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Diane Mosco Classic continues to honor late wife of Archbishop Wood coach: ‘She cared about everyone’

Wood coach John Mosco lost his wife, Diane, on Sept. 19, 2017, after a battle with myelodysplastic syndrome. This Saturday, the Diane Mosco Classic returns for the sixth year.

Archbishop Wood coach John Mosco (second from left) wanted to honor his late wife, Diane, with an annual basketball showcase. Diane Mosco died on Sept. 19, 2017, after a battle with myelodysplastic syndrome.
Archbishop Wood coach John Mosco (second from left) wanted to honor his late wife, Diane, with an annual basketball showcase. Diane Mosco died on Sept. 19, 2017, after a battle with myelodysplastic syndrome.Read moreCourtesy of John Mosco

Diane Mosco had a contagious smile. She would light up the room anytime she walked in, her husband, John Mosco, recalled.

During games, John, the Archbishop Wood boys’ basketball coach, will look back at the stands where his wife used to be and still see Diane’s radiant smile.

“When she was at games, and even now, she always talks to me,” John said, “about staying calm and trying to be positive. She was always my number one supporter.”

Diane didn’t miss a game. Even while working full-time as a nurse at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and raising two sons, her happy place was in the gym. It was where her family could be together.

In November 2016, Diane was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, which affects normal blood cell production in bone marrow. After going through chemotherapy, she was in the stands for Wood’s Catholic League championship game against Neumann Goretti in February 2017.

Neumann is John’s alma mater. He also spent 16 seasons building the Saints into a powerhouse with legendary coach Carl Arrigale before taking the head position at Wood in 2013.

On that electric 2017 day in the Palestra, Diane was more than a supporter, she was a second coach.

“We were losing in the Catholic League championship,” John said. “She’s screaming, ‘Call a timeout.’ I don’t like using timeouts, but we ended up coming back and winning the championship. After going through everything she went through, she was still screaming and had energy.

“We laughed about it afterward, because I didn’t listen, as usual. But we were lucky enough to end up winning the game.”

The win marked Wood’s first-ever Catholic League and was a special moment for the Mosco family.

Diane continued her battle with MDS. But that didn’t stop her from going to games. She watched John and the Vikings capture a state championship that year in Hershey and even stayed the next day to watch the girls’ basketball team play.

However, Diane went into the hospital for a bone marrow transplant in late March and never left the hospital. Repeated bouts of pneumonia took a toll on her body, and she died on Sept. 19, 2017.

“Everyone loved her,” John said. “She always had a positive outlook on life, she had a beautiful smile, and she was a very helpful person.”

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It took the whole family by surprise. John and Diane’s sons, JD and Nick, thought she could beat it.

“I remember telling her how much I love her and how much she did for me,” said Nick, now a sophomore studying sport recreation and management at Temple. “She was really like my best friend. She really enjoyed just being there for me, my dad, and my brother, doing anything that made us happy. She cared about everyone else.”

In honor of Diane, who grew up in Mayfair, attended St. Hubert, and graduated from Arcadia, which at the time was Beaver College, John organized a basketball tournament called the Diane Mosco Classic that year.

The annual showcase returns for its sixth edition on Saturday at Archbishop Wood High School. Teams from the Catholic, Public, Ches-Mont League, and more will gather together for a full day of competition.

This year‘s slate of games include Coatesville vs. St. Joseph’s Prep (noon), West Chester Rustin vs. Bensalem (1:30 p.m.), Imhotep vs. Reading (3 p.m.), Spring-Ford vs. Neumann Goretti (4:30 p.m.), Central York vs. Father Judge (6 p.m.), and Archbishop Wood vs. Salesianum (Del.) (7:30 p.m.).

And it doesn’t stop there. John is holding a Diane Mosco Foundation Shootout on Dec. 22 at Bensalem High School. Bensalem will take on Sankofa at 4:30 p.m., while Wood will cap the evening against Pub League defending champion Imhotep at 6 p.m.

John wanted to keep Diane’s name alive by using basketball, a sport she was passionate about, to help other students. The money that’s raised through the event is given to a senior from Wood or St. Hubert to help pay for tuition.

“Hopefully some of the students we’ve given the money to could turn out to be a bright light and love education,” John said. “Maybe could do something to prevent this horrible disease. We just try to give kids a chance.

“I work with the schools — we don’t have, like, a scholarship metric. We try to just help people that are struggling to afford Catholic school at that time. We also try to give it to females.”

It was important for John to keep his family together after Diane passed. He lost his mom when he was 19 and said he knew his sons needed time grieve while also helping them feel comfortable expressing their emotions out loud.

He frequently tells them, “She’s here, and just keep working to try to make her proud.”

The tournament is bittersweet, John said. He enjoys seeing all the families and friends come out to the event and watch talented prospects battle it out on the court for a good cause. But he admitted it’s a lot to take in every year, and he considers stopping it.

But then more teams keep calling and want to be a part of it, cementing that this is what Diane would want.

“For the teams that are playing, they get to play in great competition,” John said. “A lot of friends are there, supporting me and supporting the tournament. Then we’re able to help other students — Diane would have loved to be able to help.”