Basketball

400 wins for O’Neill:

another milestone in a remarkable life

By RICHARD A. ROSS

WALLENPAUPACK, PA — Emotional embraces, triumphant cries, sighs of relief and flowing tears were in no short supply. After all, this was a moment to celebrate and remember. Monticello’s boys basketball team had just defeated Western Wayne 39-34 in the opening round of the 10th Annual Hawley Rotary Tip-Off Tournament on November 30 to give its coach, Dick O’Neill, his 400th career win in the first game of his final season. O’Neill has announced his intention to retire at the end of this school year.

Obsessive as we are about numbers in sports, O’Neill’s arrival at this special milestone is worthy of banner headlines to be sure. But more so is his legacy in the positive imprint he has had on the lives of legions of young men that he has coached and, in turn, on other people he has never even met.

Teach one, impact many. That’s how we change the world, one life at a time.

O’Neill’s protégés benefit from his emphasis on values, commitment and love. From lessons thus learned by his former players, countless other lives have been made richer by extension.

O’Neill’s latest set of charges sat quietly in the locker room following the win as their coach fought back tears and told them, “You all worked hard and you all won tonight,” making the moment more about them and less about himself. O’Neill focused on the kids who came before and those that would follow, a tradition at Monticello that gives “little guys big eyes” as they look up at the scoreboard to see the names of current players and dream that one day their names will be up there too.

Imbuing his players with a sense of pride and purpose, while building character, discipline and respect, matter more to him than any win total. “If we were to walk on the floor and were not respected by our opponents, that would bother me,” O’Neill said.

He need never worry about respect, either from his own players or the teams that oppose him. O’Neill’s record of 400-138 over his 28-year coaching career has produced an enviable model of consistency. It includes 312 wins at Monticello, coupled with 88 wins during his 1980-85 tenure at John S. Burke.

O’Neill knows he has been blessed with fine players over the years. “I don’t care who you are. If you don’t have good players, you don’t win.”

The Panthers have never failed to make sectionals during his reign at Monticello nor have they ever had a losing season.

But O’Neill’s greatest accomplishments are far more resonant in human terms. He has never flinched from giving kids a chance to prove themselves worthy, even if others haven’t agreed that his investment in kids other people have labeled as troubled was worth the effort. Remembering how others believed in him as he came through some difficult times, O’Neill reinvests that faith in young people. In turn, his players have repaid his faith in him by contributing to his remarkable success.

O’Neill seeks to make young men better basketball players, and, more importantly, to give them a sense of family as part of the Monticello team. With their arms around each other’s shoulders, Panther players evince that bond as the National Anthem is sung before every game.

O’Neill is a loving husband, father and grandfather, but his extended family also includes former players, their families and untold numbers of fans from near and far. Above his desk in his office is a montage of photos of his wife, daughters, grandchildren and former players.

Coaching is only the latest chapter in a storied life that saw a troubled city kid, who moved from the city to Chester in 1958, go on to become an All-American center at Kentucky Wesleyan as part of three national championship teams.

O’Neill had many calls prior to this game wishing him luck. Many former players told him they’d be riveted to the Internet to see if he had gotten the win. Had all of the people whose lives he has touched been present at this iconic moment, you would have needed a stadium to house them.

O’Neill said he would have been content to go out quietly at 399 following last year, but at the behest of his wife Diane, his daughters Lori and Dana, other family members, assistant coaches and former players, he decided to coach more year and get the 400th win.

O’Neill reached the century mark in his first season at Monticello in 1986. The 200- and 300- win milestones came in 1994 and 2002 respectively.

Panthers dig in with tight defense but give their coach what he described as “the longest six and half minutes of my life”

Monticello basketball has always been first and foremost about defense, but in the opening quarter of the game versus Western Wayne, O’Neill found it necessary to remind his team about its lack thereof. Not closing the seams in its man defense afforded Western Wayne a couple of easy back-door cuts, which they added to an open-look three canned by Michael Gaudio. In addition, Monticello, which is not really a jump-shooting team, was getting its points without attacking the rim.

Consequently, the Panthers trailed 11-7 at the end of the first quarter. Six of Monticello’s points came courtesy of the game high scorer, junior William Watson. Insisting on better defense, O’Neill growled, “Step to the ball and close those gaps. Take a charge if necessary.”

Heeding their coach’s advice led to a 15-0 Monticello run in the second quarter that featured a great switching-man defense, coupled with a much more aggressive approach on offense. Led by the fine court presence of point guard Dior Jackson, the Panthers rotated the ball, looking for open cutters and kick outs to the perimeter. Monticello got a pair of threes from junior Devon Mathis and one from Watson during the quarter that saw the Panthers go from a 12-7 deficit to a 22-12 lead in a five-minute stretch. Stick-like-glue defense from the guards and switches that forced Western Wayne to encounter size mismatches were key in the Monticello run.

Pleased with his team’s efforts, O’Neill urged a strong defensive stand to end the half. “Let’s get a body on somebody and get a stop,” he implored. The Panthers led 25-16 at the break. Each team had turned the ball over four times in the first half.

Monticello extended its lead to 32-22 by the end of the third quarter, mostly by virtue of its defense that limited the Wildcats to a pair of free throws and two buckets. But Monticello’s offense was faltering too. While Watson had netted 16 of the Panthers’ 25 first- half points, he would add only two more in this frame to get to his game-high 18 that included a pair of three pointers. Sophomore Briar Patterson added one from downtown in the third quarter to give Monticello a total of five from beyond the arc.

A pretty floater by Patterson and a put back by senior forward Kyle Wigfall staked the Panthers to a 36-22 point lead early in the fourth quarter, but then things started to get ragged. Four turnovers in the period and some lapses in defense allowed Western Wayne’s Mitch Vitosky to net a pair of threes as part of his fourth-quarter production that saw Western Wayne outscore Monticello 12-2 in the final 4:25. Actually, things had begun going south for the Panthers two minutes prior.

“That was the longest six and a half minutes of my life,” said O’Neill, who noted before the game that he had already had seven months to think about getting number 400. In the closing moments of the game, Gaudio hit a three and Vitosky drove to the rack uncontested to cut the lead to a scant five. A late steal by an alert Watson knocked the ball out of bounds off Gaudio and locked up the Monticello win.

Neither team fared well from the line. Western Wayne made only six of 18 free throws, while Monticello netted two of nine.

Following the win and emotional hugs from players and his assistants Chris Russo and Antonio Simmons, O’Neill went to center court to receive the game ball from Wallenpaupack varsity boys basketball coach George Werthmuller and Wallenpaupack principal Jay Starnes. The coach was visibly emotional as he raised the ball skyward from his six-foot-seven-inch frame.

O’Neill was then surrounded by players, coaches and cheerleaders as he posed for a photo album moment. Later, he stood with Simmons and Russo. Simmons was a 1,000-point scorer in his career at Monticello and part of the 200th-win celebration. Russo is O’Neill’s choice as his successor following his retirement.

Returning his focus to the present issues at hand, namely this year’s basketball season, O’Neill said, “I’m excited about the win, but I’m really more concerned about our next loss,” he told his team. “Tomorrow, we have a chance to play for a championship.”

Vying for championships and winning some of them has been an integral part of Dick O’Neill’s life as both a player and a coach. But O’Neill has made his greatest mark championing youth, promoting pride and a sense of worth in young people who desperately needed someone to believe in them.

No trophy or total of games won can approach the luster of that achievement.

For more about O’Neill’s life and storied career, read “A Magical Career Approaches a Milestone,” on riverreportersports.com in the basketball archives written on February 26, 2007. The story also appeared in the March 1, 2007 issue of The River Reporter.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of pictures.