Sam Carchidi: A master strategist hangs up his whistle

Before the first jump ball in December, Sterling High's Bill Hiltner - who can strategize with the best of them - knew this was going to be his final season.

After 34 years as a high school boys' basketball coach, Hiltner wanted to spend more time with his four grandchildren, wanted to be able to travel with his wife, wanted to get away from the grind of serving in a dual role as a coach and athletic director at Sterling.

But Hiltner, 60, didn't want, in his words, "a mushy farewell tour," so he kept his retirement plans away from his players.

Now, with Sterling playing its final home game of the season tonight, Hiltner is ready to go public.

The Hiltner era is nearing an end - and what an era it has been, filled with wins, championships and class. Lots and lots of class.

"Bill has touched my life and thousands like me," said Sterling principal Dennis Vespe, who as a third grader used to attend Saturday-morning basketball clinics run by Hiltner. "And he still reaches out to the community with his youth clinics. He's been touching lives here since 1978."

Hiltner coached at Millville for five years and has spent 29 seasons as Sterling's coach. His Sterling tenure was interrupted by a one-year coaching stint at Atlantic Community College.

Spend nearly four decades coaching, and you are bound to have some bittersweet feelings about leaving a game you love.

"I have mixed emotions," Hiltner said yesterday. "It's been a great ride and I've had a lot of fun and a lot of memories. I've worked with a lot of great kids and, hopefully, I've impacted something on their lives.

"But I want to step back and enjoy my grandkids and enjoy traveling. And the AD pace in the winter is insane. It's 50-, 60-, 70-hour weeks."

That explains why it's nearly impossible for an athletic director to also coach. Few do it. Yet Hiltner has done both jobs the last 15 years, during which time the Silver Knights' basketball program has had a 266-122 record.

Overall, Hiltner has a 521-352 record heading into tonight's game against visiting Haddonfield; his career will end with Saturday's season finale at Haddon Township. Hiltner is tied with Ken Faulkner, the former Burlington Township coach, for seventh place on South Jersey's all-time win list.

Coincidentally, Hiltner has the same understated manner that Faulkner had. Maybe that explains why he has been able to juggle two jobs so effectively. Nothing seems to faze him.

Over the years, his teams have played with the same unflappable nature.

Hiltner said the 1998-99 team "stands out, only because they want farther than any of them." That team, led by Ernest Turner and Keith Wright, went 21-7 and won the South Jersey Group 2 title.

"I don't like to single out any one team because they've all worked hard," said Hiltner, who directed his teams to eight Colonial Conference titles and 11 20-win seasons. "The kids gave all they had and, as a coach, that's all you can ask. We've had teams that shouldn't have won the Colonial but did because they worked so hard, and I'd have to rank those teams right up there" with his best.

It's somewhat ironic that this year's Silver Knights are one of Hiltner's few teams not to qualify for the NJSIAA tournament. After 11 straight winning seasons, during which the Knights reached 20 wins eight times, Sterling is 11-13.

Hiltner doesn't make excuses, but a tough nonleague schedule is one of the reasons Sterling didn't have the needed .500 record at the tourney cutoff date.

"Blame the athletic director," he said.

That, of course, would be him. Hiltner gets no blame. He never took the easy road. Neither did his teams. Even in years when Sterling was thin on talent, its work ethic - and Hiltner's brilliant coaching - always made the team competitive, always made the Knights a feared opponent.

"Forget about his wins and losses," said Vespe, the one-time third-grade basketball hotshot who is now the Sterling principal. "With Bill, the thing we'll miss is his class. He was always a class act with the kids, the faculty, the opposing coaches. That's hard to come by."

As for the future, Rob Atene, Sterling's long-time basketball assistant, appears to be a natural choice to replace Hiltner in the coaching role.

And, yes, he has big shoes to fill. Very big shoes.

Gloucester coach Tom Torrillo is coaching his last game tonight and will be honored at a halftime ceremony against visiting Pennsville.

Torrillo, 59, has compiled a 178-128 record in 12 seasons at Gloucester; he has coached for 34 years, including stints as a junior-high and JV coach.

Like Hiltner, Torrillo wants to spend more time with his family.

"My wife retired last June, and it's a good time to go out," Torrillo said. "My daughter is in Charlotte and we have a 21-month grandson, and my youngest daughter got married last year and lives in Baltimore, so it's a nice time to move on."

Gloucester is 5-19 this season.

"We've struggled, record-wise, the last few years, but if I can get the kids in college and get them to be more respectful, that's my main job," said Torrillo, another class act, another big loss for the South Jersey basketball community.