Tolan’s passing brings back memories

It was told to me a long time ago that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes.

The region has lost an icon who made a huge impact in the sports world last week, when former Marian girls basketball coach Elsie Tolan passed away.

Ms. Tolan taught many a girl how to dribble a basketball. But more importantly, she taught many a girl that the most important thing in life is what you do off the basketball court.

She prepared those that were so blessed to have been under her reign that basketball was a means to an end. Not just something to keep you physically fit, but something that could teach you about the benefits of hard work and teamwork.

Because without those two elements, you will never succeed when you are done dribbling a ball, shooting a ball or running up and down a court.

Sports can be the greatest bridge-maker in all of the world. It brings people of different backgrounds together to achieve a common goal.

It was something Elsie Tolan believed in and passed on to her players.

Was Tolan easy to play for? Definitely not. She loved her players, but it was sometimes tough love.

Like a lot of great coaches, her players might not have truly appreciated everything she taught them until their careers were over.

Golden rule

Ms. Tolan told me a long time ago that she had one rule and that applied to every single person who ever played for her:

She didn’t speak to parents about why their daughter was not playing. If you broke that one rule you no longer were a part of “the team.”

Can you imagine trying to have that barrier today?

There were a lot of people who had a dislike for her.

Why? Well Elsie Tolan broke into the game when high school basketball was primarily a boy’s game and a man’s world.

Her methods and her success didn’t sit well with everyone.

She won regularly. She produced league, district and state champions and she often won by huge margins. The victories and the margin of victory didn’t always make her the most popular coach.

But Tolan didn’t back down or change in spite of her critics. She continued to do what she believed was best for the girls that played for her.

Starting point

Her illustrious career began in CYO in Mahanoy City — a town where basketball players are bred and with a history of elite players that can probably match any small town in the state.

She was so successful at that level that she was named head coach at Immaculate Heart High School (which later became Cardinal Brennan). She moved from there to Marian, where she enjoyed unmatched success.

Elsie Tolan made me a better writer. She had a sarcastic way about her and didn’t care if you liked her or not.

But no one cared as much as she did for her players. That love carried on down to her scorekeepers, her ball girls, and anyone associated with the Fillies’ program. They were all treated like family.

First time

I’ll never forget the first time I saw a Tolan-coached team. The late William “Babe” Conroy editor at the Shenandoah Evening Herald asked me one early afternoon if I would go with him to cover a high school playoff game in Schuylkill Haven.

After I told him yes, he had that Irish twinkle in his eye, and I knew something more was coming.

“It’s a girl’s game,” he chuckled. Knowing that this was a time when girls sports at the high school level were relatively new.

As Tolan watched from the sideline as her team was running through pre-game layup drills, she smiled at us. That’s because Babe and I were the first two sportswriters ever to cover a girls’ basketball game anywhere in the region.

Tolan realized she had helped get girls basketball in the area to another level. To be sure, that afternoon had a trickle-down effect for other sportswriters back in the day.

Tolan knew her team and her sport were about to get their just dues — coverage just like the boys were getting. The barrier had been finally cracked.

On that day, Tolan had one of the greatest girls’ basketball players ever to grace the courts in the region, and maybe in the state, playing for her.

A star is born

Denise Burdick was more than just a star player. She was a trendsetter and the idol of young girl basketball players for years to come.

She played with such skill and aplomb, that I turned to my dear friend Babe and said, “She can play with any of the boys we are covering. She’s that good!” The Babe just chuckled again.

When it was all over and we stood and talked with one of the most successful coaches the area has ever seen, she couldn’t hide her excitement at the fact that a couple of reporters were making her team a focal point.

Tolan knew right then that her mission was starting to grow and dreams for girls basketball were beginning to take off.

I’m sure she was proud of how far girls basketball advanced up until her retirement in the 1980s and how far it has continued to grow up until this day

For sure her name needs to be preserved and what better way then to name the Schuylkill Girls’ Basketball League championship — The Elsie Tolan Trophy.

It would be a fitting honor for a person whose impact on girls basketball in the region is still being felt decades after her retirement.