Chester Upland still mum on basketball coach’s ouster
Rev. Strand leads charge in defense of ousted Chester coach Yarbray »
CHESTER >> In nine years at the helm of Chester High School’s illustrious boys basketball program, Larry Yarbray won 214 games.
Upon the official announcement Monday that the two-time state championship-winning coach’s contract wouldn’t be renewed by the district, the press release afforded Yarbray barely one word for every two wins and just one paragraph for each of the three state finals he made.
Improbably, the loudest voice Monday surrounding Yarbray’s dismissal was a group of five, led by Dr. Horace Strand, the pastor of Faith Temple Holy Church. They gathered outside Chester High Monday morning to petition the Chester Upland School District for “respect and dignity” in the handling of Yarbray’s firing.
“We feel that Coach Larry Yarbray is an outstanding representation of what Chester makes,” Strand said. “He went to school here, made something good of himself and came back to serve his community. He has been working with children in our community for more than 20 years as a basketball coach, as the head of the boys club and other capacities.
“We believe that although it’s Chester Upland School District’s right to make decisions regarding its employees, this particular position should not be discharged without proper respect and appreciation shown to Coach Yarbray for the many years of service he’s given to this community.”
Strand felt compelled to take a stand Monday, and the reverend is hosting a community meeting Tuesday night at 7 at his parish, “to discuss further actions we will take to assure Coach Yarbray is treated fairly,” per a release.
The people defending Yarbray have presented an argument more vehement than anything the district has publicly acknowledged regarding the Yarbray decision. A release Monday night stated that “according to the administration, the time had come to make some changes to the Clippers’ basketball program, and based on the need for those changes, the school district has decided to go in a different direction.”
Yarbray’s track record may not always align to the lofty expectations of the Clippers’ most ardent followers, but it exceeds what most programs even dream of, particularly given the unique constraints the district and city face.
Yarbray won back-to-back state titles in 2011 and 2012, the latter an undefeated season that earned him the Daily Times Sports Figure of the Year nod. His teams won four District 1 championships and reached the PIAA semifinals four consecutive seasons.
Yarbray averaged 23.8 wins per season. Since he assumed the helm of his alma mater, 11 boys teams in Delaware County have tallied 24 or more wins in a season; five have been clad in orange and black, presided over by Yarbray.
Those numbers seem to make the district’s silence all the more deafening.
When reached for comment Sunday, CUSD Superintendent Dr. Juan Baughn, a former head boys basketball coach at Chester, offered slightly more detail via a statement released to the Daily Times.
“I appreciate the nine years that Coach Yarbray put in,” Baughn said in the statement. “He did some wonderful things and those things cannot go unappreciated. I wish him all the best. The decision did not come lightly, but people at the school thought it was a time for a change. Coach Yarbray should be saluted for coming into a difficult situation nine years ago and doing a great job.”
Baughn, who was hired on an interim basis in January to oversee a district beset by financial problems, coached the Clippers from 1970-74, going 94-16 and losing one state final game.
Yarbray’s win percentage of 80.1 falls in line with his more immediate predecessors — Fred Pickett (80.5 over 13 seasons), Alonzo Lewis (78.0 over 10 seasons) and Cliff Wilson (79.9 over 11 years). Yarbray’s two state titles equals Lewis’ banner haul and is one behind the late, great Pickett, who was supported by Yarbray as an assistant coach for many years.
Yarbray has contributed his indiscretions on and off the court. The 2014-15 team tumbled to a 1411 record and represents the only Clippers side since 1992-93 not to qualify for the state tournament.
The move to six classifications for the 2016-17 season sheltered the Clippers from larger suburban schools in the safe confines of 5A but didn’t translate into hardware. Chester lost at home to District 1 finalist Upper Merion in the quarterfinals, then scraped through playbacks. Their PIAA tournament ended abruptly in the quarterfinals in double overtime to Abington Heights, a level of success that has come to signify disappointment around Ninth Street.
The Clippers were also tipped by Academy Park late in the regular season, squandering a chance to split the Del Val title with Penn Wood.
Yarbray, who couldn’t be reached for comment, was arrested on charges stemming from a domestic incident in 2014, but those charges were eventually dismissed.
Yarbray, who played for Lewis, is a 1988 graduate of Chester who played at Coppin State. He has a long track record of placing pupils at colleges, with over 80 percent of his players getting accepted at the next level, according to several sources. Four former Clippers — Stony Brook’s Tyrell Sturdivant, Morgan State’s Stanley Davis Jr. and Delaware State’s Mahir Johnson and Marquis Collins (the latter after a medical redshirt) — play Division I hoops. At other levels, Conrad Chambers (Millersville), Khaleeq Campbell (Lock Haven) and DeShawn Hinson and Darius Robinson (both Delaware County Community College) are using basketball to work their toward degrees.
Maurice Henry, a 2016 grad, is enrolled but not playing at Delaware State, while 2017 graduate Ahrod Carter will attend Manor College. Carter’s classmates Jordan Camper and Jamar Sudan are weighing interest from several schools.
The balance of the stats mirrors the exuberance with which the opposing positions were expressed Monday, seeming to tilt toward Strand’s efforts.
“Basketball is not just about winning a state championship,” Strand said. “It’s also about producing character in young men. As a pastor of this community, as the pastor of Larry Yarbray, I’m outraged. …
“These are the kind of young men we need to hold up and support with our very best efforts. We are here today to serve notice to the Chester Upland administration that there is a voice in this community with the manner in which he was discharged and that we will let our voice be heard.”