Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Coach Portland mourned by players
Nicholson, others remember legacy Immaculata legend Portland leaves behind after death
DOWNINGTOWN » The greatest high school scorer in Chester County history, Tina Nicholson, could have played college basketball anywhere back in the early 1990s. But the former Downingtown High School star picked Penn State and head coach Rene Portland — another local hoops legend.
“I always wanted to go to Penn State,” said Nicholson, now an assistant coach at Downingtown East. “And if I had to do it all over again, I would choose Penn State and play under Rene Portland.”
Nicholson played for the Nittany Lions in the heart of Portland’s wildly successful 27-year PSU stint, and was saddened to hear that her former coach had passed away on Sunday following a three-year battle with cancer. A key player at Immaculata University, Portland helped the Mighty Macs capture the national title in three straight seasons from 1972-74. She was 65. “I was recruited by everybody,” Nicholson said. “When I was in 10th grade, I was down in Tennessee with an AAU team, and I actually verbally committed to coach Portland. Afterwards, I started thinking, ‘What did I just do?’ I had to call (high school) coach (Bob) Schnure and my mom and tell them what I just did.”
Portland’s lifelong basketball pedigree stretched back to one of the first dynasties in women’s basketball. Playing for Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Cathy Rush, Portland (whose maiden name was Rene Muth) and future college head coaching standouts like Teresa (Shank) Grentz, Mary Ann (Crawford) Stanley and Mary Scharff helped guide Immaculata to a trio of Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) titles before the NCAA recognized women’s sports.
“The memories we have will always sustain us,” said Grentz, who authored a 671-309 record as the head women’s coach at St. Joseph’s, Rutgers, Illinois and Lafayette.
“I’m a golfer and the way I look at it is that we are kind of on the back nine. There are a lot of great memories and friendships from Immaculata. We were very fortunate with what we had, and Rene was a major part of it. And then she went on to dedicate her life to the people around her. She had the basketball career, but family was always first.”
During Portland’s four seasons with the Macs from 1972-75, they lost only a handful of games and went to the national championship game four times. Just a year after graduating, Portland was named the head coach at St. Joseph’s, and during her two years on Hawk Hill she coached another local hoops legend, Bishop Shanahan’s Muffet McGraw, who went on to win two national titles — including the most recent one this April — as the head coach at Notre Dame.
Following two seasons at Colorado, Portland was hired by then Penn State Athletic Director Joe Paterno in 1980. Of her 693 career wins, 606 came while she was the head coach in Happy Valley.
“She wanted great things for you — it was never about her,” said Nicholson, her point guard from 1992-96.
“She was a great coach, did great things with the Penn State program, and touched a lot of lives,” Grentz added. “She will be missed.”
Highlights at Penn State included a trip to the Final Four in 2000, multiple No. 1 rankings, as well as three Big Ten regular season crowns and two more tournament titles. Late in her career, Portland also faced accusations that she discriminated against players whom she perceived to be gay. An internal school investigation led to a one-game suspension and $10,000 fine, though Portland disputed the findings. A lawsuit was settled confidentially and she resigned in 2007.
According to Nicholson, Portland didn’t talk much about the basketball exploits of the Mighty Macs. The lone exception concerned traveling to away games.
“Little Immaculata was the first time people noticed women’s basketball,” Nicholson said. “She would tell the story how her, Teresa (Grentz) and three others would drive to road games in a VW bug. She’d always tell that when we were flying on private jets and going to fancy restaurants.”
Portland is survived by her husband John; a daughter Christine, who played for Portland at Penn State; another daughter DeLisa; and sons John Jr. and Stephen. Portland also had seven grandchildren.
“It was heartbreaking, what Rene went through,” Grentz said of her extended fight against cancer. “Right now, all my thoughts and prayers are with John and with her children and grandchildren. It’s devastating, but at the same time I am glad she is finally out of pain and in peace.”
In recent years, Nicholson says she would routinely text Portland to get advice or just check in on her health situation. Not long ago, Nicholson wanted to introduce an old play from her college days to the current AAU boys’ team she is now coaching.
“But I could not remember the exact play,” Nicholson explained. “So I texted her and Rene responded right away. She said: ‘I can’t believe you don’t remember it.’
“I told her what I remembered, which was where the point guard got the layup. She said: ‘That is not the play.’ I said: ‘well, that’s what I ran at Penn State and it worked for us.’”
Late last week, while on vacation, Nicholson called Portland.
“She was just heavily on my mind,” Nicholson recalled. “Of course she didn’t respond, so I left her a message. I just hope and pray she got that message.”