Murphy mourned by hoops community
Longtime local official was greatly admired by those with whom he interacted
At last week’s Tournament of Champions adult men’s basketball tournament at the Catasauqua Playground, Joe Murphy was wearing his TOC hat, his TOC shirt and was in his lawn chair in his usual spot near the court.
Murphy was the officials assignor for the event and once proclaimed the area where he sat “Refsplatz” since the TOC often was held at the same time as Musikfest with all of its regular platzes.
“He was his usual self,” said TOC founder and director Eric Snyder. “He didn’t miss a night. He was there with his cigar and talking and joking around as he usually did. As our officials assignor, he was always talking with the refs, always smiling, always having a good time.”
But earlier this week Murphy had a heart attack and he died Tuesday, causing sadness throughout the basketball community that knew him as a longtime high school boys and girls referee.
“It’s just a shock to so many because he was around last week and seemed himself at the tournament,” Snyder said. “He was a Catasauqua graduate [1966] and a true blue, Brown and White-bleeding Catty guy who everybody knew in this town. Since he retired as an official, he was always at the games in our gym, no matter who was playing.
“He was just a great supporter of our community and always willing to help out. He was always there if you needed him for anything.”
Murphy was also a good friend of Catty basketball legend Larry Miller and the two often traveled together.
But it was Murphy’s bond with the officiating community that was the strongest. It’s hard to find an official in any sport who didn’t have at least one detractor, but Murphy might have been it. “He gave all of us young officials a lot of great knowledge,” veteran official Kirk Gildner said. “I can’t express how much he meant to so many officials. He was always willing to go and watch you work and give you pointers on how you can improve your game. He was a true gentleman. He was one of the good guys.”
Frank Molchan, another longtime friend and officiating colleague, said: “This is not only a loss for the officiating community, but it’s also a loss for local basketball. Everybody knew Joe and liked Joe. I don’t know if I ever heard a bad word said about him because he was such a good guy who cared about people. He wanted to help young officials as much as he could.”
Warren Winch, another TOC director, said he almost never saw Murphy without a smile on his face or a twinkle in his eye.
“He loved talking to people,” Winch said. “He would always say ‘What’s up?’ He lived four houses down from me, and if he saw me out he’d always come over and talk and tell a few jokes. He was always funny, always smiling.
“I probably knew him for more than 40 years, and the only time I ever saw him sad was when his wife, Carol, died in November of 2017. But he was always out and about, and you’d see him going to the store, going to play golf. It’s tough losing a guy like him.”
Change of heart
Deacon Anthony Koury, the longtime athletic director at Notre Dame High School, made a request to school principal Andrew D’Angelo that the school does not name its football stadium in his honor and the school’s board of directors has abided by his wishes.
A ceremony planned for Aug. 23, when the Crusaders open the season against Northwestern Lehigh, has been scrapped. In making his request, Koury said other names for the Crusaders stadium should be considered.
Toth takes PV job
Tom Toth, the former Bangor head football coach, has been named the new athletic director at Pleasant Valley.
Toth, who resigned as head coach after last season, was still on the Slaters coaching staff as an assistant as recently as last week. He was also an assistant principal at Bangor’s DeFranco Elementary School.
Toth will be Pleasant Valley’s third AD in a matter of months.
Jake Percey, who received the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s Robert W. Stimmel Award as the league’s AD of year in for the 2018-19 school year, had to leave his post after 14 years due to an administrative reclassification. Jason Mattern was hired as Percey’s replacement but resigned in July, less than a month into the job.
Coaching departure
Adam Holtzer has resigned after two seasons as head coach of the East Stroudsburg North boys basketball team.
Holtzer went 7-36 in his time with the Timberwolves after succeeding Jon DeJesus, who left the program to become an assistant coach at Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J.
In his final season in 2016-17, DeJesus led East Stroudsburg North to the District 11 5A championship and into the second round of the state tournament.
Nice job Northwest
The Northwest Little League Softball All-Star team of Bethlehem, featuring girls aged 8 to 10, had a championship summer to remember.
After three weeks of intense practice to work on their skills, the girls who were chosen from three teams in the league, won the District 20 championship and then won the Section 6 title.
Northwest then headed to the state tournament in Wellsboro in late July as the eight section champions battled for state honors.
The team advanced through the winners bracket by beating North Pocono 4-2, Mifflinburg 2-0 in extra innings and Delaware Valley 5-4. Northwest was one win away from its first state title in the age bracket since 1992.
However, St. Mary’s emerged from the losers’ bracket and beat Northwest twice to win the state championship.
It was still a run that the players, manager Chris Tomac and coaches Grant Lilly, Jim Koehler and Anna O’Neill will never forget.
Team members included Natalie Lilly, Ella Quayle, Payton Besecker, Addy Smith, Shea Miller, Ava Tomac, Adrianna O’Neill, Leah Onia, Riley Palank, Ellie Rumbalski, Rachel Fisher, Grace Lancaster, Alexis Richie and Mia Watson.