City of Basketball Love

By Kevin Callahan (@CP_KCallahan)
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At practice last Friday, Lisa (Angelotti) Gedaka ran drills with the enthusiasm of a rookie coach, rolling the ball to a player in line and then mimicking to scoop up an invisible ball herself, saying “pick up, elbows down,” while bending low and preparing to jab step.

Watch and listen to her drill the details in practice helps explain the reason while Gedaka is poised to become South Jersey’s winningest high school girls’ basketball coach, possibly as early as Sunday afternoon.

Perhaps, however, the most impactful reason Gedaka, who is in her 34th season coaching at her alma mater Gloucester Catholic, is tied with former Wildwood coach Dave Troiano with 682 wins is simply her enduring love for the game and the players who play.

“She has never lost that passion for the game, if she could she would put the jersey on and play,” said her daughter Mary, who followed Gedaka’s footprints that are as long as Market Street in this gritty town under the shadow of the Walt Whitman bridge, starring at both Gloucester Catholic and Villanova University. “I think her passion is what has made her excel as a player and a coach.”

Gedaka can set the gold standard for wins when the Rams, 11-6 overall and 7-0 in the Tri-County Classic, play Tuesday at Clayton

Not surprisingly for anyone who has ever seen her play or coach, Gedaka isn’t counting the seconds and minutes until the milestone win, saying “I’m just not wired that way, I’ve never been concerned about points as a player or wins as a coach.” And yet, the points and wins have mounted, making her arguably the greatest combination scholastic player and coach in South Jersey’s storied high school girls’ basketball.

“I just think at a very young age I had a drive and a passion for the game and that has always helped me as a player and now as a coach,” said Gedaka while wearing a Villanova long-sleeve athletic shirt draped with her long black hair and still looking as if she could score 20 points and grab 10 rebounds in a high school game today.

Gedaka, a Big 5 Hall of Famer, played for legendary Wildcats coach Harry Perretta from 1984-1988. She was named the Big East Player of the Year as a senior.

“Lisa always has been a student in the game,” Perretta said. “At Villanova, she was very talented, but she also understood the X’s and O’s.”

Perretta, who coached 42 years at Nova, retiring following the 2019-2020 season to equal the record with Yvonne Kaufmann (Elizabethtown) for most years spent coaching at a single institution, doesn’t recall any one instance on the Main Line where he thought someday Gedaka would become a coach.

“As I got to know her and obviously I knew she was getting into nursing, but I also thought she should be in coaching in some way shape or form,” Perretta said.

Gedaka helped Villanova to three appearances in the NCAA Tournament and a 91-30 record in the rugged Big East. As a senior, she averaged 19.2 points (shooting 59 percent form the floor) with 8.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists a game.

When she had her number retired in 2002, Gedaka ranked fourth all-time at Villanova in scoring (1,622 points), third in rebounding (854 rebounds) and ninth in assists (351).

“It never really hit me that she was such a big deal until I went to Villanova and I saw her jersey hanging with the other great players from the Fieldhouse rafters,” Mary said. “I mean she was Player of the Year in the Big East, so it hit me that she not only was a star at Villanova, but she was a big deal.”

Gedaka’s name is also hanging from the rafter at the Gloucester Catholic gym on a banner noting the 2,035 points she scored. Surely, when she is done on the sideline, her wins total will also hang on a banner from the roof.

“I’ve been doing this 34 years and I’m so thankful to get a start at a young age and I’m so thankful for all the players who have shown me so much love and respect and to all the assistant coaches who have sat next to me all these years,” she said. 

“I’ve been surrounded by so many good players and coaches who have truly helped me and Harry is one of those mentors.

“I’ve cherished every moment,” Gedaka said.

Gloucester Catholic's girls basketball team poses together at a recent practice. (Photo: Kevin Callahan/CoBL)

The points and the wins, however, won’t be how Gedaka will be remembered by her players.

“She has stood the test of time and she has done it right, she doesn’t just teach basketball but life lessons,” Mary said.

Alayna Taylor-Morrell, a senior guard on the Rams, said she knew Gedaka was a great player when she attended her summer camps in middle school.

“She was really the difference for me to go here,” Taylor-Morrell said. “I knew she was a great coach and would help us as a team get better and help make me better.

“She always supports us, when we lose she always pushes us through it and never gives up on us,” Taylor-Morrell added.

Macie Nugent, a senior captain, who will play point guard at Amherst College next year, also attended Gedaka’s camps as a kid. Nugent makes the 20-mile drive each day from her home in Swedesboro just to play for Gedaka.

“My family and I just loved her, so I came here for her and she’s helped me so much,” Nugent said about her camp days. “I will always be grateful for what she has done for me.”

Soon Nugent will be on the team that immortalizes Gedaka in South Jersey hoops lore.

“It’s pretty surreal experience to be here and help her reach this goal,” Nugent said. “And just to be able to celebrate with her.

“She wants to win for us and we want to win for her.”

Gedaka has not only earned the admiration of her own players, but the ones she played against.

Back in the early 1980’s the Gloucester Catholic-Washington Township boiled with intensity as the two teams slugged it out to be the best in South Jersey. Karen (Healey) Lange starred for Washington Township, still ranking as the school’s all-time leading scorer (girls and boys) with 1,992 career points. She also faced Gedaka in college as Lange played point guard at Temple.

Now her daughter, Katherine, is a sophomore wing player for Gloucester Catholic.

“Lisa is someone I respect a great deal and I’m really grateful she is coaching my daughter,” Lange said. “There are a lot of great and dedicated coaches, but Lisa is the complete package. She not only played the game at a high level with success - she is a nurse, a mother of four, and the type of role model I wanted Katherine to experience.

“Lisa and I had some battles in high school and college,” Lange said. “Lisa was by far one of the best players I ever competed against. Her skill level and grit was tough to defend.”

Lange’s oldest daughter, Grace, played at Villanova with Mary Gedaka.

Mary, the oldest of Ken and Lisa Gedaka’s four children who scored over 1,900 career points and grabbed over 1,000 rebounds at Gloucester Catholic, attends practice when she can to help her mom, but she doesn’t see coaching in her future as she will soon start a new job as an occupational therapist at Cooper Hospital in Camden.

“I don’t think I could be a coach ,” Mary said with a laugh, “I definitely don’t have my mom’s patience.”

Perretta, who finished his career at Villanova with 765 career wins and reached the NCAA Tournament 11 times, sees another attribute in addition to her patience for Gedaka’s continued success.

“She’s adjusted,” he said when asked to explain her longevity in a game that constantly changes. “She always had the ability to do that. No one can last that long if you haven’t been able to make adjustments.”

Perretta coached 77 all-BIG EAST performers, including 17 first-team players, but Gedaka still remains special to him.

“Lisa and I are very close and I still go over to her practices,” Perretta said. “We are like brother and sister and Mary’s like a daughter.”

Perretta says her energy level is the same and can see Gedaka coaching as long as she wants.

Dennis Calzonetti, who played on the last Gloucester Catholic boys’ state championship team in 1972, was retired, but Gedaka got him back in the coaching, as he said, “she has a way about her.” The former Temple University guard who also played professionally in Europe from 1978 to 1983 has been Gedaka’s assistant the last four years.

“I don’t know how she did it,” Calzonetti said on her hitting the uncommon exacta of being a great player and a great coach, “it just seems natural for her.”

Natural, sure. And patient. Knowledgeable, too. And mix all her attributes with an unending passion for the game. Wouldn’t surprise anyone if she dove for a loose ball during an upcoming practice.