Celebrating 50 years of Fellowship in ‘Conshy’

IT WAS EASY TO get lost looking for it, with all the intersecting little side streets splicing together throughout Conshohocken. Dean Smith knew how to find it, though. So did Jim Boeheim, Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Bobby Knight and P.J. Carlesimo. The cars usually gave it away that you were near, because they were stacked for blocks away on the narrow streets, the latecomers left milling around trying to find a spot.

Once you found it, you knew.

At the corner of Fifth and Harry Streets is the Fellowship House. It has been both a haven and a proving ground if you're a talented high school basketball player.

It's where Jay Wright was discovered; where Fran McCaffery was introduced to coaching; where Kobe Bryant, Gene Banks and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe forged reputations; where the players still wear T-shirts; where if you stretch your legs sitting in the front row, your feet are on the court; and mostly, where area turf hoop wars occur, and league rivalries are settled.

And it has endured 50 years.

Nationally, it is known as "Conshy." Locally, it is knows as the Donofrio Classic, played at the Fellowship House every year since 1961. It was the creation of Alfred C. Donofrio, a former director of 'The Fell,' as a way to fill time between the end of the high school basketball season and the beginning of baseball.

What started out as three teams comprised of Conshohocken-area kids playing in a round-robin format has blossomed into a 32-team, single-elimination tournament that started last month and continues until April 27. It attracts the best high school players in the Delaware Valley and beyond.

It has survived the various incarnations of offseason high school hoops, competing against the burgeoning growth of the AAU club circuit, college and what seems like myriad sneaker camps, and local all-star games. It also has continued despite an NCAA edict that prohibits Division I coaches from attending all-star tournaments and AAU events until July.

Yet all the best players arrive, like Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick's Kyrie Irving, possibly the top player in this year's tournament, bound for Duke, and local players Savon Goodman (Academy of the New Church) and Amile Jefferson (Friends' Central), regarded as two of the top 10 sophomores in the country.

"That doesn't surprise me Conshy is still going strong after 50 years," said Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli, a 1972 St. Joseph's Prep graduate. "Conshy is an institution. Oh, I remember it, because I wasn't good enough to play in it. And everyone has a Conshy memory. Mo Howard and I were teammates at Prep, when Joe Bryant was at Bartram. I remember Mo Howard blocking Joe Bryant's shot and landing against the wall of that tiny court. Joe had four points that night. I think Joe scored 46 the next night."

Donofrio has a distinct Philadelphia feel to it - like high school basketball's version of the Mummers.

"I miss it, I miss going," Martelli said. "There wasn't a spring I wasn't there almost every night, because you see the best going up against the best. Conshy is really where guys learned how to play. The small court and the crowds they get is definitely Philadelphia. What you appreciate is how quiet the crowds were during the games, because they know they're watching something special. Some of the best players in the history of this city played there and there would be no applause or acknowledgment of a great play, because it was expected. In my opinion, when we were allowed to be there, it was the Philadelphia basketball community coming together. It's also where a lot of guys got discovered."

One of them was Wright, then a scrawny kid from Council Rock High in 1979 receiving tepid Division I attention. It looked as if Wright was going to stay local, playing for Herb Magee at Textile, now known as Philadelphia University. Then, Wright had one of those magic games at Donofrio, where his feet didn't touch the hardwood of that matchbox court, and he seemed like he was floating past everyone, one of those seamless games that force assistant coaches to gawk and ask "Who's that?"

"That one game at Donofrio actually opened the door to Bucknell for me," Wright said. "Bucknell had recruited me my junior year, and then backed off. I had that really good game, I think against the Sonny Hill Seniors, and we lost, but I still played well against those guys. It impressed the Bucknell assistant, who happened to be George Petrie, the brother of Geoff Petrie. He came right up to me and said, 'We love your game and we want you to take a visit.' It was a scary time for me, late my senior year not knowing where I was going to go. Donofrio changed everything."

Who knows what path Wright might have taken if not for the opportunity.

"That's really what it all was about when Al Donofrio started this," said George Snear, 82, who has been to every one of the Donofrio Classics and helped get the tournament started. "Al was all about helping kids, and creating opportunities. We just didn't think or know it would grow to be this big."

Big was when Dean Smith would walk in to take a look at Rasheed Wallace, or Carlesimo popping in a few nights after watching his Seton Hall team lose to Michigan in the 1989 NCAA title game.

They all would usually gather in the upper left corner of the stands, trying to be inconspicuous, when the court was surrounded by old, rickety wooden stands, before the Fellowship House was renovated.

Donofrio, originally called the Conshohocken Teenage Basketball Classic before Al Donofrio died in 1976 when the tournament was renamed in his honor, was one-stop shopping for D-I coaches.

"It hurts not being able to go there anymore," said McCaffery, Iowa's new head coach and 1977 La Salle High graduate who went on to play for Penn by way of Wake Forest. McCaffery was practically raised on the Donofrio Classic, as a player and for the first time as a coach, winning two straight championships (1981-82)

"You know you've arrived when you played at Conshy, and I imagine it's that way today," McCaffery said. "I remember I was this skinny - well, I was beyond skinny - sophomore on a team that was predominantly seniors and the first time I took the floor, you think you've arrived.

"You want to play your best there - you have to. I'll never forget a coach coming into the locker room after a good game I had and he was asking about me. He was from Ursinus and he thought I was a senior. I told him I was only a sophomore. But that started it. That got my name out there. I remember that from all the way back and that was 35 years ago."

"This is where you showcase your talent," said the 6-6 Goodman, who averaged 22 points a game last season and who could be the next great player who emerges from the Philadelphia area. "Last year was my first time I got asked to play in this tournament, and I didn't know what it was. I just knew that Kobe Bryant played here, and all the other great players from Philly played here. You have to play in this tournament to prove yourself and create a reputation. It starts here."

And the tradition continues.

THE ALL-DONOFRIO TEAM

Here's a team you might be able to win a few games with:

Gene Banks: Three-time high school All-America from West Philadelphia and went on to star at Duke.

Kobe Bryant: The most accomplished player who ever played at Donofrio. Lakers' all-time leading scorer who is a four-time NBA champion, 2008 NBA MVP and 12-time all-star.

Joe Bryant: John Bartram High star and part of the only father-son combination to ever win the Donofrio MVP.

Tyreke Evans: Southeastern Pennsylvania's all-time leading scorer, 2008 MVP of McDonald's All-American Game and the fourth pick overall in the 2009 NBA draft by a player on this list, Geoff Petrie.

Hank Gathers: Dobbins Tech star who led Dobbins to the 1985 Public League championship. Tragically died after collapsing during a game on March 4, 1990 playing for Loyola Marymount.

Earl Monroe: Playground legend and Bartram star who went on to become a four-time NBA all-star and 1968 NBA Rookie of the Year. Named to the NBA's all-time 50th anniversary team.

Billy Owens: Led Carlisle High to four straight state championships and was the third overall pick in the 1991 NBA draft.

Geoff Petrie: Springfield (Delco) High star who went on to become 1971 NBA co-Rookie of the Year with Dave Cowens and two-time NBA all-star.

Lionel Simmons: Southern High star and 1990 Naismith College Player of the Year. Ranks third in all-time NCAA career scoring with 3,217 points.

Rasheed Wallace: Simon Gratz star named high school player of the year in 1993 and four-time NBA all-star.