Bristol basketball’s Tom Ryan touched players lives wherever he coached

YARDLEY – Former CYO and high school boys basketball coach Tom Ryan passed away on Good Friday and when he did, Bucks County lost one of the good ones.

Due to some health issues, Ryan, who was 69, hadn’t coached a hoops team since 2010. But before that, he guided junior varsity and varsity squads at no less than five lower Bucks County high schools including Bishop Egan, Holy Ghost Prep, Pennsbury, Truman and Bristol High School.

A retired systems analyst for PECO Energy who resided in Yardley, Ryan’s last coaching tour of duty was at Bristol, where he led the Warriors to a 68-53 record over the course of five seasons, three of which the team made it into district playoffs.

Ryan’s first year at Bristol was 2005-06 when he led the Warriors to an 18-6 record and a loss to Saint Pius X in district playoffs. His second year there was even better when he took Bristol to the District 1 championship where the Warriors lost by a single point to Girard College High School.

After the season was over, Ryan garnered Coach of the Year honors from the Bucks County Courier Times but it was neither regular season records nor postseason accolades for which the coach will be remembered. A varsity assistant/ JV coach at Holy Ghost from 1984 to 1997, Ryan learned his fundamentals from the master, Tony Chapman – the Firebirds head coach since 1979 who was inducted into the Bucks County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.

Ryan’s coaching style was somewhat different than Chapman’s, however. His son Kevin can tell you.

“He was the last of the old school coaches who wasn’t politically correct,” said Kevin Ryan. “He would scream and yell at you and call you names – like Bobby Knight.

“And he would get in your face, but in an encouraging way.”

Whatever way he did it, Ryan’s guidance on the hardwood had a profound effect on many that he coached.

Ever since the news of Ryan’s passing was heard, there’s been an outpouring of comments on social media that give testimony to just how deep an impact the coach made in a coaching career that lasted over three decades.

Many of his former players still benefit from his wisdom, said Brian Begley on a FaceBook post regarding Ryan’s death.

“He was by far my primary mentor in basketball and I owe everything I know in the game to him,” said Begley in a post a day after the coach’s passing. “I was far from a superstar, but I now coach my son in CYO and I literally think of (him) when I instruct in every practice and game. I use his same plays…I use his drills…and I use all of his methods that made him the best coach I had.”

“I would be half the man I am today without the life lessons that I got from Coach Ryan,” said Ryan Main in a social media post he registered on Easter Sunday. “Most importantly were the laughs. He was the best parent to carpool to games with. Sean (Ryan) knows all about the Hamilton Little Lads Tourney we won by listening to the “Good Morning Vietnam” soundtrack before every win!”

Davie Jones adds that Coach Ryan was a big part of his youth.

“I always wanted to play my best games when he was there. He was a really great guy & he had a great presence – a character larger than life,” said Jones. “I will always remember him. I hope your family knows how much you all have made Bucks (County) a better place.”

“What he really enjoyed most was knowing that he made a positive impact on the players he coached,” said Ralph DiGuiseppe III, a realtor with Long & Foster.

“He taught us all a lot of life lessons through basketball,” added Jason Tormey, who was guided by Ryan for two years at Saint Ignatius and two more at Holy Ghost. “He was tough but he was fair and he got the best out of all of us.”

The year Ryan was tabbed COY by The Courier, he led Bristol to a 22-5 record and that included a 7-point loss to the Scotland School for Veterans Children in the PIAA Tournament.

Kevin recalls the game as if it was yesterday. As the district runner-up, the Warriors – led by Asa Rankins and current coach Matt Gasper – earned a high seed in states. And yet they still had to drive175 miles to Chambersburg High School to take on the Cadets while the Scotland School was just six miles north off I-81.

Tied at the half at 25-all, Bristol actually took a 42-40 lead after three quarters only to see Scotland pull away in the final frame.

At the end of the 2006-07 school year, Bristol saw the graduation of five seniors on the basketball team including Gasper, Mike and Matt Pinelli and Rocco Pirollo. That didn’t stop Ryan; he led the Warriors back to the postseason in 2008.

Ryan’s health was starting to fail more significantly, however, that year. He had heart disease, longue disease and Diabetes, which cost him his leg, amputated shortly after the basketball season.

After 2008, the Warriors never returned to districts, going a combined 15-30 those two campaigns. Kevin says however it was those last two years from which Ryan gained the most satisfaction.

“He still wanted to win, but he started to see that there were things that were more important than winning,” said Kevin.

“He really started to mellow out those last couple of years. That’s when he started to invest in kids’ lives.”

Kids like Gasper, who took the reins of the Bristol boys basketball program at the beginning of this season.

The current coach didn’t register a winning record his first year with the Warriors but he managed to get his charges into the BAL tournament where Bristol got past DelCo Christian – a team it lost to twice this season – in the opener by a 66-64 score.

In the quarterfinals, the Warriors got a big fourth quarter from standout Deonte Harris and toppled Church Farm School, 55-47, despite losing to the Griffins three days earlier in the last game of the regular season.

You know Church Farm fans didn’t like it; their Griffins lost to Bristol in last year’s D-1 championship, despite possessing a 15-point lead with less than five minutes to go in regulation.

Now, Ryan can rest in peace, knowing that one of his protégés got the most out of his team, something the former Warriors coach had always managed.

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Tom Ryan’s funeral service is to be held 10 a.m. Thursday, March 31 at the J. Allen Hooper Funeral Chapel, 41 W. Trenton Ave. in Morrisville. Interment will follow at 11:30 a.m. at Washington Crossing National Cemetery, Newtown. Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and from 9 to 10 a.m. Thursday at the funeral chapel.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions, in Mr. Ryan’s name, be sent to the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758517, Topeka, KS 66675.