I was saddened to learn of the passing of my 8th grade basketball coach, Walt Joyce. I heard of it when Karen Joyce McCormick's tribute letter to her Dad was forwarded to me on 5/20. Kar, your Pop would be proud of you...it was very touching and obvious that it came from your heart! I have very vivid memories of OLHC's 7th-8th grade B-Ball team in 1976. Mr. Joyce had never coached before but kept the OL winning tradition alive by continuing to use the already established 1-3-1 press, 2-1-2 zone on defense, and on offense, the "V"(against man to man) and "overload" against a zone. Before our season began, we scrimmaged, in our small gym, one of the top teams in the city, St. Raymond's of West Oak Lane. They embarrassed us on our home court 119-44! Before our next practice, coach called me aside and asked me if there was anything he was doing or not doing that our previous coaches (Jack Barrett & Bernie Fitzgerald) had done. Here I was 13 or 14, and he was confiding in me, showing me respect...without a hint of arrogance or too proud to come down to my level! I had the utmost respect for him from that day on. From a psychological standpoint, he was letting me know that it was my year to shine, to be aggressive, and a leader on the court. We ended the season at 18-7. We were a disappointing 7-4 in our league, loosing those 4 games by a total of 7 points! Easily could have been 11-0. In the McDevitt tournament semi-finals, we faced undefeated St. Raymond's the same team that beat us by 75 pts. 6-7 wks. ago. Proving that "coach" had us playing at a much higher level since he took over, we lost by just 7 pts. on a much larger court. Of the 64 teams invited to the LaSalle tournament, we made it to the final 8, loosing by 8 to BVM, who incidentally, beat St. Raymond's by 14 in the championship. We made it to the final 4 of Archbishop Wood's tournament before loosing by 2 to eventual champ, St. Jude. Our hard work and perseverance finally paid off, as we won the Abington H.S. tournament exacting revenge on St. David's, who beat us in the regular season! 18-7...7 losses by a combined 24 points! Our "rookie" coach had molded us into a very good team, we were in every one until the final minutes. Walt Joyce's real acumen as a coach came one year later, when led by Jack Kelly, Tucker and Chipper Greenberg, OLHC only lost two games all year, making it to the final 4 in the state of Pennsylvania! I have great memories of my OL days and Walt "coach" Joyce will never be forgotten. Especially the orange turtleneck that matched our uniforms!