Prendie honors coach Tom Stewart's 500th win
Tom Stewart looked up from his spot on the bench at Bonner-Prendergast and moved his gaze to a few rows up on the bleachers.
Tom Stewart looked up from his spot on the bench at Bonner-Prendergast and moved his gaze to a few rows up on the bleachers.
There, a bunch of his former players had assembled. From different teams, different seasons, different winning percentages.
"Do you remember what Drop 5 is," the longtime coach of the Pandas said to one, with a big smile.
She had to think about it for a moment.
"Drop 5" he reminded her, about to reveal the play, before she remembered and started mimicking it with her fingers, motioning to the court.
There were a lot of moments like that on Friday night for Stewart. Interactions with people he hadn't seen in a while, old pictures - and even older memories resurfacing.
When he woke up at 5:30 Friday morning, he didn't know what his wife, Susan, had in store for him during Prendie's home contest against Cardinal O'Hara.
It was a normal morning, one when their son, Andrew, immediately asked him a basketball question upon waking up and then pretended to be the school's public address announcer, Mr. Rogers, by saying, "Alyssa Monaghan for three."
He does that every morning, Stewart, 70, said.
But Susan had been "sleuthing," as she put it, for about two years, trying to figure out Stewart's career wins. After searching through yearbooks, scouring websites and calling people, she finally got to the bottom of it.
On Jan. 15, Stewart earned his 500th win, a 47-43 triumph over Boyertown at Philadelphia University.
"He's going to die," his wife of two decades said, before the start of the ceremony she had planned. "He's going to kill me."
It was, after all, unlike the way Stewart usually conducts himself.
"It was nice. I'm not into all of that. It's always been about the kids," an equally embarrassed and humbled Stewart said after the 57-38 loss to the Lions. "It's a nice accolade, but really it is just nice to see the kids you've coached."
Stewart got his start in 1976 at St. James when, in 1981, his 7-7 team beat a then-undefeated Roman Catholic squad in overtime. When the school closed, he moved on to Prendie as he has always liked coaching where he teaches so he "can see the kids every day." The Pandas captured the 2000-2001 Catholic League championship and have reached the PIAA state tournament four times in his tenure.
"It was so nice because Mr. Stewart is such a great guy," Monaghan, now a starter for St. Joseph's University, said. "He deserves this, all of the people being here for him."
"Anyone would do anything to be here for him tonight," Monaghan, a 2015 graduate, added. "Everyone knows how good of a person he is."
First there was a video presentation celebrating Stewart. Then the president of the school and two former players spoke. Then the program's 1,000-point scorers gave Stewart an engraved basketball.
A standing ovation followed.
"As your player, you provided so much more than wins and losses," Steph Graff, a 2001 grad, said, addressing the crowd. "Being a part of your team holds a special place in my heart."
In typical fashion, when Stewart was called to mid-court to say a few words after the ceremony, he didn't have much to add about himself.
"I know you all came here to watch basketball," he said.
Stewart was wrong.
The fans may have been in a gymnasium. They may have been in the stands before a game was supposed to start. But they most certainly were not there for a basketball game. The game was an afterthought.
They were there, to see him.
Cardinal O'Hara 15 8 22 12 - 57
Bonner-Prend. 12 12 4 10 - 38
CO: Mary Sheehan 18, Hannah Nihill 17, Kenzie Gardler 8, Molly Paolino 4, Maura Hendrixson 3, Kristen Denoncour 2, Jasmin Miller 2, Kerry Paterson 2, Erin Welde 1.
BP: Maeve McCann 11, Caroline Manfre 7, Dakota McCaughan 6, Nyah Garrison 4, Emily Monaghan 4, Maggie McPeak 4, Madison Oxenberg 2.
@ka_harman