''Hey, That Was off the Record!''

AUTHOR'S NOTE Long a hotbed for quality athletics, Chester County, PA has been developing superior athletes, superb athletic teams and highly-qualified coaches for decades and decades. About thirty-five miles west of Philadelphia, Chester County's documented sports history dates as far back as the 1870s when it was first recorded on paper for those alive then to read, and for future historians and sports fans like we are to review years later. Sportswriters make a living documenting the highs and lows of amateur and professional competition, from the constant mood swings - euphoria one minute to the pure agony of defeat the next - to the personal and impersonal sides of the game. From tennis to volleyball, soccer to baseball, cross country to track and field, football to softball, basketball to skateboarding, wiffleball, golf and wrestling to Frisbee, there have been incredible individual performances from Chester County athletes over the years, too many team championships to remember, district, state and national titles, and humble coaches developed through longevity, perseverance, resiliency and dependability. Some players have become household names while others have their moment or two of glory and fade into the sunset. Who can forget the spring of 1970 when Avon Grove High School under the skilled guidance of the late Bill Miller, who had never played basketball, won the PA state Class B boys' basketball championship, doing something no one else could do then- stop Mansfield and its 6-10 phenom Tom McMillan, who would later have a great professional career. Broadcasters Art Douglas and FrankFarley, now both deceased, announced the game on WCOJ radio as the 1970s version of "Hoosiers" unfolded from inside that brown Philco on the nightstand. Devon Prep won a state Class A boys' basketball title in the 1990s; Downingtown High School's girls, led by Tina Nicholson and Tora Suber and ageless Bob Schnure who is still going strong today with over 600 career coaching wins to his credit, came from behind to win a remarkable game over Penn Hills and the state title in the early ' 90s. Who can forget Downingtown's state football championship in the 1990s, Immaculata College's surprise 52-48 upset of West Chester State College to win the National Women's Collegiate Basketball Tournament in 1972, or West Chester winning the first-ever women's national basketball title in the late 1960s. How about Charlie Perrone' s West Chester Warriors, who won 40 straight baseball games in the Ches-Mont League in 1965-1967 with future first round draft choice Jon Matlack doing the majority of the pitching. The southpaw Matlack later pitched in the Major Leagues with the New York Mets and Texas Rangers. Kennett Square turned out Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Herb Pennock, Coatesville High School gave us Richard "Rip" Hamilton, a National Basketball Association star, and Billy Joe, who scored three touchdowns for the New York Jets in the Super Bowl in the late '60s and later coached football at Cheyney State. John Chaney, Jack McClellan, Ross Kershey, Charlie Way, Jack Wendland, Joe Senser, Jim Pribula, Dave Cox, Bobby Owens, Neil Serpico, Glenn Killinger, Walt Funk, Dick DeLaney, Bob Boyer, Ed "Moose" Townsley, Mel Lorback, Jim, "Chunky" Klunk all were household names at one time with Chester County ties. And, don't forget Andy Toth of West Chester High who set a Ches-Mont boys ' basketball single-game scoring record in the mid 1960s, hitting 51 points in a lopsided West Chester win over Downingtown, a game in which Downingtown, as a team, had only 51 points total. That record will never be broken. There are so many names, so many memories, and not enough space to do justice to them all. As a sportswriter and sports editor in Chester County for nearly 15 years, and as a local sports fan for many decades more, I've seen my share of athletic drama, accomplishments, feats which will never be topped, a