City of Basketball Love

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2023-24 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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They are everywhere. You can’t escape them if you visit Chester High. A row of orange ones framed in black hang in the main school hall outside the gym. The white ones framed in orange hang in the gym.

The boys basketball championship banners breathe history and tradition. They exhale success. After they lock up the school for the night, the eight PIAA state championship banners may even talk to each other, arguing among themselves as to what team was better.

But last year, the banners hung silent.

It was an uncharacteristic season for the Chester program. For the first time since the 1969-70 season — 53 years — the Clippers did not qualify for the District 1 playoffs. They finished 12-10 overall and saw many long-standing streaks fall, like their run of five-straight Del-Val League championships, their 43-game league winning streak and their 13-year, 58-game Del-Val League home winning streak, ended by Penn Wood in January.

Clippers’ head coach Keith Taylor is responsible for putting up many of those black and orange banners. He has been associated with the program since 1993 and is entering his seventh season as head coach.

At times last season, Taylor looked emotionally drained after league losses. He maintained his poise for his players, but it took a toll.

“It hurt, last year hurt, and it’s why this season is about payback,” Taylor said. “These kids know the history of this program, and they take great pride in that. We played hard all the time, we just did not play smart. Since last year, guys have been coming in every day and working hard to get back at some of the teams that we lost to last year that we know we should not have lost to. It is fair to say that we are looking for a little payback, that’s all. The kids want to uphold the tradition, and they know last year was a fluky season."

“I liked the guys last year,” 6-foot senior guard Donte Atkinson-Payne said. “We were close. This team is closer. This is a brotherhood. We are more connected. Our goal is to ball out. Last year is over. It’s time to go get it — a lot of payback.”

Entering last season, Chester was the two-time defending District 1 Class 5A champions, beating West Chester Rustin in 2021 and an exceptional Radnor team in 2022 in the finals, respectively.

“When you are so used to being the top dog, people know it, so it could be marbles, checkers, it does not matter, as long as they beat Chester — that was their championship,” Taylor said. “The kids we have this year are out to change that.”

That starts with returning starters Atkinson-Payne, a two-year starter who will handle the point, and a pair of 6-5 senior forwards, Calvin Williams and Vince Coleman. They will be joined by 5-10 junior guards Dallas Thompson and Jasir Thompson (not related), 6-5 senior forward Jerry Young, 6-3 junior forward Kristian Chambers and possibly 6-6 senior Dominic Toy, a Division I football player who’s committed to Connecticut.

In recent years, Chester lost a pair of 6-5 forwards, Kevin Rucker Jr., who transferred to Bonner-Prendergast, and Larenzo Jerkins, who transferred to Neumann-Goretti. This season, they lost last year’s leading scorer, 5-10 guard Kyree Womack, who joined Rucker at Bonner-Prendie. 

“We are young and fast, and I think a lot of teams are going to be surprised,” Taylor said. “We are looking at Donte to do some big things for us, and a lot of our young guys. … He’ll handle the point, between him and Dallas. Coleman is versatile, can handle the ball and rebound, and Young or Toy, if he comes out, will be inside.”

“We are going to go at people this year, play defense 94 feet and play with a lot of new energy,” Williams said. “We are going to give people a new look on offense, in the half-court (sets).”

Williams knows the banners. They tend to speak loudly when you wear Chester black and orange. This year’s Clippers need to do the same.

“What we need to do is communicate better,” Williams said. “There was no chemistry last year. We have corrected that. I know the tradition here. We know it’s been a long, long time since Chester did not make the district playoffs. We talk among ourselves (about) how we can get better.”

Atkinson-Payne laughed at the notion the championship banners talk to them.

“I think they do,” he said. “Really, we (the players) need to talk more. It is time to take over. I have to be more of a leader and get ready to speak up. We work well as a group. We are more together. That came out this summer. When we were flowing this summer, we were rolling over teams.”

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.