NOV. 28
TEDBIT
  Coach John Owens, formerly an assistant at Abington Friends, began his Penn Charter coaching career with a bang that resembled a sonic boom. Yesterday, the Quakers thumped Germantown Friends, 69-23, as junior G Ryan "Pooch" Holmes scored 20 points and Dylan Topaz added 10. Five others scored at least six. The list below -- hopefully, a few years were tough to nail down -- shows all debuts (only in first stints, some did more than one) for PC's coaches going back to 1961. Ron Haigler, a major star at Penn, took over shortly into the 1975-76 season. When William "Speedy" Morris made his debut in the 1982-83 season, PC's top scorer in a win over Ryan was none other than -- drum roll, please -- Carl Arrigale (16 points). He's entering his 21st season as the boss at Neumann-Goretti while Speedy is in season No. 18 at SJ Prep.

OCT. 31
TEDBIT
  In 1997, Neumann beat unbeaten Carroll for the Catholic League championship. The Pirates' coach was Tom Dougherty and he was hired on Halloween in 1994, ending years of frustration. Here is that story . . .

OCT. 18
TEDBIT
  Thanks to Boston Celtics rookie Bradley Wanamaker, who made his debut Tuesday night against the 76ers, Roman has now reached double digits in terms of producing NBA players. The Cahillites still trail Overbrook (12), but more progress could be made in the coming years. Interestingly, four guys on the list below never played varsity at their high school.
 

OCT. 17
TEDBIT
  At 10:21 last night, with 49.9 seconds remaining in his team's opener against the visiting Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics guard Bradley Wanamaker made his NBA debut. I can only imagine how wonderful he felt. This was a lonnnnng time coming. This is season No. 12 since Bradley and his twin brother, Brian, paced Roman Catholic to the 2007 Catholic League championship. Bradley wound up being named the Daily News City Player of the Year and played his college ball at Pittsburgh. In the seven seasons from 2012 through '18, he played in assorted countries overseas and spent a stretch in the NBA's Developmental League. He signed with the Celtics four months ago, just a few weeks before his 29th birthday. Not counting players who made their NBA debuts in the league's first season, 1946-47 (the league was officially known as the Basketball Association of America back then), Bradley is the sixth "Our Guy' to make his NBA debut at least 10 seasons after his high school graduation. Franklin's John Postley ('58, though he did not play varsity there), Roxborough's John "Chubby" Cox ('73, his sister is Kobe Bryant's mother) and Engineering and Science's Lynn Greer ('97) did so in season No. 10. Kensington's Emanual "Vel" Davis ('86) did so in season No. 11. Bradley stands second with 12 seasons and the leader is Walter Byrd with 15. Walt graduated from Central in 1955 and made his ABA debut with the Miami Floridians in the 1969-70 season. The forward played 22 games in that campaign, averaging 1.5 points and 1.1 rebounds. Before and after, he spent many seasons in basketball's version of minor leagues. He played primarily in the Eastern League and, after his brief ABA stint, spent time with the Camden Bullets. At Temple, he made his first start on Jan. 26, 1957, totaling 14 points and 12 rebounds against Seton Hall. On various websites, Walt's birth year is listed as 1942. No way that's legit unless he graduated from Central at age 13 (smile). The Wife, who has conducted outrageously thorough research on her massive family (1,009 relatives so far!), checked the 1940 census. She found a Walter Byrd, age 2, who lived in Philly and was born in 1938. Gotta be him, right? At that time the family was living near 26th and Oxford. By the way, in last night's game Bradley notched two points and one rebound in his brief appearance. All the best, Bradley! And thanks to Roman's No. 1 fan, Tony "Cous" Cousar, for making contact and sending this pic -- yes, he was in the arena -- shortly before the game began. . . . Of the 1947 NBA debut guys, the oldest was Roman product Matt Guokas Sr. He'd graduated in 1934. His son, Matt Jr., a product of SJ Prep, also played in the NBA.

SEPT. 21
TEDBIT
  Roman Catholic sr. wing Hakim Hart is bound for Saint Joseph's and, of course, he won't be the first high-quality "Our Guy" to play for the Hawks. The list below includes all first, second and third-team All-City seniors -- with two exceptions, Hart and Frankford's Carlin Warley in 1989 -- who wound up playing on Hawk Hill. Some transferred out, some transferred in. Hart earned third team All-City honors last season. Warley was a first-teamer in '89 before spending his final year at a small private school in Montgomery County. Some other "Our Guys" have also played for the Hawks. Very prominent among them is a guy with an extremely common name. In 1981, Neumann product John Smith scored the last-instant bucket (on a pass from Roman's Lonnie McFarlan; his name is below) as the Hawks stunned DePaul, 49-48, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
  Earned first team All-Big 5 honors
  Earned second team All-Big 5 honors
 

JULY 30
TEDBIT
  Thirty-five years ago, there was MUCH discussion about the three-point shot and whether high school basketball should add it. I interviewed some high school and college coaches for a Daily News story and asked them what they thought. Their responses are below. The Catholic and Inter-Ac leagues wound up permitting treys for the 1986-87 season. The Pub did so for 1987-88. The city's first trey was hit by North Catholic sub Marty O'Donnell on Dec. 1, 1986. That day the Falcons were hosting Simon Gratz and Gratz coach Bill Ellerbee gave his permission for three-point shots.

HIGH SCHOOL COACHES
Dan Dougherty, Episcopal
  "I'm not in favor, though I'd be more apt to consider it if there was uniformity on the college level. It's ridiculous now. "
Bill Fox, Father Judge
  "I like it. The ACC distance is too short and the NBA distance is too long. Maybe 20 feet would be a happy medium. "
Mark "Max" Levin, Overbrook
  "Forget it. I don't like the whole idea. It encourages bad habits in the kids. (Habits) we try like hell to eliminate in the first place. "
Bill "Speedy" Morris, Penn Charter
  "I'm totally against it. The name of the game is to get the best possible shot. Throwing one up from 25 isn't my idea of that. You're going to fire from anywhere, you might as well do away with the coaches. "
Joe Rapczynski, North Catholic
  "I'm not in favor. I'd rather see a three-point play inside than a three-point shot from outside. It's been ingrained: the closer to the basket, the better the shot. "
Ralph "Bones" Schneider, Mastbaum
  "I like it, but there's not enough room in some of our gyms for a three-point line. We'd also have a hard time getting somebody to paint the lines on the court. "
Ed Stefanski, Bonner
  "I might go more for this because it helps keep the underdog in the game. "
COLLEGE COACHES
Mitch Buonaguro, Villanova assistant
  "That could be very interesting. "
Jim Boyle, St. Joseph's
  "I don't like the idea that lucky desperation shots can count for three. Maybe they could have three-point areas, like a 2-foot wide stripe. "
Dave "Lefty" Ervin, La Salle
  "You'd have kids tending to specialize and that would hurt more than help. Overall, it's not a good shot statistically. "
Craig Littlepage, Penn
  "My overall reaction would probably be negative, although I'd admit that it does add an element of excitement. "
Jim Maloney, Temple assistant
  "Part of a high school coach's job is to get his kids ready for the next level. If you had this, a 6-3 kid could maybe develop his outside shot and become a two (shooting) guard in college. Also, a little guy can't make himself taller, but he sure can perfect a three-point shot and make himself a very important part of the game. "
Joe Rogers, Drexel assistant
  "It would certainly add excitement."

JULY 12
TEDBIT
At least in "modern" times (1978-forward), Mike Lake now owns a Catholic League record for baseball coaches -- largest gap (18 years) between stints at the same school. And he's pretty close to the record for the other major sports. Succeeding his father, Al, Mike coached Ryan's diamond squad from 1990 through 2001 and he has just been hired for the 2019 season. In between he coached La Salle University for 10 seasons (2008-17) and for four years beforehand assisted Lee Saverio. The cake-taker for the three major sports is Eddie Burke, who had a 22-year gap between stints as St. Joseph's Prep basketball coach ('71/'93). Eddie guided Drexel University's squad for 14 seasons (1978-91). He had quite the coaching life. How many guys, anywhere, in any sport, were the head coach at different schools in four consecutive years? Eddie steered St. Thomas More in its last year of existence ('75), then McDevitt in '76 and West Catholic in '77 before moving up to Drexel. Also, he won CL crowns in consecutive seasons -- '71 at SJ Prep and '72 at ST More. Amazing. John "Jocko" Collins also lived quite the sporting life. He was a Phillies scout and prominent college basketball ref and coached at four CL schools -- North Catholic (1930-31), Salesianum in Delaware (1936-37) and ST More ('43) in addition to the Prep stints listed below. Jack Concannon's stretches at Monsignor Bonner/Bonner-Prenderdast, separated by 19 years, lasted nine total seasons. No football bosses qualify for the list. 
 

JULY 10
TEDBIT
  The story below, written by the great Bill Shefski, appeared in the Daily News in January of 1962. It was about Cardwell Woods, then a very promising ninth grader at Sulzberger Junior High in West Philadelphia. He was expected to attend Overbrook, Wilt Chamberlain's alma mater. But that didn't happen. Check back tomorrow for a partial update. I've found bits and pieces of Woods' story, but not everything.
  UPDATE, JULY 11 . . . According to a story from 1964, Woods' father was a government worker and was transferred to a job in Bristol. So the family moved there and Caldwell Woods (not Cardwell, at least according to many stories) played for Bristol High. Listed as a junior, he starred for the 1964 team that advanced to the Class B Eastern final before falling to Montrose. In one story, Woods was described as slow-moving. Yet when spring came around, he ran the hurdles for the track team. As the 1964-65 school year rolled around . . . Nothing. Woods was no longer in school. Perhaps the family moved again? Perhaps Caldwell decided to go into the service? . . . In 1971, Woods was playing for State Farm in Bristol's YMCA Adult League. He had 37 points in a loss to Beck-Dougherty. He popped up again in a 1973 story, scoring 33 points in a loss to IMI. On newspapers.com, there are all KINDS of results for a "caldwell woods" search. Reason: It's the name of a neighborhood park in Chicago.
  ANOTHER UPDATE, JULY 11 . . . This comes from Chuck Langerman. Spoke to a friend of mine, Kevin Lendo, that went to high school at Pennsbury High in the  same era as Caldwell "Woody" Woods. He saw Woods play at Bristol, and said he was a 6-foot-6 center who was named Bucks County basketball player of the year in 1964. My friend vividly recalls reading in the Bucks County Courier Times that Woods, the big man on the Bristol High basketball team in 1964, got married and dropped out of school. . . . Note from Ted: Indeed. A blurb detailing that fact was published in the paper's May 1, 1964, edition. It was part of a notes column by the sports editor, Ben Borowsky.   

JULY 3
TEDBIT
  Paul Ward coached at Overbrook for 15 seasons (1967-81) and produced an NBA player, on average, once every three years. Not bad, eh? The guys on the list below produced at least three NBAers. You could make a strong argument that Roman's Dennis Seddon also "produced" five NBAers. But I went by graduation year for this list and Maalik Wayns was coached as a Roman senior by Chris McNesby. Bartram's Tony Coma later coached the girls squad at Dobbins and one of his players, Linda Page, scored 100 points in one game in 1981.

JULY 2
JOEBIT
  Earlier today, a tribute page was posted for former Roman coach Dennis Seddon. This email was sent by Joe McCourt, football all-timer at Roman (Class of 2001) and a three-sport athlete. Thanks for doing this, Joe.
  We had just finished winning the ‘99 PCL football championship during my junior year at Roman. I had been wrestling around the idea to not play basketball and focus solely on football. I called Coach Seddon and thought it would be a smooth conversation considering I was the 12th man on the bench and figured he wouldn’t care whether I played or not. I was 100% wrong. He told me I was making a big mistake and that I should reconsider my decision. I decided to play and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Fate had it we played a basketball tournament during my senior year on the campus at Lafayette College which turned out being an unofficial visit and in the end I chose Lafayette as my college destination. I always think back to Coach Seddon and our conversation about whether to play or not. He coached some of the greatest high school players to ever play in the city of Philadelphia. But, he cared about you the same whether you were a star or the last guy on the bench. I consider him a dear friend and one of my greatest influences I ever had in my life.
  -- Joe McCourt ‘01

JUNE 29
TEDBIT
  The trend continues, folks. New coaches have been hired at five Catholic League schools and three of the newbies are not CL alums. Not that there's anything wrong with that (smile). That makes eight non-CL hires over the last three years -- three, two and three -- and lifts the current number to seven; half of the league. Starting with the 1969-70 season, it took eight seasons for coaches with non-CL roots to be hired. Of the 28 "outsiders" who've guided teams since 1970, just three -- still-active Carl Arrigale (20 at Nemann-N-G), Joe Dempsey (14 at La Salle), Barry Kirsch (12 at Carroll) -- have reached double digits in seasons coached. The average stint has lasted four seasons and 17 guys have served no more than two. Two of those short-stinters -- Conwell-Egan's Bryan Caver, McDevitt's Will Chavis -- are still in charge.
  UPDATE: Adam Bowen, a product of Council Rock North, was announced as Conwell-Egan's coach on Nov. 12.   

JUNE 28
TEDBIT
  In the previous decade, T.J. McConnell and Ryan Nemetz are tied at the disappointment hip. Both guys had their high school careers -- and dreams of a state championship -- ended by Philly teams. McConnell, of course, is now a guard for the 76ers. In 2010 he was a senior star at Chartiers Valley, coached by his father, Tim, and that squad fell in the Class AAA state championship game to Neumann-Goretti, 65-63. McConnell racked up 32 points, but missed a last-second, right-corner trey that would have given CV the win. Nemetz, meanwhile, has just been hired as the coach at Cardinal O'Hara. In the 2006-07 season, he was a star senior guard for Bishop Hoban, in Wilkes-Barre, and that school was months away from ceasing to exist. On March 18, Hoban met Imhotep in a Class AA quarterfinal at Freedom High, in Bethlehem. Hoban entered the game with a 30-0 record! . . . And headed home with a 70-52 defeat. According to a story in the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, Nemetz and two other Argents had experienced flu-like symptoms all week. Ryan finished with 14 points. Imagine if Hoban had won that game and two more. Has any school, anywhere, closed after storming to a perfect basketball season? Just like O'Connell, Nemetz was able to shake off the disappointment. I'm hearing great things about him. Good luck with the Lions, Ryan!

JUNE 24
TEDBIT
  Once Penn State's Tony Carr steps onto the court for his first regular season game with the New Orleans Pelicans, Roman's number of NBA players will reach double figures. The Cahillites already hold second place among Catholic/Public/Inter-Ac schools and Overbrook is first with 12. Alas, 'Brook has not produced an NBAer since 1992 (Malik Rose) and since Roman continues to pump them out every so often, a tie and then a takeover might be in the offing. West Philly, Southern and Bartram complete the top five. Their respective droughts go back to 1977, 1972 and 1986.

JUNE 23
TEDBIT
  Roman's participation in the NBA goes back to the very first season, when Matt Guokas Sr. was part of the title-winning Philadelphia Warriors. (Officially, the league was known as the Basketball Association of America.) He was 31 when that season began and he did play thereafter. He did score 86 points, counting playoffs, and that got former Cahillites rolling toward an NBA total that now stands at 21,804. The breakdown is below and Tony Carr, drafted Thursday night by New Orleans, can't wait to lift above the number above 22,000. And who knows where he'll take it from there? . . . UPDATE: The Warriors made their debut on Nov. 7 by beating the Pittsburgh Ironmen, 81-75, before 4,185 at the ol' Philadelphia Arena. Guokas scored three points. But check this out: The final three minutes were played with EIGHT men on the court. Five Ironmen fouled out and only nine were in uniform. Warriors coach Eddie Gottlieb said he would let the Ironmen return one of the fouled-out players to the floor. Opposing coach Paul Birch declined the offer. Gottlieb responded by removing one of the Warriors. Meanwhile, one of Pittsburgh's players was Press Maravich. Yes, Pete Maravich was his son. And one of the Warriors' starters was Overbrook product Angelo Musi.

JUNE 22
TEDBIT
  Posted yesterday was a list including all Catholic League coaches, and their high school alma maters, going back to 1970. Once the list was posted, this question hit me, "Which schools have produced the most coaches?" Bonner takes the coaching cake with 14 guys and, interestingly, nine wound up guiding the Friars. Bonner has always hit me as a tight-knit place with lots of support/camaraderie, so I'm not surprised so many guys wanted to draw X's and O's for their old school. St. Joseph's Prep is next with 10 while Cardinal Dougherty/Father Judge are tied for third with nine. North Catholic/Cardinal O'Hara are next with eight apiece.
***Please note: The names are listed in no special order.*** 

JUNE 21
TEDBIT
   Miguel Bocachica is the new basketball coach at West Catholic, and he likely has two claims to fame. As far as we know, he's the first Hispanic hoops coach in Catholic League history (SJ Prep football coach Gabe Infante has Cuban roots) and he's the only CL boss who can claim he hit 11 three-pointers in one game. Bovachica accomplished that feat -- in a playoff game, no less -- while playing for the University of Great Falls, in Montana, an NAIA school. That was his third college stop after D-I Long Island University and D-II West Chester. He also played pro ball in Puerto Rico and has recently served as an assistant at Public League power Imhotep Charter. 'Tep was the second of Miguel's two high school stops. He played one year there after three at Washington. He earned second team coaches' All-Public honors for Division C as a senior. In that season, Imhotep went 27-4 and advanced to the Pub quarterfinals before falling to Strawberry Mansion. In his high school career, he scored 782 points. Click here for my story on Miguel from 2008. Going back to 1970, just four other Public League grads have coached hoops at CL schools -- Overbrook's Fred Douglas at SJ Prep (1972-74), Lincoln's Ed Givnish at St. James (1970-74) and Wood (1978-84), Lincoln's Bill Day at Dougherty (that school's last season) and Engineering and Science's Will Chavis at McDevitt (coming off his first season). Douglas was the CL's first black coach. Best of luck with the Burrs, Miguel!

JUNE 11
TEDBIT
  How cool would this be? Not too far down the road, the Sixers win the NBA championship and their general manager, an Overbrook High grad (Class of '92) named Malik Rose, receives praise from media outlets around the country. Here's hoping. Malik intends to apply for the job -- maybe already has -- and I can't picture anyone being a better fit. Malik is a GREAT man and has experienced success at many levels. He starred at 'Brook and Drexel, was a second round NBA draftee, played for 13 seasons and won two championships with the San Antonio Spurs. Sixers coach Brett Brown was a Spurs assistant when Malik played there and, like many folks, thinks the world of him. After stepping away from his playing career, Malik eased into broadcasting (first with the Knicks) and spent four years as the Sixers' TV analyst through 2015. For the past three seasons, he has served as the manager of basketball operations for the Atlanta Hawks. He added duties as the GM of Atlanta's D-League team, the Erie BayHawks, this past season and wound up being named the G-League Executive of the Year. Below is a scoring/W-L breakdown for Malik's days as a player. Boxscores for one 'Brook game in '91 and another in '92 were not reported, so his darn-close point total stands at 8,342, counting NBA playoffs. Also, his teams won 60 percent of their games over 20 total seasons and his winning percentage was a smidgen under .700 through the first 16. Below is a story I wrote about Malik in his senior year at Overbrook. Best of luck to Malik in his pursuit of this job! (The records in two seasons are divided based on when he switched teams.)

Malik Rose's Career Breakdown Year Team Points W L 1990 Overbrook Panthers 157 15 8 1991 Overbrook Panthers 262 14 9 1992 Overbrook Panthers 396 19 7     Totals 809 48 24 1993 Drexel Dragons 395 22 7 1994 Drexel Dragons 418 25 5 1995 Drexel Dragons 584 22 8 1996 Drexel Dragons 627 27 4     Totals 2024 96 24 1997 Charlotte Hornets 164 54 31 1998 San Antonio Spurs 168 60 31 1999 San Antonio Spurs 330 52 14 2000 San Antonio Spurs 517 54 32 2001 San Antonio Spurs 501 65 30 2002 San Antonio Spurs 901 62 30 2003 San Antonio Spurs 1044 76 30 2004 San Antonio Spurs 539 63 29 2005 SAS / New York Knicks 534 52 28 2006 New York Knicks 318 23 59 2007 New York Knicks 192 33 49 2008 New York Knicks 171 23 59 2009 NYK / Okla. City Thun. 130 32 49     Totals 5509 649 471               Overall Totals 8342 793 519         .604

JUNE 8
TEDBIT
  When La Salle opens its 2018-19 basketball season, coach Mike McKee will officially join the club listed below -- starter for Catholic League champ, coach at another CL school. And here's the kicker. McKee was the point guard for Roman's championship teams in 1989 and '90 and the victim each time was . . . La Salle. Oh, baby (smile). In each game, Mike dished NINE assists and one of his teammates was Marvin Harrison, who's now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Two other members of this club (Tom Ingelsby and Fran O'Hanlon) played in the NBA/ABA and two others (Eddie Burke, Bill McFadden) were starters for the same team at SJ Prep in '62. Also, Eddie coached a championship team at his alma mater in '71 (with Phil Martelli as a starter) before winning again the very next season at St. Thomas More, which closed three years later.

MAY 23
CHUCKBIT
  This comes from Chuck Langerman, a noted South Jersey historian. Thanks, Chuck!
  As the saying goes, "records are made to be broken," but the South Jersey boys' basketball record of 51 consecutive victories may never be broken. The original mark was set by Moorestown High School, which won 51 straight games from 1958 to 1960, while winning state Group 3 championships in 1958 and 1959. The Quakers were coached by Pete Monska and featured future NFL Hall of Famer Dave Robinson, Leroy Peacock, and high-scoring Ed Douglas, who once scored a then state-record 84 points in a 1959 game against Hamilton High.  Camden High, coached by the legendary Tony Alfano, who won 428 games at "The Castle on the Hill," captured state Group IV titles in 1959 and 1960 and tied Moorestown's South Jersey win streak of 51 straight.  Camden, then known as the Purple Avalanche, featured stars Ron "Itchy" Smith, Golden "Pete" Sunkett and Sam Fisher, Jr.  Ironically, coaches Tony Alfano and Pete Monska were both from the "City of Brotherly Love." Alfano played football, basketball, and baseball at Southern High in Philly before helping Temple University win the 1938 NIT title.  Moorestown head coach Pete Monska was a 1944 graduate of the old Northeast High School. The last South Jersey team to complete a season undefeated was 32 years ago in 1986 when Camden High with Lou Banks and Vic Carstarphen finished with a 30-0 record. Camden, coached by the late Clarence Turner, was ranked No. 1 in the country in 1986 by USA Today. Since 1989, the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions (T of C) has been played to determine which school will be crowned the No. 1 overall basketball team in the state. Each year, only one team in the state can finish undefeated. In its 30 years of existence, North Jersey parochial schools have dominated the T of C. South Jersey schools have only won the T of C twice-----Shawnee in 1992 and Camden in 2000. In fact, Camden in 2000 with Dajuan Wagner is the last public school in the state to win the Tournament of Champions.  Speaking of records that may never be broken, the New Jersey state and national record for consecutive wins by a boys' high school basketball team is 159 wins, set  by Passaic High from 1919 to 1925. The Passaic "Wonder Teams" were coached by Professor Ernest A. Blood, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1960.

MAY 8
TEDBIT
  For the third straight year, the NBA season for Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors has been ended by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Lowry, who starred at Northeast (through 10th grade) and now-closed Cardinal Dougherty before spending two seasons at Villanova, participated in all 10 playoff games this season. He scored 174 points for a 17.4 average. The list below, updated from last year, shows that Kyle now owns 948 playoff points, good for No. 5 among products of Public, Catholic and Inter-Ac schools. He has moved up from No. 7. In terms of average, he remains No. 5. As shockingly noted in previous postings, 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 in the previous two years, Michael Arizin, Paul's son, pointed this out: Of ALL the players who have ever played in the NBA (72 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 14,312 overall career points -- 1,392 at NE/Dougherty, 543 at 'Nova, 11,429 in NBA regular seasons and 948 in playoffs. . . Another meanwhile, the Morris twins, Markieff and Marcus, have pretty close to the same amount of playoff points. Markieff leads, 216-212, but Marcus and the Celtics are still alive this season and, who knows, he could wind up with 250 not too far into the future. 

MAY 7
CHARLIEBIT
  This item comes courtesy of website loyalist Charlie Lamb, a former basketball/baseball player at West Catholic (Class of '53) and La Salle College ('58). He served in the USMC/Air Wing. He's the father of four adult children and grandfather of two girls. He saw the recent picture of Eastern High products English Gardner (Olympic gold medal in track) and Logan Ryan (two Super Bowl rings with Patriots) and offered this nugget. Thank you, Charlie.
--
  Just to add my 2 cents, although no Super bowl rings, during my La Salle College days , I was honored to rub shoulders with Al Cantello (Javelin) 1953/1954 and Ira Davis (what then was known as the hop, step and jump) now the triple jump (1958). They both medaled in their respective events in NCAA.
  This was a few years after Joe Verdeur won the gold at the Olympics while swimming for La Salle College in the late forties (2:39.3 in 200 breaststroke at London in 1948).
  And one final note,  this was taking place while LSC was winning the NIT and the NCAA (1954) in basketball and making a repeat visit to the final in (1955), losing to the University of San Francisco with Bill Russell and K.C. Jones.
  I lived the glory days of La Salle College.
  Like many others, I could go on forever.
  Note from Ted: I knew about the basketball part of Charlie's offering and talked several times with Joe Verdeur when he was teaching/coaching at Edison High. Great man! I was unfamiliar with Al Cantello. His story, in brief: Graduated from Norristown High and immediately took a job in a factory to help support his mother, a widow. He ran into Verdeur at an event and Joe encouraged him to enroll at La Salle. Once his days at La Salle were completed, Cantello became a Marine Corps Lieutenant. He also continued to compete in the javelin in numerous top-level events and in 1959 broke the world record with a throw of 282-3 1/2! In the 1960 Rome Olympics, he launched the No. 2 throw in the trails, but then was hit with dysentery and wound up finishing 10th overall. His size? He was listed at 5-7, 163 pounds. Imagine being able to throw a javelin that far at that size. . . . Meanwhile, Ira Davis (Overbrook) four times won the NCAA triple jump and competed thrice in the Olympics; first as a La Salle freshman.
  UPDATE: Heard via email from Brother John Kane, who formerly worked at WC and La Salle and is now the president at Calvert Hall, in Maryland. Brother John noted that Al Cantello has spent 55 years as a coach at the Naval Academy and has been the head coach of men's cross country for 50. Brother John says Al still remains in contact with La Salle. He also wrote that he has known Charlie Lamb for many years. "He's a great guy." Thanks for this, Brother John!

MAY 6
TEDBIT
  Listen, I get it. If you're even a mild 76ers fan, you're allowed to dislike Marcus Morris and hate the fact he has helped the Boston Celtics claim a 3-0 lead in the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals. But he's an "Our Guy" (Public/Catholic/Inter-Ac product) and, hopefully, you're at least a sliver proud that he's showing the time-honored Philly grit. In 2007, Marcus and his twin, Markieff, powered Prep Charter, in South Philly, to the overall Public League championship and the PIAA Class 2A state title. Marcus' primary stats for the final three Pub games and the state final are below, as are the numbers for the first three Celtics-Sixers games. He has been very consistent in rebounds and points, but check out the assists. In the two most competitive high school games, he led the Huskies in dimes in one (with five) and was the co-leader in the other (four). In this NBA series, he had his top two assist numbers in the closest games and his right-sideline inbound pass in last night's game led to Al Horford's winning field goal. Something to be said for that.

MAY 4
TEDBIT
  Question for oldheads and mediumheads. Did you ever think you'd see this? For the 10th straight year, a product of a Public, Catholic or Inter-Ac school was not named the Big 5 MVP. In this century just three "Our Guys" have won the award and thank goodness for Gratz grad Mark Tyndale, the 2008 MVP, or the drought would be up to 16 years. The Big 5 was formed the 1955-56 season. "Our Guys" won the award -- with some co-winners mixed in -- through the first 10 years. The longest previous drought lasted from 1968 through 1972 and another (1974-1977) followed almost immediately thereafter.

APRIL 28
TEDBIT
  As mentioned on this website, oh, maybe a million times (smile), I love it when guys play multiple sports and have strong faith in both the short-term and long-range benefits. Penn Charter product Mike McGlinchey, drafted at No. 9 in the first round Thursday night by the San Francisco 49ers, was also a quality basketball player. He scored in 32 games over four seasons of Inter-Ac play and his point total was 308. He ranks second on the list below -- basketball points scored by NFL players from Inter-Ac schools, 1950 on up. Only 20 points behind "Glinch" is Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Ryan, his first cousin. Only 17 points ahead is Haverford School's Mike Mayock, a well-known NFL draft guru and even an analyst for draft telecasts. Overall, McGlinchey scored 862 points at PC. Ryan totaled 682. Meanwhile, also on the they're-related trail, we give you Malvern's Ryan and Carl Nassib. They're brothers. GS = Games Scored.

APRIL 25
TEDBIT
  As you may have heard, Episcopal grad Wayne Ellington, of the Miami Heat, this year broke the NBA record for most three-pointers for a bench player by draining 227 in 579 attempts. And that figures to 39.2 percent. Quite amazing marksmanship from beyond the arc. Hearing about Wayne's feat got me to thinking. Did he hit threes with anything close to precision during his three seasons with the Churchmen? Not sure about overall, but below is his three-point breakdown in 16 games I covered (two in 2003-04, seven apiece in 2004-05/2005-06). Oddly, he hit at least two in three of the first four, then hit as many as two just once thereafter. His overall percentage in those 16 games was 26.6. In all three, the I-A played its postseason showcase tournament. Of course, Miami just fell to the 76ers in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Wayne shot 12-for-30 from beyond the arc (40 percent). His numbers for nine NBA regular seasons are 828-for-2174 for 38.1. He sniped 229-for-577 (39.7) in three seasons at North Carolina. Just shows what hard work can do.

APRIL 20
TEDBIT
  After 15 seasons, Paul Romanczuk has decided to step down as Archbishop Carroll's basketball coach. He collected 283 wins along the way and since this year's squad included two quality starters, soph AJ Hoggard (first team All-City) and junior Luke House, you'd have to think No. 300 would have been celebrated at some juncture in the 2018-19 season. And then there's this: Paul missed the 2004-05 season -- that would have been his third -- due to a health issue and fill-in Lou Becht went 12-13 overall. Seven times in that season the Patriots lost by no more than seven points -- 1, 2, 4 twice, 6, and seven twice. Is it possible at least five of those setbacks would have turned out differently if Paul had still been around? No way to even remotely know. But it's difficult to see a guy get so close to a very special career win total and not quite get there. On the flip side . . . In 2009, Paul, the son-in-law of Doug Collins, the former player and coach for the Sixers, guided Carroll to the Catholic League's first state championship (3A level). The Patriots stunned Neumann-Gorettti in a quarterfinal at Ryan, then topped York Suburban and Greensburg Salem in the semis and final. Carroll's girls also triumphed that year and the school held a parade and celebration on campus. Here are pics from that very special/memorable occasion and here is the Celebration Page. Best of luck going forward, Paul!    

APRIL 19
TEDBIT
  After putting his alma mater back on the basketball map, 1983 grad Jack Concannon has decided to step down as Bonner-Prendergast's coach. (It was Monsignor Bonner during his days as a student, of course, and he was a star forward the 1983 championship team.) Knowing that Jack had earned more than 100 wins, the thought hit me: How many Catholic League coaches have notched at least 100 wins while guiding their alma mater? The list goes back to 1950 and WPY in the last column means wins per year. Jack ranks seventh in WPY and sixth in total wins. Check out the freaky factoid involving now-closed North Catholic. Three guys coached seven years apiece and won 105, 102 and 102, respectively.

APRIL 18
TEDBIT
  For the first time since 2011, no Catholic/Inter-Ac/Public guys were winners of the major awards in the Donofrio Classic . . . However, "Our Guy" Allen Betrand (Roman) captured the Little Big Man Award and his name can be found below. (The winners for 2003-04 are currently unavailable.)

APRIL 17
TEDBIT
  The 31st annual All-Star Labor Classic was played recently at University of the Sciences and two guys -- La Salle's Sean Simon (21) and Bonner-Prendie's Ajiri Johnson (18) -- scored enough points to make the list below, which includes all Public/Catholic/Inter-Ac players who've scored at least 18 points. Mastery North's Daeqwon Plowden (19), who served as a key sub this season at Bowling Green, did so last year to end a two-year drought. The first game, in '88, was played on a Saturday night before 4,675 at the Palestra. The kids were pumped and City bested Suburbs, 143-139. There were 255 field goal attempts in the 48-minute game -- one every 11.3 seconds. Franklin's Randy Woods, who advanced to the NBA out of La Salle, shot 13-for-22 (6-for-7 on treys) and 3-for-4 for 35 points. That's still the record.

APRIL 16
TEDBIT
  Just like last year . . . Here's an all-star team based on uniform numbers for the 2017-18 season. Some VERY talented guys won't be found because someone wearing that number was ranked higher on Aaron "Ace" Carter's Daily News all-star teams. Or all-league teams. The list stops with No. 25 because very few upper echelon players choose to wear higher numbers these days.

APRIL 15
TEDBIT
  Delco > Philly. Bet you find that one hard to believe. However, using the standard system we've used before, the top five Catholic/Inter-Ac honorees on Aaron "Ace" Carter's Daily News All-City Team racked up almost 10 more points than the top five C/I-A honorees from schools inside the city limits. The process goes like this (and we ask you to trust it -- smile): Sixteen points for the Player of the Year. Fourteen for the second guy, 13 for third, 12 for fourth . . . and so on. Public League guys and their points are not included. The All-City Team is here.

APRIL 14
TEDBIT
  All-City teams have been picked straight through since 1972 and just five times have at least three non-seniors earned first-team honors. I picked the Daily News teams from 1978 through 2013 and Aaron "Ace" Carter has handled those from 2014 forward. There are two reasons underclassmen make first team: The senior class is not that strong. And/or the young bucks are just too good to ignore. Twice in five years, Ace's first team has included four non-seniors. There were six first-teamers in '14, but there were the usual five this year so 80 percent of the honorees were non-seniors. Amazing and unprecedented.

APRIL 13
TEDBIT
  The 2017-18 NBA regular season ended Wednesday, so it's time to update the special list. The Toronto Raptors' Kyle Lowry, who split his high school days at Northeast (through 10th grade) and now-closed Cardinal Dougherty, has moved up two spots from ninth to seventh on the list of Top 10 "Ours Guys" Scorers in NBA/ABA regular season play. OG, of course, means products of Public/Catholic/Inter-Ac schools. If Lowry again stars next season, even to a medium degree, he'll easily pass two more guys. 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 Dougherty, Kyle and Cuttino "Cat" Mobley. Cat and Guy Rodgers are the lone lefties on the list. As pointed out last year by Michael Arizin, his dad and Foust were friends. As were the overall families. In fact, Mrs. Foust was a bridesmaid in Mrs. Arizin's bridal party. . . In 78 regular season games this year, Kyle scored 1,267 points. In terms of PPG, he now owns an ever-so-slight lead over Rasheed Wallace, 14.45 to 14.43, for sixth place.