasons, going 171-39 (.814) in CL play with six CL championships (1969, '73, '74, '78, '79 and '80), one City Title (1974 and playoff appearances in every season but '70. His combined record in CL playoffs and City Titles was 22-11. Well . . . Yesterday, while adding playoff points to Roman's individual scoring page, I noticed something rather unusual. A large number of those losses occurred in nail-biters. In fact, if the Cahillites had scored just 27 more total points in eight of those losses, and had spread them out the right way, wins would have resulted. To change all 11 losses into wins, 59 points would have turned the trick. That nine-point loss to Overbrook in the 1980 City Title was an overtime game. By the way, those '78 to '80 West Philly-Overbrook teams combined to go 101-2 (33-1, 34-1, 34-0). There was no CT in '73 due to a lengthy strike by Pub teachers.   

JUNE 7
TEDBIT
  . . . Speaking of prolific brothers, can't ignore the Zeglinskis. In just seven seasons from 2001 through '07, Zack, Joe and Sammy combined for 1,782 points in league play and 4,109 overall and that latter total would have sniffed 5,000 had Zack and Joe not suffered football injuries as seniors. Zack and Sammy played exclusively at Penn Charter. Joe played there as an eighth grader, then popped up at Archbishop Ryan. Their dad, John, starred there in football/baseball (he played both at Wake Forest) and was also a basketball sub. Zack earned first team All-Inter honors four times, twice in baseball and once apiece in football/basketball. Joe earned All-Catholic honors three times, twice in hoops (and even a third time on an honorary basis) and once in football (plus an honorary there, as well). Sammy was a three-timer in basketball (and also a baseball starter). Zack, incredibly, played three sports at three colleges -- football at Penn State, baseball at Temple and basketball at Hartford. Joe, now Ryan's coach, played hoops at Hartford and scored 2,016 career points. Sammy played at Virginia and scored 947 points. Zack had nine points at Hartford -- he and Joe were teammates in '10 -- so the trio's college total was 2,972. The high school and college total . . . 7,081!

JUNE 6
TEDBIT
  Shortly after yesterday's nugget on the Person brothers was posted, the head began to spin. Hmm, how about some other families? Probably because I'd also just posted Malvern's Inter-Ac scoring numbers, the Grandieri family was a natural. So, here we go . . . Four of the five players played high school hoops -- Fran and Chris at O'Hara, Brian and Tom at Malvern. For the first three, hoops was the major focus. For Tom, it was a "side job" because his primary focus was baseball. The breakdown is below and we're able to list overall totals because the guys mostly played during the website era and because great digging by Tom Taylor provided totals from the pre-website era. Fran and Chris played college ball at Widener and Gettysburg, respectively. In his senior season at O'Hara, Fran racked up a Catholic League average (14-325-23.2) that still ranks No. 1 in school history. Brian starred at Penn after Malvern and twice earned second team All-Ivy honors while once adding second team All-Big 5 laurels. Tom split between his college baseball career between Villanova (one year) and Penn (three). In his senior year, the outfielder was named the Ivy League Player of the Year. After assisting for a stretch at Episcopal, Tom just completed his first season as O'Hara's coach. The last brother, Dan, was a first team All-Inter-Ac DH at Malvern (Class of '14). He attends Saint Joseph's University and has retained a tie with his favorite sport by playing for the Hawks' club baseball team. Dan's basketball experience at Malvern was limited to the JV. Like the Person brothers, the Grandieris have one sister. Bernadette, who falls in line between Tom and Dan, attended O'Hara and played basketball/lacrosse. Tom said her athletic career was derailed by a major knee injury. . . So, the totals for Fran/Chris/Brian/Tom are 1,737 points in league play and 3,748 overall!      

JUNE 5
TEDBIT
  A few times through the years, we've mentioned the Persons and referred to them as the First Family of City Football. Reason: All six of the brothers wound up playing Division 1 football with Andy, Chris, Dan and Joe at Navy, Brian at Penn and Fran at South Carolina. Imagine, how many brother six-packs have played D-1 football? Can't be too many, even across the country. Now ask this question . . . How many members of D-1 football six-packs also played high school basketball? Go ahead, Person bros. Respond in unison, at full volume. "All of us!" (smile). Plus, all were starters or key subs. All six brothers graduated from Episcopal Academy, though Chris first attended Haverford School and the years he played there are noted with asterisks on the list below. Andy was a key sub for EA's Inter-Ac champs in 1990 and '91 while Chris was a first team All-Inter-Ac honoree in 1993. In all, the brothers combined to score 876 points in Inter-Ac play. There's one sister in the crew. Anne Marie also graduated from EA (in '05) and wound up playing lacrosse at American University. Like her brothers, she played hoops in high school. Here's hoping she scored at least 124 points in league play to give the family 1,000. . . Click here for a website page from 2006.

MAY 26
TEDBIT
  Here are the Top 25 scorers in Catholic League regular season history (based on total points, not average). Five of the top eight guys played for schools that are no longer with us. Bonner's Jeff Jones leads the way with 1,058.

MAY 24
TEDBIT
  As you likely know by now, I love it when guys play multiple sports and have strong faith in both the short-term and long-range benefits. With that in mind . . . Here are basketball scoring numbers in regular season league play (1950 on up) for Catholic League guys who advanced to the NFL. Check out the No. 1 guy on the list. Good, ol' Marvin Harrison, who last summer was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. No. 4 is John Cappelletti, who won the Heisman Trophy. In 2013, I posted an updated list of the best NFL-AFL players from high schools in Philadelphia's three city leagues (Public, Catholic, Inter-Ac). Five guys listed below -- Harrison, Jim Cooper, Frank Wycheck, Jim Katcavage and Rich Gannon -- were first-teamers and three others -- Anthony Becht, Cappelletti and Frank Gallagher -- were included on the Best of the Rest list. Not all players stayed with hoops through their senior year. GS means games in which the player scored.

MAY 22
TEDBIT
  School by school, I've been posting individual scoring in regular season Catholic League games going back to the 1949-50 season and one nugget has stuck with me since May 10. Info for Archbishop Carroll was posted that day and this is pretty amazing: In the 1979-80 season, only seven guys scored. Five did so in all 14 games, six in 13 and one in four. Last night, I zipped through the other pages and could find no other sevens. Definitely some eights and St. Thomas More even had three in a row from 1953 through '55. The guys with very few points usually score in blowouts. I couldn't help but wonder if Carroll played only tight games in '80. The results and margins are right below and the individual scoring details are below that. Carroll lost seven games by no more than six points. That year I covered the Patriots' game vs. St. James on Feb. 11. They lost, 49-47. In the last moments, Paul Adelizzi inbounded to Doug Abbonizio and wound up missing about an 18-foot jumper -- it lipped the rim and kicked out -- after accepting a return pass. My scorebook lists 10 players for Carroll. Except for Paul Sullivan, all guys on the list below scored. John Rogers played a little and missed one shot. Other names in the book were Charlie Caruso and Kevin McClatchy. In the preview for that season, a guy named Don McGuigan was included in the thumbnails. Not sure what happened to him along the way. Here's hoping that members of the Non-Seven DID manage to score some points in non-league games. Dan Mostardi was a basketball-baseball star. His sons, Vince ('10) and Joe ('14), also played hoops for the Patriots. The trio combined for 750 points in CL regular season play.  

MAY 17
TEDBIT
  Many former "Our Guys" stars (products of Catholic/Inter-Ac/Public schools) have wound up serving as head coaches at Catholic League schools. Yesterday, Will Chavis was hired to be McDevitt's next boss and he's No. 1 on the list below. Who's on it? -- CL "Our Guys" coaches who earned first team all-league honors and posted high scoring averages from 1950 on up. Most of the guys, as you might expect, played in the CL. Chavis did not. He starred at Engineering and Science ('98) and scored 340 points in 13 games for a 26.2 average. He then played at Texas Tech before enjoying a successful pro career overseas. His primary E&S teammate in '98 was John Cox. His dad, John "Chubby" Cox (Roxborough '73), played in the NBA and his cousin is none other than Kobe Bryant. The No. 2 guy on the list, St. Thomas More's Billy Hoy, is on it three times because he was an outrageous scorer and first-teamer even as a soph. North Catholic's Barry Brodzinski and Archbishop Ryan's Joe Zeglinski are on it twice, and "Ziggy" would have made a third appearance had he not missed most of his senior season due to injury. Other non-CL guys aside from Chavis: Malvern's Charles "Jerry" Kehoe (19.8 in 1950, the Friars' first season as an Inter-Ac member) and Penn Charter's Carl Arrigale (18.0 in 1984). Kehoe's sons, Terry and Tom, played at Bishop Kenrick, where Jerry coached, and Tom wound up coaching at Kenrick. His brother-in-law is Saint Joseph's University's long-time coach, Phil Martelli. Phil also coached at Kenrick and one of his assistants was the famed UConn women's coach, Geno Auriemma. If I missed someone who deserves a spot on the list, please email up. tedtee307@yahoo.com Thanks.  

MAY 16
TEDBIT
  Bryan Caver has been named the new coach at Conwell-Egan. He replaces Eric Kindler, who resigned after one season for personal reasons. Caver is the 12th African-American to head a basketball program in the Inter-Ac/Catholic leagues. Caver played high school ball at the ol' McCorristin Catholic in the suburbs of Trenton, NJ, and college ball at Seton Hall. He graduated from McCorristin in 1990. One of his teammates there was Mark Bass, who wound up playing for St. Joseph's University. Caver has been active in coaching assorted teams and running leagues. On the list below . . . Hal Greer, who coached Germantown Academy in the '79 and '80 seasons, was a star guard in the NBA and played 10 seasons with the 76ers. Ron Haigler, who coached Penn Charter in the '76 and '77 seasons, was an all-time player for Penn and is a member of the Big 5 Hall of Fame. Guy Moore coached at two schools, North Catholic and West Catholic. Best of luck to Bryan and the Eagles!
  UPDATE: Today, former Engineering and Science star Will Chavis, who earned first team All-Public and second team All-City honors in 1998, was named head coach at McDevitt. Will played his college ball at Texas Tech and followed with a lengthy pro stint overseas. He also did some coaching overseas. He becomes the eighth African-American to be named to coach a Catholic League school and the CL will have three for the 2017-18 season; also Jason Harrigan (O'Hara) and Bryan Caver (Conwell-Egan). Best of luck to Will and the Lancers!

MAY 14
TEDBIT

MAY 9
TEDBIT
  Kyle Lowry this season surpassed 10,000 career points in NBA/ABA regular season play and he's the ninth "Our Guy" (Public, Catholic, Inter-Ac) to accomplish that feat. In addition to points per game, the list below shows points per year. As mentioned along the way, Paul Arizin never played one minute of high school basketball while attending La Salle, which in that era was located at 20th and Olney (as part of the college). He grew up in South Philly. Imagine if he'd attended what was then Southeast Catholic (now Neumann-Goretti). He and Larry Foust, No. 7 on the list, would have been classmates. And maybe teammates as well. Meanwhile, how proud is Mark Heimerdinger? He coached TWO guys on the list at now-closed Cardinal Dougherty, Kyle and Cuttino "Cat" Mobley. Cat and Guy Rodgers are the lone lefties on the list. If I missed someone . . . tedtee307@yahoo.com. Thanks.
  UPDATE: This afternoon, Paul's son, Michael, attended the Penn Charter-Malvern baseball game. He mentioned that his dad and Larry Foust were friends, as were the families. In fact, Mrs. Foust was a bridesmaid in Mrs. Arizin's bridal party.

MAY 8
TEDBIT
  Due to a sweep by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semis, the 2016-17 NBA season is over for Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors. Lowry, who starred at Northeast (through 10th grade) and now-closed Cardinal Dougherty before spending two seasons at Villanova, was limited to eight playoff games this season due to ankle injuries. He scored 126 points for a 15.8 average. The list below, updated from last year, shows that Kyle now owns 774 playoff points, good for No. 7 among products of Public, Catholic and Inter-Ac schools. In terms of average, he's now No. 5. As shockingly noted last year, Overbrook's Wilt Chamberlain is NOT the king when it comes to average. He was beaten out by a guy, Paul Arizin, who never played a minute of varsity hoops while attending La Salle. Yes, Wilt played in many more games, 160-49, but the numbers don't lie -- 24.2 for Paul, 22.5 for Wilt. Pretty amazing, right? They were teammates for three seasons (1960-62) with the ol' Philadelphia Warriors. Those were the first three seasons of Wilt's pro career and the last three of Paul's. They played together in 24 playoff games. Those numbers: 24-830-34.6 for Wilt and 24-582-24.3 for Paul. His playoff norm in the pre-Wilt days was almost exactly the same -- 25-604-24.1. All guys with at least 250 playoff points are below. The No. 4 spot in terms of average is held by Franklin's Fred Carter, the father of DN/Inky sports writer Aaron "Ace" Carter. When informed of this, Ace could not resist the chance to bust Dad's chops. "He never met a shot he didn't like." Ha, ha. . . Please speak up if I missed someone. These numbers were compiled via research on http://www.basketball-reference.com/. As also mentioned last year, Michael Arizin, Paul's son, pointed this out: Of ALL the players who have ever played in the NBA (71 yrs---including Wilt, Kobe, Jordan, Baylor, Bird, etc), his dad had the 2nd highest average in his final year of play (21.9 ppg). Only Bob Pettit averaged more in his final year (22.5). Not bad for someone who never played on an organized team until he was almost 20 years old. Michael didn't mention this, but I did. Pettit played in just 50 games in his final season. Paul played in 78. . . Meanwhile, Kyle Lowry now owns 12,871 overall career points -- 1,392 at NE/Dougherty, 543 at 'Nova, 10,162 in NBA regular seasons and 774 in playoffs.

MAY 7
TEDBIT
  It's still semi-early in the process, but I thought you might find this list interesting. Here are the Top 20 career scorers, in Catholic League regular season play, from the eight schools listed so far -- Bonner/B-P, La Salle, McDevitt, North, Ryan, St. James, St. Thomas More and West. Three of those schools -- North, St. James, ST More -- are no longer with us. Through the years, and the lists go back to 1950 thanks to Tom Taylor's amazing hustle, the number of league games played each season has been as low as 12 and as high as 16. We'll update this list along the way.

MAY 4
TEDBIT
  It's the 1966-67 basketball season at La Salle College (now University) and the roster includes five guys whose names will be mentioned shortly. Not long thereafter, they would wind up working at the same place. What's your guess? An insurance office? A police station? A car dealership? A newspaper? (Hey, had to throw that one in there -- smile.) The answer is . . . Archbishop Ryan High. Ryan opened in the late 1960s. With no seniors on the roster, it joined the Catholic League for hoops in the 1967-68 season and celebrated its first grads in 1969. The varsity coach was George Paull, a product of now-closed Cardinal Dougherty and La Salle. Understandably, George is featured quite prominently in Ryan's 1969 yearbook, which I was able to find online via classmates.com. Away from his X-and-O duties, George taught earth science and phys ed. Also in that book are three other former La Salle College Explorers: Roman Catholic product Chuck Storm (typing, business math, assistant dean of students), Abington product Dave "Lefty" Ervin (world culture, social studies) and Bill Ring (English, business law, coach of the freshman basketball team), a product of St. John's, in Washington, D.C. (His son, also named Bill, wound up being a quality quarterback for Bishop McDevitt). OK, that takes care of four guys. Frank McArdle, the current coach of Ryan's football team, had given me the great tip about the five La Salle guys at Ryan and after some extra digging, he let me know that the fifth guy was La Salle High product Mike "Oz" Osborne. Bingo! Oz wasn't pictured/mentioned in the '69 yearbook because he was still at 20th and Olney, finishing his college days. He'd graduated from the high school in '65. But I spoke with him yesterday by phone and he said he spent the 1969-70 school year teaching history at Ryan while also coaching the JV hoops team at La Salle High. He assumed command of La Salle's varsity for the 1970-71 season (and moved there to teach as well) and held that hoops job through '77. (His replacement was Lefty). Oz' overall record was 122-65 and his 1975-76 team bested West Philadelphia and the great Gene Banks in early December. In Gene's three-year varsity career, West stormed to a 79-2 record with three Public/City championships. When I began this sports writing journey in the 1971-72 school year for a chain of weekly newspapers in Montgomery County, games involving La Salle and McDevitt were covered early and often. Dealing with Oz was always tremendous. Great guy and coach. His college career had been cut short by knee miseries and Oz mentioned that his life has included 16 knee operations. Can't even imagine. Meanwhile, Oz (in '65), George and Chuck (both in '63) all earned first team All-Catholic honors. So, there you have it. FIVE former La Salle College basketball players indeed could be found teaching classes at Ryan in the school's early years. Major thanks to Frank McArdle for providing the inspiration for this journey in the way-back machine. And, especially, for his appreciation of cool stuff from olden times (ha ha).

MAY 1
TEDBIT
  When I was a kid, one of the coolest things about being a fan of high school basketball was checking out boxscores in the newspaper. And THE coolest thing about that experience was seeing how many interesting Polish names (I guess they were all Polish?) popped up on North Catholic's rosters. Sometimes, the names were too long to fit in the space so apostrophes were used. Earlier this morning, I posted North's individual CL scoring for its final 61 seasons. Now, here's this: My opinion on the 10 coolest surnames, in order from 1 to 10, during that time frame. Bob Niczyporowicz became famous when coach Tony Costantino had this comment for a preview. "We have one good football player, Lou Sigmund, one good soccer player, John Regan, and one good Polish player, Bob Niczyporowicz."

APRIL 28
TEDBIT
  While working on La Salle's list of individual scoring in Catholic League games from 1950 through 2017, the fact that two guys named Joe -- Meade and Heyer -- were very prominent got me to thinking. In that time frame, how many guys were NOT ordinary Joes? Well, below are all first-teamers named Joe. Joe Meade twice earned first team honors and Joe Heyer owned the CL mark for points in one game (49) from '56 into the '68 season, when McDevitt's Bob Haas racked up 51. That remains the record all these years later. North Catholic leads the way with five first team Joes. . . Special note. Though this list begins with the 1950 season, this should be mentioned: Joe Rogers' dad, Joe, was a first-teamer for Roman in 1943, as well as the leading vote-getter.

APRIL 26
TEDBIT
  As many of you likely know, Archbishop Wood this year won its first Catholic League basketball championship in season No. 51 of membership. Did you know this? Way back in the day, the Vikings came close to losing that many consecutive CL games. The number was 47 -- all 16 in 1968-69, all 16 again in 1969-70 and the first 15 of 16 in 1970-71. The Vikings posted a 4-12 mark in '68 and won their finale by 69-67 over McDevitt thanks to a 19-8 fourth quarter and 22 points by Bob Hartman. McDevitt had already clinched a playoff spot and didn't need the win. The Lancers' bad vibrations weren't over. In a game that made national headlines, they fell to North Catholic's JV squad, filling in for the suspended varsity, in a quarterfinal at the Palestra. During its 47-game tailspin, Wood was outscored by 3,152 to 2,302 for an average rounded-off score of 67-49. It fell by one point twice in the 1969-70 season. And the 52-51 loss to Ryan was decided when Albie Lorenz hit a free throw at 0:01. The streak fiiiiinally ended with a 58-44 win over McDevitt. The Vikings, who won every quarter, were led by Chuck Whicker (18) and John McCann (13). A personal note: One of Wood's starters in '69 was Jim Fitzpatrick. We were teammates on the East Germantown Rams' 12-and-under squad in 1962-63 and also with us was Joe Magarity. He wound up playing varsity ball at La Salle (Class of '70) and his daughter, Colleen, is now Penn Charter's girls lacrosse coach. Jim's nephew, Cody Fitzpatrick, was a long-distance sniper for Wood ('15) and in '13 he was part of this special moment.      

APRIL 24
TEDBIT
  Bill "Speedy" Morris, as the coach, and Carl Arrigale, as a star player, were together in the 1983 and '84 basketball seasons at Penn Charter. They're also together on the list below. Carl just finished his 19th consecutive season as the coach at Neumann/N-G and Speedy wrapped up season No. 16 at St. Joseph's Prep. The kingpin, and you have to wonder whether anyone will ever match the feat, is Buddy Gardler, who coached O'Hara for 32 consecutive seasons (1977-2008). Oh, and before that he was the coach for seven seasons (1969-75) at the ol' Bishop Kenrick, in Norristown. Speedy was also the coach at Roman for 14 seasons (1968-81), so he came close to making two appearances on this list. 

APRIL 23
TEDBIT
  One last look at the Donofrio Classic . . . "Ours Guys" winners of the Little Big Man/Sportsmanship Awards in this century. The winner for 2003-04 are currently unavailable.