Former basketball coach Tryka recalled as mentor

When Ron Wister was a would-be street-hockey star just learning the game of basketball, his coach at St. Joseph High School in Camden devised a unique way to improve his athletic ability.

"He used to put beer [bottle] caps in my shoes under my heels, to make me run on my toes," Wister said of his legendary coach, Frank Tryka, at the now-closed school.

Mr. Tryka, 81, of Haddon Township, died Saturday, July 22.

He was one of the most respected coaches in area boys' basketball history, a member of the South Jersey Basketball Hall of Fame, and the winningest coach in St. Joseph's High history.

Wister, who graduated from St. Joseph in 1977, played on a scholarship at Temple University, and was a Philadelphia 76ers draft pick in 1981, said Mr. Tryka taught him about much more than the game of basketball.

"He taught me everything," Wister said. "He was like a second father to me."

Mr. Tryka was an outstanding athlete at Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden in the early 1950s. He was also a well-known basketball player in industrial leagues in the region in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Mr. Tryka, who worked in the payroll department at Radio Corp. of America for 44 years before retiring, became St. Joseph's head coach midway through the 1966 season. He led the program until the school on Mount Ephraim Avenue in the Whitman Park section closed in 1979.

He coached during a highly competitive era in local basketball, when there was a "City Series" every year involving teams from Camden, Woodrow Wilson, Camden Catholic, and St. Joseph High Schools.

Mr. Tryka coached such outstanding players as Paul Dobleman, Charlie Blank, and Tom Guellich, as well as Wister and many others.

"Work ethic is the one thing that really stands out for me," said Blank, a 1968 St. Joseph graduate who attended the University of Maryland on a basketball scholarship. "We worked hard. He expected that. He demanded that.

"But he was a good man. He cared about his players as individuals. That always came through."

Ralph Saquella, whose teams at Gloucester Catholic High would win two state titles and who would serve as head coach at Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) in the 1970s, said his first job in the business was as Mr. Tryka's freshman coach in the mid-1960s.

"Of all the good things that have happened to me in basketball, it all started with him," Saquella said of Mr. Tryka. "If you played for Frank Tryka, you became a man."

Mr. Tryka coached three teams that won South Jersey Parochial C titles and reached the state finals. Each of those teams — in 1973, 1974, and 1977 — lost in the state championship game to St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, coached by the nationally renowned Bob Hurley.

The 6-foot-11 Wister grew up in the Whitman Park section of Camden, but never played basketball before high school. He was more interested in baseball and street hockey.

"I was big into street hockey," said Wister, who recently retired as the head coach at Haddon Township High School after 27 seasons. "It was 1974, the Flyers and all that."

"I went to St. Joe's, and 'Tryk,' he made me a player," he said. "He made me the player that I was. If not for him, I would have been a 6-11 street-hockey player."

Mr. Tryka enjoyed the beach, golfing, and gardening.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Patricia Ann; children Francine Pipito, Patrice, Jeannine Toal, and Tryka Orbin D. Tryka; three grandchildren; a brother; and three sisters.

Services have been held. Burial was private.

Donations may be made to the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 153 Halsey St., Sixth Floor, Newark, N.J. 07102.