City of Basketball Love

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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PHILADELPHIA, PA — Pat Devenney tried to keep it a secret. The Neumann-Goretti athletic director did a good job of it, too, much to the chagrin of Saints’ legendary coach Carl Arrigale. The excuse was to keep Arrigale and his team out of the Neumann-Goretti gym from December 20-22, under the guise that renovations were being done to the old court.  

Arrigale is a creature of routine. The one thing he does not like is his pattern spoiled. The Christmas break was a perfect time.

“Behind closed doors, Carl was probably kicking and screaming at me for messing up his practice time, and I deserved it,” Devenney recalled with a sly grin. “But I knew he would have the biggest smile on his face when he eventually found out what we were doing.”

What Neumann-Goretti did was rename its court “Carl Arrigale Court” with an inscription diagonally on each side of the court in Arrigale’s name. The Saints christened its newly named court Monday night with a rather easy 71-34 Catholic League victory over Lansdale Catholic to move to 11-0 this season.

Carl Arrigale stands on the court now named in his honor. (Photo: Joseph Santoliquito/CoBL)

Just before the Saints left for the Battle of the Bull holiday tournament in Durham, North Carolina, on December 26, Arrigale accidentally found out what Devenney and the Neumann-Goretti administration was up to when he snuck into the school to gather his stuff for the trip.

“The smile on Carl’s face said it all,” Devenney said. “He looked down at the court, took a picture and that said it all. It was worth it. To see him smile, to see the look on his face, it was all worth it. Carl doesn’t ask for anything. This is deserving and it is a long time coming for Carl.

“Just look around and see all his past players that have made the trip here, his family, his friends, his college teammates, they all made it here to honor Carl. That tells you everything he meant to so many people.”

Arrigale himself was a little surprised. He was agitated for a time. He wanted to practice to prepare his team for Durham. Neumann-Goretti gets the floor done every year during an early point in the season when the Saints are away for a tournament. This was done prior to their departure for the Battle of the Bull. Arrigale had to make do at a local rec center.

“I didn’t really know anything,” he said. “I was not killing anyone over it. We were meeting here to go on our trip. My family, my wife, everyone around me kept it a secret. Now when I think back about it, they were acting a little funny when I was complaining about not having the gym—they all knew why. They weren’t about to tell me why.

“Everyone was in on it. This struck me tonight, seeing all the guys come back, my family, my college friends and having Speedy Morris here meant the world to me. This was a little surreal. There was mention about this a few years ago, and I forgot about it. I don’t like stuff like this. But it is pretty cool. I’m a little overwhelmed. We even got Speedy in a Neumann-Goretti jacket tonight. It was pretty cool to see this turnout.”     

The Saints then turned out visiting Lansdale Catholic, behind a game-high 17 points from Larenzo Jerkins. Neumann-Goretti was up 32-7 after the first quarter and the second half was played under a running clock due to the 30-point mercy rule.

Jerkins made some personal news himself with his first game at Neumann-Goretti. He also made it official on Sunday signing a letter of intent to attend West Chester.

“Just seeing Coach Carl smile was worth it,” Jerkins said. “I really didn’t know anything like this was happening. We found out the first time tonight about the ceremony before the shoot-around. We were all shocked about the court was being renamed. To be honest, I didn’t really notice until I looked down and saw it.

“It makes me proud of my coach for him being recognized for all the amazing work he has done going back to teams and players before I was even born. He is pretty amazing. I got to celebrate this with my team and I got experience playing on this court for the first time under his name—and signed with West Chester.”     

By Quarter
Lansdale Catholic:   7   |  13  |   6   |   8   ||  34
Neumann-Goretti:   32  |  21  |  11  |   7   ||  71

Scoring
Lansdale Catholic: June Webb 6, Brendan Stewart 6, Rowan Romero 5, Boa Cubbold 4, Anthony Wack 4, Carson Bethea 3, Tony Fitzgerald 2, Carey Romero 2, Braeden Smith 2.

Neumann-Goretti: Larenzo Jerkins 17, Keon Long 14, Amir Williams 9, Stephon Ashley-Wright 8, DeShaun Yates 8, Khaafiq Myers 7, Torrey Brooks 4, Matt Guokas 2, Oscar Briskin 2.

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.