Jean Frey remains a treasure for Berks basketball

By Tony Zonca — MikeDragoSports.com senior contributor

In the early 1970s, when girls basketball in Berks County was still taking baby steps, Jean Frey emerged as an exemplar of the game.

She was the head coach at Exeter from 1968 till 1985.  Her teams won three county and one District 3 championship.  She departed with a record of 206-126.

In her prime she could sit down at the same X’s and O’s table with John Silan, Pete Carril and Jim Gano and hold her own.

On top of that she was a genuinely nice person — though she could breathe fire on the court — who cared for her girls and always carried herself with class.

When she began coaching, the girls played with six on a side.  That didn’t change till the 1969-70 season.  It wasn’t till 1973 that the girls were allowed to compete for county gold.  Exeter won that first one 46-35 over Gov. Mifflin.  Hall of Fame golfer Betsy King was a star on that team.

Three years later the Eagles won it all again, defeating Schuylkill Valley 49-43.  The Panthers were the Buffalo Bills of girls basketball at the time, finishing second in the county in 1975-78.

Significantly, in 1977 Exeter played two district games between county playoff games.  Somehow they managed to walk off with the big prize in each tournament.

“That wasn’t right,” Frey says now. 

So she and a few of her coaching brethren campaigned against the absurd process.  Finally things began to change.  Especially after the marvelous 1978 semifinal game, where Muhlenberg prevented the Eagles from a chance of winning three straight county titles.

When Frey stepped away from the game in 1985 she said she didn’t have much left in the competitive tank.

“I missed the girls,” she says, “but I didn’t have the drive I used to have.”

Her family was in the auctioneering business, Frey’s father was heading toward retirement, and she felt obligated to take a bigger role in things.

How big an impact did Frey have on Exeter girls basketball?  Well, the Eagles have never appeared in a county final since she left.

Jean Frey remains a basketball junkie.  You might see her sitting at various boys and girls games throughout the season, still taking mental notes, still learning.

In Berks County basketball she remains a treasure.