Rick Perez’s ‘secret sauce’ key ingredient to Red Knights’ success, says Stu Jackson

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Ruben Rodriguez, Myles Grey and their Reading High teammates are far too young to know the name Darryl Washington or of the unrelenting pain he inflicted upon a generation of Red Knights basketball fans.

When Amier Burdine fouled Roman Catholic’s best player, Xzayvier Brown, with 1.7 seconds left in the PIAA Class 6A championship game last week the memory of Washington and what he did some 50 years earlier came rushing back.

If you know of that 1973 championship game, when Washington hit a free throw with time expired to lift General Braddock over Reading 63-62, you likely got a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when Brown was fouled, his team trailing by a point.

Stu Jackson knows that sick feeling all too well.

The star of Reading’s 1973 team has never been able to fully shake the effects of that devastating loss in his final high school game. A few years ago, before Lonnie Walker IV and his crew rescued the psyches of Red Knights Nation, Jackson told me: “I’ll carry that (memory) to my grave.”

Brown, a St. Joseph’s recruit who had made 10-of-12 free throws to that point, let Burdine and the Red Knights off the hook when he missed the front end of a two-shot foul.

“At that point I thought: ‘They’re gonna do this,’ ” Jackson shared Wednesday night, during a visit to the Reading Berks Basketball Association Winter Shindig, “and sure enough they did.”

Jackson returned home to support his former Reading teammate, Francisco Molina, who was being honors for his service to the basketball community.

Jackson is 50 years removed from playing for the Red Knights but still emotionally connected to the program and the school. He’s spent his basketball life coaching and as an administrator at the highest levels of the game – he takes over as West Coast Conference commissioner next month — yet remains fully invested in his old school.

He was there, in the middle of that sea of red and black, seven years ago when Walker IV lifted Reading to its first state championship. It was as important to Jackson as it was to many of the other 10,000 people who squeezed into Giant Center that unforgettable night.

Roman’s Brown made the second free throw to extend the game for another four minutes but Jackson saw the first miss as an omen and was confident Reading would win it in OT, which it did, 63-56.

“I’ve watched enough games to know that when things like that happen, where you get an (80) percent free throw shooter at the line that misses free throws, that’s a sure sign you’re not gonna win that game,” Jackson said, “and fortunately for us the sign came true.”

Jackson dominated against General Braddock, scoring a PIAA championship-game record 38 points – a mark that wasn’t broken until Billy Owens dropped 53 on Pittsburgh Central Catholic more than 20 years later.

Jackson did everything he could to bring Reading its first championship, but it wasn’t enough.

The Red Knights were setting up for the last shot before Washington stole a pass and went in for a layup. He was fouled with no time left on the clock.

“He sunk one of two,” Jackson recalled Wednesday. “Missed the first by a lot . . . I don’t think the second one touched the rim.”

“It was a crushing blow to lose like that,” Jackson once told Mark Hostutler for the book “Heads of State.” “One of the most helpless feelings I’ve ever had.”

Like many others, Jackson is reveling in Reading’s recent success: It has won three of the last six PIAA Class 6A championships. He appreciates and respects the program Red Knights coach Rick Perez and his staff have created.

“I don’t think you can ignore what Rick Perez has done, in terms of giving young players something to aspire to and building a culture that produces winning all the time, and championships,” he said.

“I don’t think there’s a team that plays harder than they do, which really shows home much those players believe in themselves and believe in him,” Jackson said. “The attitude of just not giving up, and you’re never out of games, just shows through.”

The Red Knights were out-sized by an inch or two or more at almost every spot on the floor against Roman Catholic. Didn’t matter. Didn’t matter two years ago when they played a Philly All-Star team collected by Archbishop Wood. That team had at least four Division I recruits. Reading was one-point better.

“The great thing about team sports, especially basketball,” said Jackson, “is when you get the summation of parts (that’s) greater than any one individual, or any one or two talented players.

“When you talk about culture, that summation of parts at Reading High school is really their secret sauce. It’s happened year after year. It’s on full display when you watch them play. It’s something Coach Perez values, and it’s paying dividends for them.”