DeFelice set for city title game vs. West Catholic, not retiremen

The man seated across the table from Tom DeFelice did a double-take, if not a triple.

He'd just listed the three high schools where DeFelice could work in the 1969-70 school year, first as a health/phys ed teacher and later, hopefully, as a coach, and DeFelice had told him Edward Bok Tech.

Very slowly, the man again ticked off the names of the schools. "Northeast . . . Roxborough . . . Bok."

Northeast and Roxborough had excellent sports programs. In comparison, Bok's was a mess. The man knew DeFelice had starred in football (quarterback) and baseball (outfield) at West Catholic and Temple.

"Again I told him Bok," DeFelice said.

His next move did not involve a psychiatric ward.

"Know why I chose Bok?" DeFelice said Tuesday, sitting in his office about 90 minutes before an indoor practice. "I'd student-taught here for 2 days. The guys who were coaches - Charley Guida, Ernie Beck, Eddie Altieri - and the female gym teachers - Sara Tucker, she treated me like her son - were just so nice. Like family. And I liked that the colors were the same as West's. I said, 'Blue and white. Can't be that bad.' "

The teaching part of DeFelice's Bok stint will end in June. Football? Perhaps as early as Friday night.

As coincidence would have it, the Wildcats will meet mighty West Catholic, 6 p.m., in the Class AA City Title at the South Philly Super Site, 10th and Bigler.

The AAAA and AAA city titles will be decided Saturday at Northeast, with La Salle-Northeast at noon (live on 6ABC) and Murrell Dobbins Tech-Archbishop Wood at 4.

"Right now, I'm not that emotional about how I'm getting close to the end," DeFelice said. "I guess that's because I'm so concerned about the game.

"West Catholic is very good. I'm always enamored by a good quarterback and good running back. West has both [in Anthony Reid and Brandon Hollomon]. Couple that with their other skill players, and they're a very good team.

"People around school have been saying to me, 'Boy, coach, it would be great if you could go out with a state title.' I'm not thinking about that. I'm just so proud of this team, with how far we've come since our first practice, especially with the one big obstacle we had to face."

At the most important position, no less.

Last spring, star QB Andre Frazier, whom DeFelice thinks would have wound up being his best-ever player, blew out his knee at a Temple combine.

"You should have seen our first scrimmage," DeFelice said. "Gratz looked like the Green Bay Packers. Our first quarterback, Quadir Robinson, broke his foot. Our second, Marquise Brown, wasn't there because of some trouble he was in. Our third, Yvon 'Lefty' Dessus, was there, but he wasn't allowed to play because he still had to get an EKG."

"We had no one. Everybody was saying, 'Tommy, you play QB.' Know what we did? We let Gratz have the ball the rest of the scrimmage. We just played defense."

Bok is now 8-2 overall, and DeFelice's 18-season record is 129-49-1. Bok won 13 regular-season division titles under DeFelice and, in these last three seasons, another three playoff titles.

Amazingly, while avenging this season's losses to Imhotep Charter and Communications Tech, the Wildcats pulled off turnarounds of 63 and 53 points, respectively.

DeFelice assisted at West Catholic out of Temple and remained there through the '76 season. He became Bok's JV coach in '78. Also, he guided Bok's varsity baseball team for 34 seasons through 2005.

DeFelice credits his WC grid coaches, brothers Vince and John McAneney, for molding him.

"I was 5-5, but the McAneneys provided an opportunity for me to play," he said. "They believed that everybody had an equal dose of potential. What makes the difference is the opportunity. Most of my friends were my size. A couple were 5-8, tops. We all got chances.

"The spirit that they gave us - the fight, the drive, the determination - carried with me through my college career and coaching career. Even in the classroom, I'm like that. I'm always saying, 'I don't want you to get a C. I want you to get an A!' "

DeFelice has developed strong friendships with his former players. They're forever popping into practices, showing up for games. They appreciate how nice he made their football experience with banquets and jackets and even uniforms with names on the back.

Plus, his door is always open.

While walking down a hallway that leads to DeFelice's office, a reporter passed a player heading in the other direction.

"Know what he asked me?" the coach said later, smiling. "He wanted to know how to break up with his girl. Oh, then he tells me, 'I've got two girls. One here and another at [name withheld to keep the kid from possibly having his eyes scratched out].' I told him, 'First of all, you should only have one girlfriend.' We went on from there.

"That's the kind of delicate questions you get. The kids just want guidance, direction."

Even some adults could use it, DeFelice believes. In his next life phase, he hopes to serve as a mentor for phys ed teachers and coaches throughout the School District and/or help the Phillies or Eagles - he's a dynamite speaker - as part of a community outreach program.

His favorite theme: Change is a process. Not an event.

"The people in leadership jobs are spread so thin now," he said. "The ones under them are being thrown to the wolves. I feel I could help."

For the record, DeFelice informed his players after the 14-0 loss to Comm Tech on Oct. 8 that he'd be retiring.

"I'd already told Pops and Roscoe," he said, referring to chief assistants Vince Trombetta and Frank Natale. "For my own well being, and the school's, I just feel it's time for a change. Ever since, from the younger kids, I've been getting, 'Don't leave, Mr. D, so you can still coach me next year.'

"Hearing that, it makes ya feel good." *