Nancy Dougherty, 81, volunteer coach

Nancy Adams Dougherty, 81, of Glassboro, a volunteer coach for the Philadelphia Belles AAU girls' basketball organization, died of complications from a pulmonary embolism, on Tuesday, Jan. 26, at home.

"Nancy was one of a kind - 81 and still coaching," said Hope Fuery, the administrator for the Belles organization in Bensalem for the last 12 years.

That group fields two girls' teams for each age from 10 to 17 years old, Fuery said, with Mrs. Dougherty's 14-year-old squad based at the RiverWinds Community Center in West Deptford.

"She meant so much to so many people, mentor and coach," Fuery said in a phone interview.

In 2014, Mrs. Dougherty's son, Malcolm said, the AAU named her Volunteer of the Year for its Middle Atlantic District.

Born in Upper Darby, she grew up in Havertown and graduated from Haverford High School where, her son said, she played no sports.

But as a homemaker, he said, "she coached multiple sports and was a referee."

Mrs. Dougherty, he said, was always a volunteer, who "worked for the Belles for the last 25 years and was in a Belles coaches' meeting on the Sunday before she died."

The Philadelphia teams played other AAU teams "up and down the East Coast," Malcolm said, "from September through July; only one month off."

Several times, "she took teams to the national championship" of AAU girls' basketball tournaments, he said, though "she did not win a national championship."

But, he said, "the thing that really stood out in her career" was the number "of players influenced by my mom who played at colleges around the country and in professional leagues."

She was a member of the weekly Bible study group at St. Bridget's Church in Glassboro.

Besides her son, Malcolm, she is survived by her husband, Daniel A. Sr.; sons Daniel A. Jr. and Brendan; daughters Nancy and Amy; a sister; 11 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A Funeral Mass was set for 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 30, at St. Bridget's Church, 125 Church St., Glassboro, with interment in Arlington Cemetery, Drexel Hill.

Donations may be sent to the Philadelphia Belles, P.O. Box 37, Bensalem, Pa. 19020.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.kelleyfhpitman.com.

wnaedele@phillynews.com

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