Photos/Videos: Zack Beavers, Rich Flanagan
By: Rich Flanagan
PHILADELPHIA-The storied history of Neumann-Goretti basketball is tied to the heralded players that have donned black and gold throughout the decades. The list of accomplished players who have raised Philadelphia Catholic League plaques and PIAA state title trophies is similar to an unraveling scroll that never seems to end. When opponents entered the gym at 10th & Moore, the Saints already had an advantage because the allure of the banners and winning tradition of transcendent players met them on their way in.
The defining quality of those Neumann-Goretti players resides with one man who decided in 1999 to take over a program in an attempt to give back to the community that had bestowed him with so much. That man has been the face and pride of, first the St. John Neumann Pirates then the Saints when the school merged with St. Maria Goretti. His name now graces the court that his players – past, present, and future –and opponents will see whenever they enter a place, he has catapulted to the epicenter of Philadelphia high school basketball for almost three decades.
Carl Arrigale is Neumann-Goretti basketball and for him, winning has little to do with those plaques and state titles encased just outside the gym.
“It wasn’t anything I set out to do when I started coaching; it wasn’t a goal,” Arrigale said.
Arrigale was honored during a court renaming ceremony on Monday night prior to the Saints’ 71-34 win over Lansdale Catholic. Both sides have “Carl Arrigale Court” etched on the floor that has seen countless memories ranging from rim-ratting dunks to clutch three-pointers to intense vitriol between the fabled head coach and his players and sometimes even officials. Seldom did a crowd of local fans and multitudes of college basketball head and assistant coaches see Arrigale lash out, but instead they regularly witnessed the quintessential smirk or brimming laugh following the embrace of a player for locking down a defender.
Neumann-Goretti's Basketball Court is Now Called "Carl Arrigale Court" - PSD Video by Rich Flanagan
Having accrued a 588-134 overall record (297-45 Philadelphia Catholic League), an all-time mark of 12 league titles and nine state titles – tied with Imhotep Charter’s Andre Noble for the most in Pa. history – subdues frustration and gives him the easygoing demeanor he has always portrayed. It feels like he has been there forever, but he didn’t initially get into coaching with the hopes of landing the top job.
Mike Doyle, now the head coach at Penncrest, got the head coaching position in 1994 and asked Arrigale to join his staff. The two had known each other for years as Doyle played at Cardinal O’Hara and Arrigale played at Penn Charter, where he was the 1984 Inter-Ac League MVP and led the Quakers to the title under the direction of William “Speedy” Morris. Doyle needed someone who understood the area and could attract and develop players, and Arrigale was his guy.
“It was meant to be as we ran into each other right as he was about to get hired and I was just trying to help a guy learn the area and neighborhood and coach a little basketball,” Arrigale said. “Next thing you know, Mike leaves for another job after his first year then they gave it to the JV coach at the time and he asks me to stay. Four years later, I’m the next guy and it just happened. It went from helping a friend to impacting kids in any way I could, and it was never about the championships.”
He'll be the first to tell you, “I haven’t been anywhere else,” and seeing his name on that court reflects that. For a man who always wanted the spotlight to be on his players, Arrigale exuded a state of euphoria he hasn’t as the Neumann-Goretti faithful reveled in his latest achievement, one that will be here long after he has left the sideline. This night featured so many who have contributed to his narrative and helped him write the story of Neumann-Goretti basketball. His name may be on the court, but Arrigale would be the first to rattle off the endless litany of names who penned his story as head coach. They were all on hand to celebrate him.
Morris was there in a Neumann-Goretti jacket. Arrigale’s first coach, Ed Enoch is an assistant at Lansdale Catholic and feet away from his former pupil as he received the recognition he has deserved for so long. “Ed coached my freshmen and sophomore year then Speedy coached my junior and senior year,” Arrigale noted. The lineage of one legendary head coach to the next is astounding as Enoch played at Penn Charter himself then played for Chuck Daly – the man who led the Detroit Pistons to two NBA titles and the “Dream Team” to a gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games – at the University of Pennsylvania. Enoch stepped down and Morris took over after having won six Philadelphia Catholic League titles at Roman Catholic. They all had a hand in molding Arrigale into one of the greatest high school coaches Philadelphia has ever seen and may not see again.
Carl Arrigale Poses with his first two coaches, Ed Enoch and William "Speedy" Morris (Photo Courtesy of Joe Corbett, Lansdale Catholic)
Arrigale played at Lycoming College and was a member on the Warriors’ first NCAA men's basketball team in 1985. He appeared in 60 career games, scoring 167 points. His former teammates made a surprise appearance and presented him with a commemorative ball, black and gold of course. His wife, Denise put the event together and reached out to former players, who did what only Neumann-Goretti players can do: descend upon the court that made them stars and opened doors they didn’t think were possible before encountering their former head coach.
When players like Lamarr “Fresh” Kimble, Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, Hakim Byrd, Hysier Miller, Brandon Brigman, Aamir Hurst and Tyreek Duren come together, it shows the connection from one generation of Neumann-Goretti greats to the next and very few, if any, can match what Arrigale has built here. Opening those doors to that gym personified the opening of doors to their future and now their coach’s name will be the first thing they see.
Duren transferred over from Haverford School and won two Philadelphia Catholic League titles as a junior and senior with a PIAA Class 3A title during that final year for good measure. Upon graduating in 2010, he went on to play four seasons at La Salle, scoring 1,726 points and leading the Explorers to the 2013 Sweet 16. He has played professionally in Europe and most recently in Mexico, where he recently tore his ACL. He’s been back home for three months and even an injury wouldn’t have kept him away from paying homage to a man that has meant more than words to him.
“Off the court, you see how he acts with his family and how loving and caring he is,” Duren said. “He brings that family and love mindset to the team, and it trickles down to the team as you see us all get along. We all still talk to this day.”
Carl Arrigale Speaks About Court Being Renamed in His Honor and Career Perspective (PSD Video by Rich Flanagan)
Like so many of those who played for Neumann-Goretti, excelling at basketball at the highest level is what made players like Duren household names, and Arrigale helped them reach heights they never imagined. Duren went from unknown to Division I prospect on teams loaded with future college players in Tony Chennault, Danny Stewart, and Lamin Fulton. He was part of a streak that saw Neumann-Goretti win a Philadelphia Catholic League record 73 consecutive games and six straight titles in the process.
He remembers playing No. 1 ranked Jack Yates (Texas) in the Iolani Classic championship in Honolulu in 2010 when the Saints were ranked No. 2. Yates featured Joe Young, who played at Houston and Oregon then was selected by the Indiana Pacers in the 2015 NBA Draft, and Duren scored 20 points in that contest. Playing in that environment against a team of that caliber became emblematic of the type of games Arrigale had Neumann-Goretti play on a yearly basis and it paid dividends. As Duren states, “You come into Neumann and know you’re going to be everybody’s target.”
LANSDALE CATHOLIC VS. NEUMANN-GORETTI - PSD PHOTOS BY ZACK BEAVERS
What made some of Arrigale’s most notable teams successful was the emergence of lesser-known players. He rarely played freshmen, often thinking they weren’t ready to play his brand of high-octane, full-court basketball but had such a knack for articulating his vision for each player and getting them to buy into that vision. Some players like Wali Hepburn, who was only a rotational player as a senior then later won Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Player of the Year at Lock Haven, or Chris Evans waited years for their opportunity.
Evans was one of the better shooters Arrigale has had in his time, hitting 143 three-pointers over his final three seasons after not playing his first year. He was a member of the 2020 Philadelphia Catholic League team with Byrd, Miller, and Jordan Hall, now playing with the Long Island Nets in the NBA G League. Evans was a key cog in an offense that made 292 three-pointers in 28 games (10.4 per game) but was unable to add a state title to its résumé due to cancellation of the season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He played two seasons at Claflin University and is now coaching at his old middle school, St. Frances Cabrini Catholic School, located at 65th & Callowhill.
He was one of many who aspired to break into the Neumann-Goretti rotation on day one, but the Arrigale doctrine did not call for that. In the long run, it proved beneficial for a player like Evans in basketball and life.
“He taught me patience,” Evans said. “When I was in middle school, I was one of the best kids to come out and I didn’t play varsity my freshman year. He told me, ‘Your time will come.’ He taught me to be patient in whatever I was doing in life. Just stay patient.”
That doctrine which has steered Arrigale on this road to immortality has not been replicated by a Philadelphia Catholic League coach since Morris, but what makes his even more remarkable is that he has done all this at only one stop. Evans echoed what all those honoring him on Monday have felt for a long time.
“He’s probably the greatest coach I ever had and should go down as the greatest coach Philly high school basketball has ever seen,” Evans said.
Arrigale will never accept that statement because it was never about him. The accomplishments of players like Ja’Quan Newton – the Philadelphia Catholic League’s all-time leading scorer (1,972 points) who won 11 out of a possible 12 titles (league, city, state) in his career – and Quade Green, who is just behind Newtown at 1,853 points and has four state titles to his name, is what has made all this worthwhile. When a group of players gets together as they did on Monday, it gives them the chance to reminisce about what they accomplished, and of course argue about whose team would’ve beaten who.
The impartial head coach refrains from those conversations.
“They all had their own identity and I love all these guys,” Arrigale said. “This is what it’s about; this makes the night. It’s great to have my name on the court but to see all these guys come out is special.”
His style has changed with the times and allowed the program to thrive in an ever-changing landscape. Newton and Green were two of the first true examples of Arrigale permitting a freshman to not only play but start. Both exceeded expectations time and again, and Robert Wright III and Khaafiq Myers were the next evolution in Arrigale’s dogma. Wright propelled the Saints to the Philadelphia Catholic League and PIAA 4A title as a sophomore then broke the Neumann-Goretti single-game scoring record with 43 points against Overbrook in the city title as a junior. He finished 10th on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,213 points and is currently finishing his prep career at Montverde Academy (Fla.) before heading to Baylor. Myers is headed to St. Joe’s next season following in the footsteps of Kimble.
Wright rose to prominence following the COVID-19 shortened season in the 2020-21, and he credits Arrigale with leading Neumann-Goretti out of uncertain times and back into relevance while also igniting a resurgence in himself amidst unfathomable conditions.
Carl Arrigale Receives Commemorative Ball From Former Lycoming Teammates - PSD Video by Rich Flanagan
“Once he saw that Khaafiq and I wanted to go far with basketball and really took it seriously, he started to put more trust in us and go with us,” Wright said. “He would get hyped for games and made sure we were locked in to play.”
The response to an unorthodox and unaccustomed season was something only Arrigale could pioneer, and he steadied the ship to a title at the Palestra followed by title at the GIANT Center in Hershey. He is almost as comfortable in those hallowed buildings as he is in the South Philadelphia gym that bears his name but the turn of the tide during Wright’s sophomore year encapsulated who he is as a coach. Once again, it was never about him and he poured his newfound resilience into his players the same way he had done for over two decades. People saw it then and they still see it now.
“He had everyone together and made it feel like a family,” Wright said. “He made sure everyone was ok and doing well on and off the court. He looked out for people. Then he has us looking out for each other and kept us very close-knit.”
The intersections between generations of basketball stalwarts were on full display during the renaming ceremony. Morris and Enoch posed with Arrigale in an image of three men who devoted themselves to each other and the game they loved. Along the baseline, his former players waited to greet and embrace him and at the other, former teammates watched in awe at a man who is synonymous with Neumann-Goretti. There are no synonyms that need to be added to the name “Carl Arrigale Court.” You see those words and you know who he is. He is a true champion but even more so, a champion for his players.
On a night where he was the center of attention, he preferred to take a backseat and celebrate his guys.
“It’s neat when you see them and a lot of them have families now,” Arrigale said. “You see them being good men and fathers and that’s what it’s all about. I hope my wife and I set a good example for them and what a parent was supposed to look like. It’s a family affair.”