Devon Prep basketball squad honors two military veterans from Class of 1964 on Salute to Service Day
Tredyffrin >> At halftime of the Devon Prep basketball team’s home game against West Catholic Sunday afternoon, a couple of military veterans from the Devon Prep Class of 1964 were honored.
This was Devon Prep’s first-ever Salute to Service Day, which the school hopes to make a frequent event. The event was the brainchild of Tide basketball head coach (and Devon Prep AD) Jason Fisher, along with associate athletic director Mark Consolo.
“When one of our players, Jacen Holloway, committed to West Point last fall, we kind of thought of a way to go back and recognize Devon Prep students that came before him that also went into the military,” said Fisher. “So we came up with the idea of bringing back two alums, and hopefully in the future we can grow; hopefully, word gets out that we’re trying to honor our troops. Hopefully, we can honor more of them and we eventually can make a big weekend out of this.”
The two Devon Prep alums, Richard Hackman and Barry McKeon, were introduced to the crowd at halftime, and presented with several gifts. Devon Prep teacher Jack Duffy sung “God Bless America,” and the Tide players (who were military camouflage T-shirts in the pre-game warmup) lined up to shake the hands of both men.
Hackman, who was in the U.S. Army from 1968-1971, then later served in the Pennsylvania National Guard after finishing law school at William & Mary, said, “This was a very nice ceremony. I have two sons who went to Devon Prep, and our Class of 1964 has remained very close, ever since 1964.”
McKeon, who served in the U.S. Army from 1969-1970, said, “This was really nice to have an event like this at a basketball game. I’ve been back to Devon Prep a few times, I’ve been involved with the alumni over the years, and with what we call a Brady-Gallagher Award, which was given out in honor of two of our classmates who were killed in Vietnam – Dan Brady (Class of 1964) and Rich Gallagher (Class of 1962).”
Consolo said, “We’d love to expand this event to have a bigger thing for our alumni, and get (people) who went to Devon Prep and served in the military recognized. We’d like to branch out into the Devon Prep community – to have people who are affiliated with Devon Prep who have been in the military, to get their moment. We want to make this an annual thing for basketball, and maybe we’ll also do it at a spring sports event – whatever fits best, whenever we can get the most alumni back, so that the event will be special for them, that it will kind of hit home to them and their families that they feel appreciated and that we appreciate them.”
Sunday’s basketball game pitted the Tide against West Catholic, a team with which Devon Prep has a spirited rivalry. The Burrs beat Devon Prep twice last season before the Tide got revenge in the PIAA state quarterfinals en route to an eventual state championship.
On Sunday, the Tide kept the score close during the first half. In the first quarter, Devon Prep’s Ty Mishock scored eight points, then when Ben Costello hit a trey from the left side early in the second quarter, the Tide had a 21-19 lead.
West Catholic went on a 9-0 run, and led at halftime 33-25. By the end of the third quarter, the Burrs’ lead was 11 points (46-35), then the visitors held the Tide scoreless for most of the fourth quarter on the way to a 63-40 win. Mishock led Devon Prep (11-11) with 13 points and Holloway tallied seven.
The Tide have clinched a spot in the upcoming PIAA state tournament, and will have only one game remaining (a District 12 seeding contest for the state tourney) before the PIAA state tournament begins in March.
“West Catholic is a great team, and they do a lot of great things, today’s game was a good learning experience for us – we have a state tournament to get ready for,” said Fisher. “We learned today that we can’t take any plays off, that we’ve got to match the physicality of each opponent, and match the intensity for the entire game.”
West Catholic 63, Devon Prep 40
West Catholic 15 18 13 17 – 63
Devon Prep 15 10 10 5 – 40
West Catholic scoring: Clark 6 7-10 19, Stanford 8 1-2 19, Branker 1 0-0 2, Walker 2 4-5 8, Willbanks 3 2-2 8, Waters 0 0-0 0, Cole 0 0-0 0, Wheatley 2 0-0 5, Singleton 1 0-0 2, Totals 23 14-19 63.
Devon Prep scoring: Holloway 3 1-4 7, Orchard 1 0-0 2, Doyle 1 0-0 3, Conlon 2 0-0 5, Mishock 6 0-0 13, Costello 1 0-0 3, Scarpulla 1 1-1 3, Craft 2 0-0 4, Hamer 0 0-0 0, Regan 0 0-0 0, DiOrio 0 0-0 0, Oakes 0 0-0 0, Totals 17 2-5 40.
Three-point goals: West Catholic – Stanford 2, Wheatley. Devon Prep – Doyle, Conlon, Mishock, Costello.
