Coaching’s in their blood
Longevity counts in coaching. So do dedication and success.
Terry Thompson, Tom Saulle and Tom Phillips have all three of those elements. Those characteristics are the reason the trio will be among the 52nd Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame induction class at 7 p.m. May 20 at the Pittsburgh Shriners Center in Harmarville.
Thompson, who turns 81 in early June, was a head boys varsity basketball coach at East Brady, Knoch, Butler and Fairview (near Erie) for 22 years, amassing 400 career wins. He is still coaching today and has been in basketball at the high school, college and AAU levels as a head coach or assistant for 55 years.
Saulle founded the girls basketball program at Freeport and was head coach for 20 years total. He guided the program for its first 16 years, took a four-year break when he was named principal at Buffalo Elementary School, then returned to coach four more years. He amassed 299 career wins before becoming head women’s basketball coach at Penn State-New Kensington, helping that program’s revival from a 25-year absence.
Phillips has been head volleyball coach at Freeport since 2001 and is being inducted into the Armstrong Sports Hall of Fame this weekend. His Yellowjacket teams have won 405 games, lost 38, won 18 consecutive section titles, seven WPIAL crowns and two PIAA championships.
“Basketball’s always had a special effect on me,” Thompson said. “My mother died when I was 2 years old and my love for basketball helped me a lot through those years.”
A 1961 Kittanning High School graduate, Thompson became an exceptional player. He went on to play basketball at Clarion University, setting the program record of 1,519 points in his career there. He still holds the program record of 51 points in one game, 27.5 points per game for a season, 21.1 points per game for a career.
He immediately got into coaching, guiding East Brady to a 77-19 record from 1965-69, Knoch to a 137-73 mark from 1972-81, Butler to a 19-5 record in the 1982-83 season. He was 124-56 from 1983-90 at Fairview.
“I coached Jim Kelly’s older brother, Pat, at East Brady and we got to the (Class B) state championship game,” Thompson recalled. “I only had two losing seasons in my career as a head coach.
“I’ve since been an assistant coach longer (28 years) than I’ve been a head coach.”
Thompson’s daughters played at Girard High School, where he was an assistant when the team won the state championship. He is the junior varsity coach at Conneaut (Ohio) today and guides an AAU basketball program at Edinboro University that involves 94 teams.
“It’s a unique club in that we don’t go out and try to land all the best players,” he said. “The first 10 kids to sign for up each team, we take. We got beaten badly at some of these tournaments, but our program is called AYD for Achieve Your Dreams.
“We’re designed to supplement high school programs for 10 weeks and help these kids get better. We’re pretty proud of that.”
Saulle had a chance to close his high school coaching career with 300 wins, but his Freeport team lost to Serra Catholic and coach Bill Cleary in the WPIAL playoffs. Ironically, that game marked Cleary’s 300th career victory.
“I remember that game,” Saulle said. “It was the second round of the playoffs and they had twin girls who went on to play at Maryland. They beat us pretty good, by 15 or 20 points.
“I was never about the number of wins I had. I just liked teaching the kids and bringing them along as a team. We employed all types of defenses, ran different offensive sets ... I wanted teams to spend more time preparing for us than working on what they wanted to do.”
The Yellowjackets won two games in Saulle’s first year. The next year, they won six. Then they reached .500.
“It was a gradual process, but once we made the playoffs, we made them every year,” Saulle said.
Saulle grew up in Arnold and made his coaching debut with the Catholic Youth Organization basketball team at Mount St. Peter Church in New Kensington. He then became junior high boys basketball coach at Freeport before school officials approached him about taking over the varsity girls program.
“Coaching high school was a little more money and I welcomed the challenge,” he said. “The girls were great to work with.
“When I decided to come back (to the Freeport girls job) after being gone for four years, the time commitment proved to be too much. I found myself going into the school on Saturdays and Sundays to get caught up, plus I was getting older.
“It was just time for me to get out.”
Phillips is pushing 70, but is not ready to give up the Freeport volleyball job, not even after guiding the Yellowjackets to the PIAA title last fall.
“My wife asked me if I wanted to go out on top, but I made a vow to myself when I took the job that I would continue coaching as long as I was having fun,” Phillips said. “I’m definitely still having fun.”
He has run many adult tournaments, played coed volleyball for years and has a sand volleyball court in his backyard. He’s been tournament director for numerous events back there.
“We’ve had some of the best volleyball players in this region playing on our court,” Phillips said.
Tickets for the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame banquet are $40 each and are available by calling Larry Lutz at 724-822-3695, Fred Soilis at 412-736-1809 or Bill Heasley at 724-882-3079. Deadline for purchase is May 10.
No tickets will be sold at the door.
