City of Basketball Love

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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PHILADELPHIA, PA — At a recent practice, Roman Catholic coach Chris McNesby tried to coax a smile out of his 6-foot senior guard Robert “Bobby” Cottrell. It came with some prodding. Cottrell wears a unique thousand-yard stare that belies his age. He is 18 going on 40 and saw more than anyone should by the age of 10. He has always found harmony in a raucous gym on a basketball court, able to focus through a din so loud you can’t hear yourself talk.

Cottrell is a spaghetti strand in shorts and a tank top yet carries a strength that contradicts his physical frame. The third of seven children, Cottrell has been a sturdy monolith outside the Roman Catholic classrooms and off the courts, someone who holds the admiration of the Cahillites coaching staff, and of his older sister Endi Stevenson and older brother Nafeis Robinson. They know. They all know.

When he was 10, it was Bobby who found his father, Robert Cottrell Sr., dead. Most recently, Bobby’s mother, Jennifer Kosh, died suddenly at the age of 46 on December 28, after battling substance abuse problems after her husband passed. At her funeral, it was Bobby his four younger siblings gripped, as they have since his father died on July 26, 2015.

Wednesday night, District 12 No. 1-seed Roman Catholic (26-2) will play District 1 No. 3-seed West Chester Henderson (25-5) in the second round of the PIAA Class 6A state championship tournament at Cardinal O’Hara at 7 p.m.

One of Roman’s foundational pieces will be Bobby Cottrell, as he has been for his family the past nine years.

“Rob helped raise his younger brothers and sister with us, me and Endi,” said Nafeis, 25, a Roman Catholic grad who made considerable sacrifices in getting Bobby into Roman. “He certainly did not live the normal life of a 10-year-old. His younger siblings look up to him. It’s been a domino effect. I looked up to Endi, and passed certain responsibilities on, and Rob looked up to me.

"When he lost his dad, life got real and when I found out what was going on with my mom, Endi and I were in our early 20s and out of the house. I’m not going to lie, things got stressful. Endi and I were kids, in a sense, raising kids. We weren’t the average 20-year-olds. We grew up fast. Rob grew up fast. He had it rough.

“But he had basketball.”

There were times when Bobby, at 11, was left alone with younger brother Jamir, now 16, Amir, 14, Breia, 13, before younger brother Jaden, now 6, was born. He would call Endi, 28, or Nafeis and they would hurry over, because sometimes he did not know where his mother was, leaving Bobby to wonder when she was coming back.

Things changed drastically when Robert Sr. died.

“I had my sister (Endi) and brother (Nafeis), I could always rely on them,” Bobby said. “I knew everyone (at home) relied on me. It was frustrating because I grew up around that environment in Kensington and had an idea. I couldn’t be mad at my mom. When my dad passed away, my mom went into a depression and relied on whatever she could get. She never did anything around us, she would leave me with my younger brothers and sister.

“I would call my brother and sister and they knew. They stayed until my mom would come back. It hurt. I loved my mom. People in this world go through way worse than what I did. I was never the type to cry. I couldn’t do that in front my brothers and sister because they relied on me. I knew if I got upset, they would get upset.”

McNesby just shakes his head. He knew the backstory.

“Remarkable, simply remarkable, it’s what I think about Bobby Cottrell,” he said. “Before Bobby came to Roman, Nafeis told me what Bobby had been through. At a very young age, he had a lot on his plate. Bobby has been a great ambassador to Roman, a great student, a great player, and he would have every legitimate excuse as to why he was not a success, but he has been nothing but a success and someone every kid in the city should look at as to what you can overcome.

“Bobby overcame it all. His brother Nafeis and sister Endi deserve a lot of credit. They were his foundation, and Bobby is going to be the first person from his family who will be going to college. I remember at his mother’s funeral, Bobby was there for his younger siblings and I’m sure they look up to him. He’s doing well in school. He’s on the Roman basketball team. He’s probably their hero. But he won’t tell you that. He’s humble like that.”

The stability came from Robert Cottrell Sr. for the short time Bobby had him. Robert Sr. had cancer. His children knew their father was ill, though they had no knowledge as to the severity. Bobby woke up next to dad the morning of Sunday, July 26, 2015, to play video games. It seemed like any other day, until his mother told him to go upstairs and wake up his father. Bobby and his younger sister Breia found their father not breathing. Jennifer followed them and started screaming, yelling for Bobby to call 911.

“I was 10, and I didn’t know what was going on,” he recalled. “I was the one who found my father. Yeah, you can say I lost both of my parents that day. It tore my mom apart. Growing up without a father was rock bottom. I’ll never forget my mom telling me after my dad died to get ready to be the man of the house. I was 10. I had to grow up fast.”

Bobby started at Olney, then transferred to Simon Gratz his sophomore year. Nafeis pulled him to Roman Catholic his junior year. In his two years at Roman, Bobby has been a key factor in getting the Cahillites two Philadelphia Catholic League championships, two PIAA District 12 Class 6A championships and got Roman to the PIAA state title game last year, where they lost to Reading. He is getting attention from Division III Arcadia, Marymount, and Alvernia.

Bobby going to college is a huge priority for Nafeis and Endi.

“Basketball takes my mind off of everything, and my family has supported me, they put me here,” Bobby said. “My (younger) brothers and sister look up to me. I have a responsibility to them. I have to handle that role. And they are all smart. I’m fortunate being at Roman Catholic. This is a brotherhood. We are a family. We are all cool with each other. These guys were all there for me and it’s something I won’t forget. They were there for me, and I have to be there for them on the court.”

The only thing missing is a state championship.

“That’s the goal, me and my family together in Hershey with Hershey kisses winning states,” Bobby said, laughing. “You could say I play for them, my family. I know my success means a lot of them. I know how much this means to my brother (Nafeis) and sister (Endi). They sacrificed a lot.”

So did Bobby—a chunk of his childhood.

Joseph Santoliquito is a hall of fame, award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.