Philadelphia High School
Sports
Don "Fris" Conaway's Top
Moments/Memories As Ted Silary's Stats/Interview/Rankings Sidekick At The Philadelphia Bulletin and Daily News
| Don "Fris" Conaway , pictured to the left,
served as an important quality/funny sidekick (mostly stats/interviews
at other games not covered in person by Ted Silary ), from the
mid-1970s to mid-1980s. He also helped to pick the weekly
football/basketball rankings. Fris played varsity basketball for now-cloaed Cardinal Dougherty High in
the late 1960s. Below you'll find Fris' top memories of players/coaches and his Top 10
list of favorite moments. Fris' wife, Cindy (Antoni) Conaway , retired in June 2020 after
teaching for 45 years at Gwynedd Mercy Acadmy. Click here to
read her career story. Thanks for putting this together, Fris! Wish we could do it all over
again!
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By Don "Fris" Conaway Some thoughts and highlights of my time as a leg
man for Ted Silary, Philadelphia sports writer for the Daily News and prior to that The Bulletin . Top 5 people I got a chance to interview
(nationally) Danny Ainge John Thompson Ray Meyer (Basketball coach at DePaul) Ed Pinckney Mark McGuire (Basketball player at DePaul) Best basketball interviews (coaches, locally) Phil Martelli (When he coached at Bishop Kenrick) Speedy Morris (When he coahed at Roman) Eddie Burke, multiple schools Buddy Gardler|, O'Hara Ralph "Bones" Schneider, Mastbaum Joey Goldenberg, West Philly Rich Yankowitz, Dobbins Vince Miller, Frankford Best basketball interviews (players, locally) Gene Banks, West Philly Lewis Lloyd, Overbrook Horace Owens, Dobbins Jerome "Pooh" Richardson, Franklin Fran McCaffery, La Salle Greg "Bo" Kimble and Eric "Hank" Gathers , Dobbins Chip Greenberg, La Salle (and his brothers at Wood) Best football interviews (players, locally) Rich Gannon, SJ Prep - His first story; coming off the bench as a soph
and leading the Prep to a come-from-behind win! Blair Thomas, Frankford Lawrence Reid, Dougherty Best football interviews (coaches, locally ) Al Angelo, Frankford Whitey Sullivan, Judge Top 10 fun/interesting moments while covering
games: 1. Giving a local , well-known sports fanatic a ride home from a Ridley
football game. When I asked what he did for a living, he said, "I have
the safest job in America. I work for the unemployment office." Two
weeks later I gave him another ride home from the Palestra and he said I
wouldn't see him for a while. The next day he was arrested for fraud. 2. Game at Sayre Junior High between West Philly and Overbrook. At the
end of the game, West's cheerleaders chanted, "Get your hats and coats
and leave, (bleeper-bleepers).β 3. West Catholic's football team getting soft pretzels made in the
letters W and C. 4. Someone stealing the tip we left at the Italian Restaurant in the
Northeast. (The waitress told Ted when he went back there to eat a day
or two later. Ted was pissed.) 5. Making up my own Press pass. Never a doubt. Always worked. 6. Filling in for Ted as a speaker at a Penn Charter banquet. He didn't
want to get a suit.. 7. Ref Ralph McNally throwing Joe Conklin out of the Northeast
announcer's booth after he said, "For the 50th time . . . backfield in
motion." I tell people all the time that Ted got Conklin his start as a
comedian. 8. Covering an Edison Dobbins fooball game. When the ref went to measure
a first down, two chain guys quit and dropped the markers right on the
field., 9. Covering a West Philly game that was sold out, and waiting in a crowd
outside and police on horses. When I got in, I got Pooh Richardson's
mother into the game and out of harmβs way. 10th: Pittsburgh tournament when Sean and Archie Miller performed at
halftime (dribbling exhibitions). Maybe 6 or 8 years old. And now both
are successful college coaches. Tie 10th: Seeing Peaches and Herb perform in Washington DC, and sitting
next to Sonny Hill and DeMatha coach John Wootten, the coach in the
McDonald's game. Warm regards. Life life in sports, Fris
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Author
Published
March 5, 2026
Updated
March 5, 2026