Bonner’s Haley brothers have large rooting section

MOST HIGH SCHOOL quarterbacks would be content to achieve a 50 percent success rate.

Jim Haley believes he can double that.

Wait, we're not talking passes. We're talking identifications of family members, and Haley, a 6-2, 175-pound junior who plays QB and safety at Monsignor Bonner High, believes he could go 91-for-91.

"Probably . . . On a good day . . . If I really tried, I could name all 91," he said, smiling.

It's impressive enough that Haley, who shares grid importance with his brother, Joe, a senior tight end and linebacker, is one of 10 children. Check this out: The boys' mother, the former Rose Moran, is the 10th of 15 children. The other members of the clan have produced 71 offspring ranging in age from 4 to 37. So far, those 71 have blessed the world with 20 more kids.

"In our family," Rose Haley said, "someone's always expecting."

Back to Joe.

"Jim said he can name all 91? I doubt I could. Probably about three-quarters of them."

Through five games this season, Jim has passed 45-for-94 for 721 yards and six touchdowns for coach Tom Oropeza. Joe owns nine catches, along with 142 yards and one score.

Their older brothers - Dan, 22; Ryan, 20; and Mike, 17 - limited their contributions to baseball. Jim (shortstop) and Joe (rightfielder) also are mainstays in that sport and last spring helped Bonner advance to the Catholic League final.

(Their cousin, Rich Young, who has even more relatives, was the first baseman. Another, Gabe DiBernardino, is a football assistant at rival Cardinal O'Hara. Another, Matt Steven, who's blind, generated national headlines in 2009 when, as a designated foul shooter for a high school-level CYO team, he hit two late free throws to win a game.)

The other Haley kids are Bridget, 15; Luke, 13; Chris, 12, Shawn, 9; and Patrick, 7.

Notice anything?

"Being the only girl has its ups and downs, I'm sure, for Bridget," Joe said. "We know we have to treat her like a princess, and we do."

The boys' father, Dan, played quarterback for Bonner (class of '78). He has one brother, Tom, and his family includes only two kids. Mom earned her diploma at next-door Archbishop Prendergast. In the current generation, 11 family members are enrolled at those schools (seven at Bonner), and Rose said 24 preceded them. Her two oldest siblings, she added, were partial to West Catholic, but the other 13 were Friars or Pandas.

As Joe, standing in a hallway prior to a film-watching session, spoke Tuesday a shade before 3 o'clock, a group of younger students walked by.

"Hey, right there's one of my cousins!" he said.

When providing detailed family info, Rose Haley said some of her kids have claimed they'll never come close to having children.

"I was the same way," she added, laughing. "Look what happened."

Jim and Joe sound as if they can't wait to get started.

"I definitely want a big family," Jim said. "Why? Just from experiencing this. It's fun. You're never bored. You always have something to do. I can't think of any down aspect."

Said Joe: "A huge family is what I'm used to. I'd feel out of place in a small one. We never feel lonely."

If this story had been written 4 years ago, it would have featured a different slant.

As Jim and Joe prepared for the 2007 CYO season with St. Laurence, in Upper Darby, the former dashed/darted and the latter did the flingin'.

"But before we even played our first game," said Joe, "I got hit in practice and messed up my [right] shoulder pretty bad. They said I had no chance of throwing a football that season. They made me a tight end and wideout and tried Jim at quarterback, and it worked out great, so he's been a quarterback ever since."

In huddles, both said, Joe never begs for the ball and their great relationship extends beyond the field. They hang with the same friends. Share identical interests. Are effusive in their praise of center Dom DiGalbo, rotating guards Tyler Ramirez, Josh LaMarra and Ronnie Scull, and tackles Tom Murtha and Angelo Masorli.

The Haleys live in a twin house, off West Chester Pike in Upper Darby. If you're thinking, "It's gotta have at least six bedrooms," brace yourself.

"Only three," Jim said. "Nobody really has an assigned room. You sleep wherever, whenever you can."

And then there's the outside . . .

"It's nonstop sports," Joe said. "We're playing basketball - there's a court in the driveway - or throwing a football around or having a baseball catch.

"My dad spent some money to put a light above the basket. So, in the summer sometimes we're out there until midnight. The neighbors usually get mad."

Jim and Joe said they appreciate the guidance and motivation they've received from their older brothers, and expressed hope they're passing that on.

When it was suggested to Joe, with that in mind, that Patrick the Youngest will probably be so good he'll earn All-America status, maybe even in multiple sports, he laughed and shot back, "He's a nut!"

Every family has one.