‘Bow tie’ event planned to honor former Reading High coach Pete Carill

Reading High’s basketball season opener will be a formal affair: bow ties are requested for all in attendance.

The Red Knights will use their Dec. 6 opener at the Geigle to pay tribute to the late Pete Carril, a basketball legend who coached at Reading High on his way to the Hall of Fame. The former Princeton coach died in August at age 92.

Even during his great success in the college game, and later as an NBA assistant coach, Carril never forgot his Reading ties. He kept an eye on the program no matter how far away he was.

“He was always in tune with the program,” said Reading coach Rick Perez. “I would speak to him twice a year, and he could always tell us the last game we won. He kept a close ear and his heart to where we were.”

Perez is inviting anyone who played for Carill at Reading from 1958-66 to attend the event and have pregame dinner with the team.

A ceremony remembering Carill will take place prior to the game against Central York.

Perez and former players will speak about the man who coached the Red Knights to two District 3 titles and two Central Penn League titles during his eight seasons in Reading.

Perez is asking all in attendance to wear a bow tie, as Carill often did, as a tribute.

“With him passing, we wanted to make sure we commemorate him,” Perez said. “We want people to understand who Coach Carril is.

“We always take the opportunity to brag on his successes and what he’s done.”

“Pete set the tone for what Reading basketball is today,” longtime Reading Eagle sportswriter Tony Zonca told MikeDragoSports.com following Carril’s passing. “Pete set the tone, passed it on to Jut (Misbach), and passed it on to Jim (Gano), and Jim passed it on to Rick (Binder) and so on and so forth down the line.”

Carril’s roots trace to the Lehigh Valley where he played at Easton and later at Lafayette for Butch Van Breda Koff. Carril went on to coach at Easton. Gano, who would become the winningest coach in Reading High history, played for Carril at Easton.

Carril became a legend of the game during his Hall of Fame 29-season run at Princeton, where he won 13 Ivy League titles and transformed the game. He’s best known for creating the “Princeton Offense,” a cut-screen-and-pass offense that he began developing in Reading.

“The ‘Princeton Offense’ is the Reading offense,” Perez said. “It was being run at Northwest gym (in the 1960’s).”

Perez is asking those planning to attend to bring photos or memorabilia related to Carril and the Red Knights of that era to the game.