Hall of Fame High School Basketball Coach

This 1951 Paul Slantis photo shows the family of long-time Brookline resident Richard Diethorn, a Hall of Fame high school basketball coach whose career spanned twenty-nine years, from 1943 until 1971.

The caption reads:

Dick Diethorn, coach of the Saint James High School Basketball team, surrounded by his family (Kathleen, age 2; Diana, age 5 - both sitting on the floor; Robert, age 7; Mrs. Vera Kleppick Diethorn holding William, age 10 months; Thomas, age 4; and Richard, age 9), in their home at 537 Woodbourne Avenue, holding a Cy Hungerford cartoon reading,

"Welcome back champ! Getting to be a habit." with a drawing of Mr. Diethorn holding a trophy saying, "PCIAA Class B State Champs".

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The following is Richard Diethorn's obituary, written by Ray Fittipaldo. It appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on July 30, 2007:

Richard Diethorn, one of the winningest high school basketball coaches in Western Pennsylvania from the 1940s through the early-1970s, died Sunday at the age of 91.

Mr. Diethorn, of Brookline, was the coach at the highly successful St. James and St. Canice schools in the Catholic B League.

His teams won ten section titles, six city titles and four state titles. But he is best known for compiling a 66-game winning streak at St. James from 1949 to 1952, a Catholic League record.

"He was quite a man," said Rocco Julian, who played for those undefeated teams. "He not only taught us basketball, he taught us how to live. There's no 'I' in team, and we did it together. I'll miss him. He was like a father to us. He was one in a million."

Mr. Julian said one of the secrets to the winning streak was that Mr. Diethorn was able to keep his players focused by keeping their egos in check.

"He kept telling us, 'You're good, but there's always someone out there who's better than you, so don't get a big head.' We did it with his help and support."

The winning streak was snapped by St. Adalbert on the South Side.

It was a one-point loss. Undaunted by the setback, St. James would win its next twenty-three games.

During his 30 years in coaching, Mr. Diethorn compiled a 547-202 record. For his accomplishments, he was twice a recipient of Dapper Dan awards for coaching, in 1951 and 1964. His 1964 team at St. Canice was 33-1 and won the state championship in its classification.

According to his son, Richard, one of his father's proudest moments came two years earlier when he led a team without a player over six feet to the state championship game.

That team, with an average height of 5-10, lost the state title game to South Scranton and finished with a 25-2 record.

Above and beyond the wins and losses, Mr. Diethorn enjoyed shaping the lives of young people through his coaching.

"Dad was most proud of the players he had and the hardships they had to overcome," said Richard Diethorn, of Baden.

"Some of the players he had could have ended up on the wrong side of the tracks."

"He got just about every one of them into college and they all kept in touch with him. He always said he was more of a teacher than a coach."

Mr. Diethorn worked in the auditing department at The Pittsburgh Press and Post-Gazette for 45 years before retiring in the late 1970s.

He was inducted to the western chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.

Mr. Diethorn is survived by four other sons, Thomas of Delray Beach, Fla.; William and James of Bethel Park; and John of Murrysville; two daughters, Diane Bogatay of Brookline and Kathleen Vallier of Hampton, N.H.; a brother, Elmer Diethorn of Whitehall; sisters Marie Boyle of Bethel Park and Dorothy Lewis of Brentwood; 17 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were held at DeBor Funeral Home and Mass was celebrated at the Church of the Resurrection.