Berks Catholic’s Snip Esterly honored for 800th victory
2023 Berks basketball coverage presented by
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Win No. 801 turned out to be a little harder than Snip Esterly wanted, that’s for sure.
The Berks Catholic coach was in a good mood at halftime, his team leading Exeter by 16 points.
Not so much at the end when the Saints missed six straight free throws at one point and the Eagles turned it into a one-possession game.
“I didn’t enjoy the fourth quarter at all,” Esterly said after the Saints held on for a 72-64 victory Thursday at Wolf Gymnasium.
Before the game Esterly was honored for win No. 800, which came last week at Daniel Boone.
Esterly became only the seventh boys basketball coach in Pennsylvania history to reach the 800 milestone.
He has coached for 35 seasons since taking over at Central Catholic in 1989-90 after nine seasons there as an assistant coach.
Esterly won 542 times with the Cardinals before Central Catholic and Holy Name merged to form Berks Catholic in 2011.
He’s the only coach the Saints have ever known.
His resume includes 14 District 3 championships, eight Berks Conference titles and a PIAA championship.
Esterly has won more games in the postseason — 196 — than most high school coaches could dream of winning in their entire career.
He has been named Berks Coach of the Year eight times and has seen his team play for the Berks championship 18 times — more than anyone else.
He became the winningest coach in Berks history in 2014, his 627th victory surpassing the record set by Lloyd Wolf.
