Speedy Morris Earns High School Win No. 700

Philadelphia High School Basketball Speedy Morris Earns High School Win No. 700

Names of Speedy's Players at Roman, Penn Charter and SJ Prep Have Been Added at Bottom of Page

Coach William "Speedy" Morris and his happy Hawks after win No. 700 as a high school coach. (Pic by Keith Morris) Assistant Randy Monroe (upper right) was a starter when Speedy notched win No. 300 in Dec. 1979.

Speedy's All-League players: ROMAN CATHOLIC, 1968-81 FIRST TEAM 1969: Mike Bantom 1970: Jim O'Brien 1971: John Beecroft 1973: Chico Singleton, Donald Kelly 1974: John Griffin, Donald Kelly 1975: Zane Major 1976: Mike Morrow 1977: Reggie Jackson 1978: Reggie Jackson 1979: Lonnie McFarlan 1980: Lonnie McFarlan 1981: Randy Monroe, Glenn Welton SECOND TEAM 1968: Keith Coady, Steve Collins 1969: Mike Moody 1971: Ed Hoban 1972: "Chico" Singleton, Frank Sykes 1976: Reggie Jackson 1978: Larry McGill 1979: "Yosh" Siorek, Rakph Mack 1980: Glenn Welton, Gerald Roberts THIRD TEAM 1976: Steve Compton 1977: Larry McGill 1978: Charlie Robbins PENN CHARTER, 1983-84 FIRST TEAM 1983: Andy Vye 1984: Carl Arrigale SECOND TEAM 1983: Carl Arrigale 1984: Marv Dunmeyer, Joe McGarvey, Drew Meyers ST. JOSEPH'S PREP, 2002-16 FIRST TEAM 2002: Mark Zoller 2003: Mark Zoller, John Griffin 2004: Chris Clark, John Griffin 2005: Reggie Redding 2006: Reggie Redding 2007: Matt Griffin 2008: Jim Mower 2009: Joe Nardi 2010: Joe Nardi 2011: Stephen Vasturia 2012: Stephen Vasturia, Miles Overton 2013: Stephen Vasturia, Miles Overton 2014: Chris Clover 2015: Chris Clover SECOND TEAM 2002: John Griffin 2003: Chris Clark 2004: Reggie Redding 2005: Corey O'Rourke, Joe Fox 2006: Dave Stefanski 2007: Larry Loughery, Jim Mower 2010: Gene Williams 2011: Gene Williams 2012: Gene Williams 2016: Kyle Thompson THIRD TEAM 2002: Chris Clark 2003: T.J. Valerio 2004: Mike Kearney 2006: Matt Griffin, Larry Loughery 2009: Pat Stewart, Dan Fitzpatrick 2011: Miles Overton 2014: Kyle Thompson 2015: James McGovern 2016: Pete Gayhardt | Speedy Morris Celebration Page On Dec. 30, 2016, with a 67-48 win over St. Georges (DE), in a showcase event at Widener University, William "Speedy" Morris notched his 700th win as high school coach. Morris was 347-82 in 14 seasons at Roman (1968-81), 41-14 in two at Penn Charter (1983-84) and this win made him 312-103 in 16 at St. Joseph's Prep (2002-17). Junior Kyle Thompson led the Hawks with 21 points while classmates Darius Kinnel (17) and Ed Croswell (12) also scored in double figures. Other scorers: Brian Griffin 9, Gabe Arizin 8. Arizin (13) and Croswell (12) led in rebounds. The win raised the Prep's season record to 6-2. In 2015, in the same gym on the same date, the Hawks bested Salesianum (DE), 49-43, to make Morris the first high school basketball coach in Pennsylvania history to claim win No. 300 at a second school, according to state hoops historian Bill Gaffey . Also, high school win No. 700 came in his 1,400th game as a high school/college coach. ---- This story was written after Speedy notched his 300th win on Dec. 11, 1979 . . . By Ted Silary There was a cake for Bill "Speedy" Morris, but in deference to an ever-present diet, he did not eat any. There was not a cake for Lonnie McFarlan, but then again no one could have foreseen the need to order one. As a boisterous crowd at Bishop Kenrick sensed early last night, a celebration with two cakes, two sets of noisemakers and two brands of party hats was surely in order. For Morris, the mastermind basketball guru with the theatrical savvy to match, the occasion was his 300th victory in 12-plus years at Roman Catholic High. For the 6-5 McFarlan, the 72-58 win provided a chance to smash some records. With 2:57 remaining in the third quarter, McFarlan snatched his eighth rebound of the night, thus rubbing out Reggie Jackson (763) as Roman's all-time leader. McFarlan finished the evening with 12 boards and a 768 total, but in the really big news, he also poured in 45 points, shooting 21-for-30 from the field, along with 3-for-4 from the line. Again, Jackson (now at Maryland) was the victimized Cahillite, having scorched St. James for a school-record 41. "In the middle of the second quarter, I started to get the feeling that it was gonna be a pretty good night," noted McFarlan, who scored 21 first-half points. "But I never thought it was gonna wind up as good as this. "I TURNED ONE time in the middle and I was off-balance. I just threw it up and it went in. It shocked me. That was a George McGinnis shot." Ha, ha. If McGinnis - at least in his late Sixers' days - had taken that shot, it might have clanged off the rim or wound up as an air-ball. McFarlan's shots last night seemed to be encased in cotton. He first forced a shot in the fourth quarter and, if anything, did not cut loose often enough. As you can expect, each time McFarlan even came close to messing up, ol' Speed Man displayed the contortions and facial expressions that have made him famous. With those pointed, high-pitched words to match. | Speedy in 1968 SEASON BY SEASON ROMAN 1968: 17-7 1969: 26-4 1970: 15-9 1971: 17-8 1972: 19-6 1973: 24-6 1974: 31-3 1975: 28-6 1976: 28-5 1977: 24-8 1978: 32-4 1979: 31-5 1980: 31-3 1981: 24-8 PENN CHARTER 1983: 20-7 1984: 21-7 SJ PREP 2002: 24-6 2003: 30-2 2004: 27-4 2005: 26-5 2006: 24-5 2007: 22-8 2008: 16-11 2009: 14-9 2010: 17-8 2011: 14-9 2012: 21-6 2013: 24-6 2014: 16-7 2015: 18-5 2016: 13-10 2017: 6-2 TOTAL RECORD High School 700-199 1968-81: Roman, 347-82 1983-84: Penn Charter, 41-14 2002-17: SJ Prep, 312-103 -- ( College ) 281-220 1985-86: La Salle women, 43-17 1987-01: La Salle men, 238-203 -- ( Overall ) 981-419 -- CATHOLIC LEAGUE TITLES 1969: 14-2, 26-4 1973: 13-3, 24-6 1974: 15-1, 31-3 1978: 13-1, 32-4 1979: 13-1, 31-5 1980: 13-1, 31-3 2003: 13-1, 30-2 2004: 13-1, 27-4 INTER-AC TITLE 1984: 9-1, 21-7

"Lonnie scores 45 points, it must seem silly for me to yell at him. Maybe it's that I'm too much of a perfectionist. He's got to play defense better, he's got to rebound better. He's an unselfish kid - too much, sometimes. If he had taken all the shots that were there, he would have scored 'way over 50." "He can holler at me and jump all over me, if he wants to," Lonnie said. " It's for my own good. If I didn't have someone of his caliber to lead me, I wouldn't be where I am right now (among best players in country). I have to take what he says constructively. If he didn't say anything, I'd start to wonder, 'Something must be wrong with Coach Morris.' "One thing I'd like to say: Lonnie McFarlan didn't get these points all alone. I can't do anything if my teammates don't play well, also. Say I'm off. They'll be able to pick up the slack. In fact, they might do a better job than me." BEFORE ROMAN COULD have Speedy's cake and eat it, too, it first had to shake a team that is much better than many people had realized. Phil Martelli, the Knights' second-year coach, has a great thing going. Junior Tom Scott mixed 13 points and 10 rebounds, Pat Hannan pulled off several pretty drives en route to 14 points, and Jim Bolger chipped in with 12 points and four assists. This team is most assuredly not a spittin' image of the one in '76, which took the title and warmed hearts the area over, but if Martelli can sustain both the intensity and high level of play, a Northern Division playoff berth could be in the offing. Meanwhile, Morris was asked to recall his early days at Broad and Vine, when a job coaching basketball at Roman was tantamount to leaping from the third-floor fire escape. When Speedy took over, the Cahillites had not reached the playoffs since about the time that David beat Goliath. Or so it seemed. However, that first squad in 1967-'68 invaded the Palestra, as have all the others since but one ('70). Roman owns five league titles and one City Title ('74) under Morris. "No one thought Roman basketball would come to this, including myself, " Morris said. "I remember when I took the job, talking with my best friend, John Hoban. We said that if we could just be .500 after a couple years, people would say we were doing a great job. "In fact, if somebody had said, 'We will let you be 50-50 after five seasons,' I would have pinned him down right then and said, 'Yeah, yeah, I'll take it.' "THAT FIRST TEAM should get the credit for getting everything going. I like to remind these kids of those kids - how much they worked, how nobody got on anyone else. They were united in every way." When pressed, Morris was able to recall that his 100th win came over O'Hara in 1972 and that his 200th win came over Neumann in 1976. And the first? "Barry Fisher was my assistant. I can even remember the things we talked about on the bus ride up there (to Wood). He said I didn't know how to dress, that my socks should match my pants, that instead they matched my sports coat." These days, Speedy Morris is unmatched when it comes to high school coaches in the area (state?, country?, universe?) and, as players go, McFarlan's attaining that same stature in a hurry. Over the summer, Lonnie gave a hint of a dynamite senior season, exploding for 41 points (19-for- 35) as the Venice Island All-Stars lost to Mrs. Paul's Pals. "I'm trying to approach each game with the same feeling, that I just go out to do my best," McFarlan said. "There's nothing to worry about, no pressure at all from anybody. I go out there totally relaxed. I block everything outta my mind. On the court, I can hear just one person - Coach Morris. And I know what he says is not gonna steer me wrong." At game's end, McFarlan, Glenn Welton (18 points, 11 rebounds), Gerald Roberts (7 assists), Steve Scheier (6 assists), Randy Monroe (9 boards) and the rest of the Cahillites steered themselves into the locker room. Morris' brother, Dave, unveiled a cake that he ordered on behalf of the Morris children. Later, back at Speedy's Drop in the Bucket tappy in Roxborough, there was another cake, even bigger. "The thing is," Speedy said, "I don't even eat cake." But how that man can put away the basketball victories. Below are the players who helped Speedy Morris accumulate 700 wins at the high school level. The year indicates the player's final season. Most were seniors. Some transferred and some were underclassmen who did not play in the following season. The '81, '84 and '17 teams include multiple underclassmen. ROMAN CATHOLIC 1968-81 Seasons PENN CHARTER 1983-84 Seasons ST. JOSEPH'S PREP 2002-17 Seasons Charles DiCicco 1968 Andy Vye 1983 Evan Pierce 2002 Dan Avington 1968 Art Duff 1983 Jim Good 2002 Dennis Mathews 1968 Dennis Foley 1983 Matt Stefanski 2002 John Proud 1968 Joe Doherty 1983 Mike Haubrich 2002 Keith Coady 1968 Abe Dunmeyer 1984 Ryan Lynch 2002 Larry Avington 1968 Brian Duffy 1984 Brett Novielli 2003 Steve Collins 1968 Carl Arrigale 1984 John Oberlies 2003 Bill Braunsberg 1969 Drew Meyers 1984 Kyle Eisenmann 2003 Bill Medina 1969 Ed Small 1984 Mark Meehan 2003 Bob Giballa 1969 Hank Weiss 1984 Mark Zoller 2003 John Pindynski 1969 Joe Gleason 1984 T.J. Valerio 2003 Larry Storm 1969 Joe McGarvey 1984 Antoine Joseph 2004 Lorenzo Hough 1969 Marv Dunmeyer 1984 Chris Clark 2004 Mike Bantom 1969 Tom Burke 1984 Jared Black 2004 Mike Moody 1969 John Griffin 2004 Bob Zakrzewski 1970 Mike Boyle 2004 Charles Gardner 1970 Mike Kearney 2004 Dennis Carr 1970 Pat O’Toole 2004 Jim O'Brien 1970 Paul Lynch 2004 Rich Giusti 1970 Corey O'Rourke 2005 Ed Hoban 1971 Joe Fox 2005 John Beecroft 1971 Oscar Griffin 2005 Marty Corcoran 1971 Sean Barker 2005 Tony Smith 1971 Charlie Schrier 2006 Bob Blumber 1972 Dave Stefanski 2006 Charlie Rumsey 1972 James Oberlies 2006 Dave Henderson 1972 Kevin Fox 2006 Ed Jones 1972 Kevin Funston 2006 Fran Sykes 1972 Kevin Gallagher 2006 John Murphy 1972 Matt Beck 2006 Mike Cannon 1972 Mike Lombardi 2006 Mike Foster 1972 Mike McCauley 2006 Rich Maguire 1972 Reggie Redding 2006 Bob Cahill 1973 Chris Farrell 2007 Chico Singleton 1973 Drew Horgan 2007 Jim Harrington 1973 Larry Loughery 2007 Rocco Piliero 1973 Matt Dolan 2007 Adrian Moody 1974 Matt Griffin 2007 Donald Kelly 1974 Mike Mifka 2007 Jack Kelly 1974 Rob Coney 2007 John Griffin 1974 Sean McNulty 2007 Marcellus Pringle 1974 Casey Convery 2008 Mike LaPera 1974 Jim Mower 2008 Ike Robertson 1975 Joe Meehan 2008 Ira Brown 1975 Matt Williams 2008 Jeff Marcial 1975 Mike Bradley 2008 Joe Garrett 1975 Phil Giordano 2008 Keith Green 1975 Rich Hofmann 2008 Rich Smith 1975 Sean Dooley 2008 Terry Christian 1975 Brandon Robinson 2009 Tom Griffin 1975 Dan Fitzpatrick 2009 Tony Rapone 1975 Drew Valerio 2009 Zane Major 1975 Kevin O'Neill 2009 Bob Alessio 1976 Mike Leithead 2009 Greg Flannery 1976 Pat Stewart 2009 Jim Benincasa 1976 Pete Buzby 2009 Jim Dougherty 1976 Tom Griffin 2009 Mike Morrow 1976 Bryan Bacskai 2010 Rich Blasetti 1976 Connor McIntyre 2010 Steve Compton 1976 Joe Nardi 2010 Frank Ward 1977 Joe Oberlies 2010 Fred Braunsberg 1977 John Hrabrick 2010 Jim Parson 1977 John Regan 2010 Kevin Eagan 1977 Sean Brophy 2010 Mark Dugan 1977 James Stewart 2011 Ray Finney 1977 Matt Stahl 2011 Tyrone Dent 1977 Mike Fee 2011 Warren Catlett 1977 Mike Levy 2011 Charlie Robbins 1978 Gene Williams 2012 Chris Kelley 1978 Joe Kane 2012 Greg Hayden 1978 Kevin Oberlies 2012 Jim Braunsberg 1978 Matt Gorman 2012 John Siorek 1978 Tom Stewart 2012 Larry McGill 1978 Trevor Johnson 2012 Reggie Jackson 1978 Wes Hackman 2012 Roosevelt Prescott 1978 Dan Nedbal 2013 Bill Dillard 1979 Dan Sherry 2013 Kevin Copes 1979 Kyle MacWilliams 2013 Leonard Stubbs 1979 Mark Hueber 2013 Mike Lally 1979 Miles Overton 2013 Ralph Mack 1979 P.J. Kelly 2013 Ray Gorham 1979 Stephen Vasturia 2013 Darryl Williams 1979 Alex Stewart 2014 Gerald Roberts 1980 Chris Hoffner 2014 John Ross 1980 John Luciano 2014 Lonnie McFarlan 1980 Kyle W. Thompson 2014 Steve Scheier 1980 Malik Macon 2014 Alex Staranowicz 1981 Rick Slusarczyk 2014 Anthony Abron 1981 Ryan Wall 2014 Craig McClellan 1981 Tom Fox 2014 Dallas Comegys 1981 Austin Gallagher 2015 Glenn Welton 1981 Billy Kramer 2015 Jim Capella 1981 Billy Kramer 2015 Jim Parrella 1981 Brendan Burns 2015 Marc Jones 1981 Chris Clover 2015 Marc Jones 1981 Jack Henkels 2015 Mike Morris 1981 James Leible 2015 Randy Monroe 1981 James McGovern 2015 Steve Dangerfield 1981 Mark Scarlett 2015 Steve Pettit 1981 Zach Talke 2015 Alim Kamara 2016 Anto Keshgegian 2016 Chris Montie 2016 Evan Wall 2016 Fintan O'Toole 2016 John Kueny 2016 Keith Williams 2016 Pete Gayhardt 2016 Temi Aiyegbusi 2016 Vincent Luciano 2016 Askia Hamilton 2017 Brian Griffin 2017 Darius Kinnel 2017 Edward Croswell 2017 Gabe Arizin 2017 Joseph Paparone 2017 M. Kyle Thompson 2017 Matt Hartz 2017 Matthew Cruz 2017 Max Frantz 2017 Mike Barton 2017 Mike Hagan 2017 Vincent Busico 2017