Chester comes together to grieve and celebrate in wake of tragedy

MARPLE » Several Chester players paraded around the court at Cardinal O’Hara holding up Edward Harmon’s jersey amid a throng of fans after the Clippers’ astonishing 63-62 victory over Simon Gratz in the second round of the PIAA Class 6A playoffs Wednesday night.

Despite the thrilling way the game ended, on a long-distance 3-point shot by Zahmir Carroll as time expired, this wasn’t a celebration as much as it was a part of the healing process from a tragedy that no one, especially a group of teenagers, should ever have to go through.

Just one day earlier, Harmon, a sophomore forward on the Chester basketball team, was killed, along with 15-year-old Tayvonne Avery, amid a multiple shooting that also left Jermere Clark, another sophomore forward on the varsity basketball team, wounded.

“They were just out there playing basketball when someone started shooting,” said former Chester great Keith Wood, Harmon’s step-grandfather. “It just makes no sense.”

That’s a sad reality in Chester. Harmon and Avery were the 10th and 11th murder victims in the city.

“Unfortunately, where we live, this is not a new occasion,” Chester-Upland superintendent Dr. Juan Baughn said before the game. “And, unfortunately, we’ve had too much practice at this. … At a time like this, everybody’s in pain.”

The pain was evident throughout the gym. Head coach Keith Taylor had tears in his eyes as he received well wishes and condolences from friends and strangers alike. Hugs were commonplace, coronavirus be damned.

“This was hard,” Taylor said. “There’s just so much emotion.”

The players stood armin-arm for the national anthem, many bowing their heads in quiet reflection. Similar scenes were played out in the stands.

Baughn exchanged hugs and handshakes as he stood at the entrance like a sentry, greeting every Chester fan who entered the building. The man who coached the Clippers in the early 1970s gets to as many games as he can, but he wasn’t missing this one.

He had to be there for the community.

“Our community is great,” Baughn said. “It’s a lot better than a lot of people realize.”

That was evident as more than 2,400 showed up for the game, according to O’Hara officials. Most were Chester fans, decked in black and orange, who made the trek north on the Blue Route to be there for the team and the Harmon family, who were in attendance, including Harmon’s mother, Nikera Harmon, and his grandmother, Lisa Brooks, among others.

They were seated in the front two rows right behind the scorer’s table, just to the right of the Chester bench. They were honored before the game. The players and coaches from Simon Gratz and Mastery Charter, which lost in a Class 5A girls game before the Chester-Simon Gratz game, paid their respects to the family at center court after a moment of silence was held for the victims.

Chester placed Harmon’s No. 35 jersey and Clark No. 40 on separate seats at the end of the bench.

“We just wanted to wrap our arms around the family,” Taylor said. “It’s a hard time for them. We know it’s hard, but it’s even harder for them. That’s her son. That’s their grandson. We just wanted to pull this out for them. I didn’t want to let them down and we didn’t.”

How the Clippers found the strength to play the game, let alone erase a 3119 halftime deficit to advance to the quarterfinal round is a testament to their resolve.

The team could have chosen not to play the game. They could have called it a season and no one would have blamed them.

Taylor left the decision of whether or not to play up to the players and the team agreed to play the game as scheduled.

“We just dug down deep,” said senior Zahmir Carroll, whose 3-pointer as time expired kept Chester’s season alive. “We were playing on pure emotion.”

“These last two days were really hard for us, but life goes on,” junior Karell Watkins added. “We can’t just sit there and dwell on the situation. We have to move on and do better for what they would want us to do.”

The Clippers weren’t playing just for themselves, they were playing for a pair of fallen teammates, which is what made the post-game celebration so appropriate as players danced around holding up Harmon’s No. 35 shirt.

“They were with us tonight,” Watkins said of Harmon and Clark. “As long as their jerseys are on our bench, they’re with us.”

Contact Terry Toohey at ttoohey@delcotimes.com; follow him on Twitter @TerryToohey.

PETE BANNAN — MEDIANEWS GROUP Nikera Brooks, left, mother of murdered Chester player Edward Harmon, and her mother Lisa Brooks, hold signed basketballs presented by Chester players before the start of their PIAA playoff game against Simon Gratz Wednesday evening at Cardinal O’Hara.