Crawford Brothers show their stripes at induction dinner
CLAYMONT, DEL. » Jerry Crawford graduated from Monsignor Bonner High and became a professional baseball umpire.
Joe Crawford, his younger brother, is a Cardinal O’Hara grad who was a professional basketball official. Despite different alma maters and different sports affiliations, the Crawford brothers have something in common — they were among the individuals honored by the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame’s Delaware County Chapter as its Class of 2017 at a recent awards dinner held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel here.
Also joining the Hall of Fame were multi-sport athletes Beth (Potter) Bryan and Rhian Jones; basketball players Leroy Eldridge, Wilbur “Zain” Shaw and Edward Swain; track and field athlete Ronald Hunt; coaches Bob Jesson, the late Bob Nugent, and Cliff Wilson; football player Dave Pacitti; and broadcaster Bill Werndl.
Joe Crawford, the 2014 National Association of Sports Officials Gold Whistle Award winner and 2015 Sports Figure of the Year, worked more than 2,500 NBA regular-season and 50 NBA Finals games. He became the league’s Director of Referee Development and Performance after retiring following the 2015-16 season.
“When I started officiating, all of the assigners who were giving me games were from Delaware County,” he said. “Working those games helped me get to where I ended up.”
Among the NBA referees at the dinner were Cardinal O’Hara graduates Mike “Duke” Callahan and Ed Malloy, both of whom worked the 2017 NBA Finals. Also in attendance were Aston native Mark Lindsay, a member of the NBA officiating staff, and retired refs Mark Wunderlich, a former Lansdowne-Aldan athlete, and Steve Javie, a Philadelphia native who recently was inducted into the National Polish Sports Hall of Fame.
Jerry Crawford umpired the first game played in Veterans Stadium in 1971 and was the home plate umpire in the last game played there (2003). He worked five World Series.
“The fans in Philadelphia have had a lot to do with how umpires and officials have been looked at over the years,” he said. “I remember one guy hollering at me that he was surprised I could find my way to home plate because my eyesight was so bad.”
Bryan was a standout in field hockey, basketball and lacrosse at Ridley and was an All-American lacrosse player at the University of Virginia. She was head girls lacrosse coach at Ridley for 10 seasons, taking eight teams to the district playoffs.
She credited older brothers Frank, Steve, and Jeff for helping “make me physically tougher. And my mom and dad never missed a game I played and never complained about all that traveling.” Jones was a three-time
Field Hockey Player of the Year and a state medalist in track at Haverford, earned All-America and Academic All-America at Duke University.
“I had three older brothers who helped me,” she said. “And it was great having my mother (Linda Jones) as my coach in high school. I was on that field at Haverford from the time I was a little girl going to practices with my mom. I was so happy doing all that I did.”
Eldridge helped the 1967 Darby Township basketball team to the Class C state title, was a member of the Little All-America team at Cheyney University, and was drafted by the NBA’s New York Knicks. He credited the late Charles Walker, his high school basketball coach, as a man who “willed us to be state champions.
“I was very honored that Jeff Barrett, a great player from Clifton Heights High who was inducted into this Hall of Fame, called to congratulate me when he heard I was going to be inducted,” Walked added.
Shaw set a Chester High basketball record with 1,993 career points, scored 69 points in a game against Harriton, and helped the Clippers win the 1988 state championship. He played at the University of West Virginia and has coached at Delaware County Community College.
“I had an uncle who didn’t get to see me play in high school,” Shaw said. “I played every game for him.”
Swain was Mr. Biddy Basketball in leading the Chester All-Stars to the world championship as a 12-year-old, then helped Chester High to the state final before helping Cheyney to three Pennsylvania honors State College Athletic Conference titles. He has coached at Chester and ran the educational and recreational fitness programs for the inmates at the prison in Chester.
“My mother and sister have been my life inspirations,” he said.
Hunt won the district and state championships in the triple jump as a Chester High senior and became the first athlete from Delaware County to triple jump more than 50 feet. He won silver and bronze medals in the triple jump competing in the NCAA Division III Meet for Lincoln University.
“I’m honored to be inducted with my high school coach, Cliff Wilson,” he said. “And (former Chichester girls coach) Jim Fewell taught me so much about jumping technique. I really owe a lot to him.”
Jesson, who played football at Upper Darby, Kutztown University and with the Aston Knights of the Seaboard Pro Football League, became a track coach when he started teaching at DarbyColwyn Junior High. He was varsity track coach at Penn Wood High for eight years, winning three district titles and a state championship. At Strath Haven, his teams won two district titles and the 1994 and 2012 state championships.
“My youth football coach, Phil Atwood, made me want to be a coach,” Jesson said. “Coaching in Delaware County really made you work hard. I know (Ridley’s) Joe McNicholas always talked about how you should show up every day and work hard.”
Nugent, who died earlier this year at the age of 93, played for the first football team at defunct St. James High, then served in the Army during World War II, earning three Bronze Stars. He was boys basketball coach at Chichester for 21 years and also served as an assistant football coach at St. James.
“I know how he would have reacted to receiving this honor,” said Patty Oakes, who accepted for Nugent. “He would have said, ‘I guess you ran out of people to honor, so you found me.’ He influenced the lives of so many people, and everyone knew him for his teaching, his coaching, and as a man of humility, good humor and integrity.”
Wilson coached the first state champion Chester High basketball team (1983) and coached league and district championship teams in track and field at Chester before becoming a principal in the Chester-Upland School District.
He was introduced by former Clippers basketball player Brent Hagwood, who called him “a father figure and the epitome of style and class.”
“That first state (basketball) championship came from the building blocks of all the athletes I had coached,” Wilson said. “That night in Hershey was one I will never forget. The Nether Providence girls and Chester boys both became state champs, and the people from both communities helped cheer them on to their titles.”
Pacitti was an All-Catholic football player at Cardinal O’Hara and spent a year at Duke University before transferring to Villanova, where he was an All-ECAC lineman for coach Andy Talley.
“Football has kept so many of us friends for life,” Pacitti said. “I was so fortunate to have men like Jack Shingle (CYO), Bob Ewing (high school) and Coach Talley (college) in my playing career.”
Werndl, a Sharon Hill native, has been involved in sports broadcasting for more than 50 years, working at Channel 6, spending several years in San Diego, then returning to the area to work at WCHE 1520-AM in West Chester.
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