Once in John Chaney’s shadow, Songster made own way at Cheyney
THORNBURY >> Charlie Songster could tell you, first-hand, how difficult it is to replace a legend. But he was much too modest to say that he did it quite effectively at Cheyney University after John Chaney exited to further greatness at Temple in 1982.
In all, Songster was a professor at Cheyney for more than three decades and a member of the men’s basketball coaching staff for more than 20 years.
Songster died May 11 at the age of 81 and will be buried on Wednesday.
“I think Charlie was a much more quiet person than John (Chaney) and because of that some people thought, maybe, that he wasn’t capable of taking over, but he did pretty well,” said Leon Bell, who played for Chaney and then-assistant coach Songster from 1972-75. “He did a nice job.”
An 11 a.m. funeral mass will be held at St. Kevin Church in his home town of Springfield. A viewing to be held beginning at 10 a.m., with the burial to immediately follow the mass at Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery, also in Springfield. A luncheon at Lamb Tavern will follow.
“Charlie was always a kind, caring man,” said Bell, who starred at West Chester High School from 1968-70, later coached at West Chester Henderson from 1979-93, and is currently an assistant basketball coach at Cheyney. “That’s what I will always remember. And he was always the same — he never wavered.
“I went to see him in at (St. Francis House in Yeadon) after he had taken ill. I took a program of (Cheyney’s) hall of fame banquet. He was always a Cheyney person.”
Songster attended Villanova and earned his master’s degree at Temple in 1964. He was hired at Cheyney a year later, started coaching the freshman basketball team in 1967, and retired from the Department of Education & Professional Services in 2000.
“I respected him as a coach and a friend,” Bell said. “He impacted a lot of people. And he loved basketball and being at Cheyney. I think it says a lot about him that he stayed for so long.”
Songster served as an assistant on Chaney’s staff for a decade. The Wolves had a .790 winning percentage in that span and captured the NCAA Division II 1977-78 National Championship. He was named the CU head coach in 1982, when Chaney became the head coach at Temple.
In Songster’s first season as head coach, Cheyney captured its 14th PSAC title and finished with a 26-6 overall record, earning him National Association of Basketball Coaches East District Coach of the Year in Division II.
Songster compiled a career record of 137-66, over sevens season from 1982-89, at the helm, with the 1985-86 team taking home the schools PSAC-leading 15th league crown. The squad advanced all the way to the NCAA Division II Final Four, and Songster was once again named NABC East District Coach of the Year in Division II.
“He was a clinician and disciplinarian as a coach who really knew the game,” said Harold Johnson, who was formerly the head wrestling and bowling coach at Cheyney. “He was really loved by his players as well as the students in the class room.”
Songster was inducted into the Cheyney University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994, the Delaware County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Hall of Fame in 2001 and into the Philadelphia Area Small College Hall of Fame in 2008.