Late Dave Stafford remembered fondly during basketball Hall of Fame induction
Steve Hahn was honored Wednesday night by the Reading Berks Basketball Association for his many contributions to the game but he instead turned the spotlight on the coaches and teammates who influenced him, and on those who were inducted into the Berks County Basketball Hall of Fame.
Hahn spoke passionately about Dave Stafford, a Hall of Fame inductee and former coaching colleague, who died just a week before he was to be inducted during Wednesday’s ceremony at the RBBA Summer Shindig at Victor Emmanuel II Beneficial Society.
“Dave was the perfect definition of a basketball junkie,” Hahn said. “He had a uniquely giving appreciation for basketball.”
Stafford was inducted into the Hall of Fame along with Tony Bonanno, Paul Harter, Harry Williamson and the 1970 Exeter Black Knights — the first team to enter the RBBA Hall. Stafford, Bonanno and Williamson were inducted posthumously.
Hahn was among four to receive the RBBA Distinguished Achievement Award, along with Jarra Rusnock Dennis, Mike Mayer and Calvin Yoh.
Stafford was Reading High’s leading scorer and an All-Central Penn League first-team pick as a senior in 1970. He played at Kearney State College, on summer league championship teams in the Antietam, Pike and West Reading leagues, then coached for many years.
He was an assistant and head coach at Wilson, an assistant coach at Kutztown University and an assistant at Steel-High for Rick Binder during a run that saw the Rollers win five District 3 titles and two PIAA Class AAA championships.
“I coached against Dave and I coached with Dave in college,” Hahn said. “The thing you knew when you were going to play one of Dave’s teams is that they were going to be extremely well-prepared and they were going to play extremely hard — and you weren’t quite sure of what they were going to be doing.”
Hahn has great memories of working with Stafford at Pete Carril’s summer camps at Princeton.
“The thing that Coach Carril loved about Dave is that even in his 30’s he was a tremendous pick-up basketball player,” Hahn said. “Dave would work the camp for 12 hours, then play pick-up games all night.
“Dave loved to run and play basketball. He came from a school in Nebraska that scored about a hundred points a game. He had that attitude when he came back to Berks County, which people here weren’t used to.”
Bonanno was regarded as one of the top point guards in Reading High history. He was an All-Berks pick and received the Jack Flowers Memorial Award as Berk’s outstanding senior in 1972.
He went on to play at Wesley Junior College and Kutztown State.
“Coach (Jim) Gano said that Tony was one of the best guards he ever coached,” Hahn said. “He knew that if Reading was ahead in the fourth quarter, the game was over. You couldn’t take the ball away from him.”
Harter set a Wyomissing record that still stands, averaging 27.7 points as a senior in 1978; he finished with 1,285 points. He played four seasons at La Salle College where his coach, Lefty Ervin, said Harter’s shooting touch and accuracy was “as good as you’ll ever see.”
“A lot of sacrifices were made on my behalf,” said Harter, mentioning Wyomissing coaches Dick Sherry and Dale Reigle. “It’s very humbling (to be honored in this manner).”
Williamson graduated from Hamburg in 1964 as the program’s all-time scoring leader; he received the Jack Flowers Memorial Award as Berks’ outstanding senior.
He was an outstanding player in the Reading Social Leagues, where his teams won five straight championships. He later coached JV basketball at Hamburg.
His school scoring record was broken by his son, Troy, and then topped again by his youngest son, Aaron.
“He was slow, couldn’t shoot, couldn’t jump,” said Troy, accepting for his late father, “but he was successful through his will and determination. That’s what he had on most people. He either pissed you off or broke you down.”
Rusnock Dennis was a 1,000-point scorer at Muhlenberg and set the all-time scoring record at Albright, where she finished with 1,642 points, earned pre-season All-American honors and Academic All-American honors.
She has been a PIAA official for 14 years and an NCAA official for 11 years, working three straight PSAC championships.
Hahn was an All-City pick and an All-State honorable mention selection as part of the 1973 Reading High team that won Central Penn League and District 3 championships and reached the PIAA title game.
He was an assistant coach for Binder at Reading High and head coach of the Red Knights for two seasons, winning the Berks Conference title his first season, 1984-85. He went on to coach for 27 seasons at Kutztown University, in both the men’s and women’s basketball programs, and is a member of the Kutztown U sports Hall of Fame.
Mayer was a three-year starter at Fleetwood who averaged 16 points as a senior. He coached for 33 seasons at Fleetwood, in both the boys and girls program. He’s been a soccer official for 42 years and is the BCIAA officials assigner for soccer.
Yoh graduated from Robesonia High School in 1951, played on the Robesonia B team in rec leagues and managed the Robesonia A and B teams. He founded the Conrad Weiser Sports Booster Club.
Other news
- The Reading Berks Basketball Association announced that the West Reading/California Exchange 50th Anniversary celebration will be June 11, at the West Reading Playground.
- Earlier this year, at the RBBA Winter Shindib, Wilson’s Stevie Mitchell was presented with the Richard Kleppinger Award as the top male player in Berks basketball.
- John Buckley received the Bob Harbach Award for officiating.
- The Reading Berks Basketball Association presented $1,500 awards to eight Berks players: Stella Mollica, Gov. Mifflin; Ava Morrow, Twin Valley; Moro Osumanu, Reading High; Jake Plummer, Conrad Weiser; Lily Seyfert, Wyomissing; Evan Smith, Conrad Weiser; Adam Wanner, Exeter; and Tracy White, Muhlenberg.
