Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame – Albert C. Donofrio

Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame

Calls on a Conshohocken Legend

By Jack Coll

     Albert C. Donofrio, the former Executive Director of the Conshohocken Fellowship House Youth Center located in Conshohocken passed away on July 17, 1976, and yet his name, his spirit, his enthusiasm that once filled the building at West Sixth Avenue and Harry Street, and certainly the basketball tournament named after him, never seems to go away.

Now, the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame, whose Board of Directors is made up of the most knowledgeable sports minded individuals in the five county Philadelphia area, have raised the Donofrio name once again.  On November 26, 2013, the 12th Annual Induction Banquet of the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame held at Westover Golf Course, will present the family of Mr. Donofrio with a Lifetime Achievement Award.  In the annals of Montgomery County sports, there is no higher or more prominent award than the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame.  In the years past, Lifetime Achievement Award winners included Tom Lasorda, Andy Talley, Bob Levy, and Herb Magee, among others.

Members of the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame Selection Committee spend months reading over qualified applicant’s in an effort to select five inductees, and three members of the community coaches to induct into the Community Coaches Honor Roll.  During a recent Board of Directors meeting, members of the Selection Committee stressed how difficult it is to select five names out of the dozens of qualified applicants.

After much debate, the committee introduced the 2013 induction slate as follows:

Josh Culbreath- Olympian and track and field coach

Sherri Retif- Germantown Academy girls’ basketball coach

Sandy Nadwodny- Former Bishop Kenrick High field hockey coach

Bill Racich- Ursinus wrestling coach

Joe Shumock- Former Abington High football coach

     Albert Donofrio was a Bridgeport product, born and raised in the borough, attended and graduated from Bridgeport High School where he participated in all the sports programs, and later attended West Chester State College.  Donofrio earned a Master’s degree in recreation from Penn State University before serving our country in the United States Armed Services. In 1959 Donofrio resigned his teaching job at Conshohocken High school and accepted a job at the Conshohocken Fellowship House.  Bridgeport’s loss was Conshohocken’s gain, or as the late George Snear would say, “we stole Al from Bridgeport.”

Donofrio immediately improved many of the programs at the Fellowship House, removing the un-popular programs and creating new, and more exciting programs. He couldn’t help but notice a void in programing in early March thru early May, basically when the St. Matthew’s and Conshohocken High school’s basketball programs ended, until the high school baseball season began.  In 1961, Donofrio created this little basketball tournament to fill the void.  He invited students from both the borough’s high schools, he also invited players from his old stomping grounds in Bridgeport, and even reached out to Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.  The tournament was open to anyone and everyone.

The following year Donofrio expanded the tournament inviting students from surrounding counties.  He also believed that a number of Conshohocken’s basketball players were overlooked by local colleges.  Donofrio thought it might be interesting to invite a few college coaches from some of the local higher learning institutions, and try to convince them they missed this guy or that guy.  Donofrio’s ploy with the college scouts worked out just fine, it just so happened that Melnick’s Esso Team from Bridgeport, recruited a player from John Bartram High School out of Philadelphia, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe.  Melnick’s Esso won the championship in 1962 beating Ray’s Tavern, (Ray Gravinese,) Ray’s Tavern featured a guy by the name of Fred Carter, who later played and coached in the NBA.  By the way Monroe was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 1990 after enjoying a long career with the Baltimore Bullets and the New York Knicks.

The rest my friend is history, the tournament quickly expanded, college coaches from all divisions came flooding to the Fellowship House every spring, at the height of Donofrio March Madness, before High schools and colleges changed the rules, more than 100 tournament passes were requested from colleges from all over this great country of ours.  Division One college coaches would gather in the corners of the small gym, the coaches would talk about everything except about the player they came to scout.  Fans in the sold out stands and other coaches would be pointing and wondering who a particular coach came to see, and if a scholarship would be offered, more than once a college scholarship would be offered to a player right there on the Fellowship House gym floor, how exciting it was to see a player scramble to find his parents to fill them in on an offer, or wanting them to come down out of the stands to talk with a coach or scout about a scholarship.

From 1962-1976 the tournament was referred to as the Conshohocken Teenage Basketball Classic.  When Donofrio passed away in July 1976, the following spring it became known as the Donofrio tournament.  The tournament has certainly come a long way, from four teams to 26 teams.

Oddly enough, Al Donofrio wasn’t really known to the children of Conshohocken for the tournament that bears his name.  Donofrio’s legacy to most of the residents who ever came in contact with him as a child or adult will remember that when they talked to Donofrio, he was only concerned with them, and their problem.  Sometimes Donofrio had a quick fix for them, sometimes he needed a day or so to help them.  When Donofrio would return after hearing a resident’s problem several days later the resident would be shocked, not that Donofrio had a solution to their problem, but that he even remembered their conversation.

Al Donofrio will take his seat among the very best of Montgomery County’s coaches, while Donofrio coached a little of this and a little of that, he’s not being inducted for his coaching skills, no, Donofrio’s family is accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame Board of Directors for the human being that he was.  Al never saw age in a person, he never saw gender, and he certainly never saw color.  Al was an equal opportunity life coach, Donofrio was the most loved man the borough of Conshohocken ever had.

What I wouldn’t give, and what the borough of Conshohocken wouldn’t give, even forty years after his death, to have one more Al Donofrio, what we wouldn’t give to have Al Donofrio with us today.

Tickets can be purchased from Tom Brady at the Conshohocken Fellowship House located at East Sixth Avenue and Harry Street.  Tickets can also be purchased from Jack Coll at Coll’s Custom Framing Shop located at 324 Fayette Street.

Dinner Tickets–$60.00

Tables of 8—$440.00

Tickets can also be purchased by mailing your check made payable to MCCH of F

803 Northview Blvd Norristown Pa.  19401

Cocktails at 5:30

Dinner at 7 p.m.

Induction Ceremony to follow

12^th Annual Induction Banquet

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Westover Golf Club

Note: Get your tickets early