Matt Steinmetz

No clue why Bobby Hollinger has been the impetus for me writing about my love of basketball. But here we are. Bobby is older than me, which is perfect. It means that what I remember of Bobby — and all things basketball when I was a kid — might not be wholly accurate.

But who cares? My memories are my memories … and Bobby Hollinger is on my “All-Time Influencer’s List!” By the way, Bobby ain’t dead. In fact, he’s very much alive, living in PA, and he’s probably shaking his head right now, wondering: What the fuck is Matty Steinmetz doing?”

Well, I’m not exactly sure, Bobby. I just know that I’m having a blast turning back the clock and acknowledging the players, coaches and people I’ll never forget. By the way, just because “Holls” impacted me doesn’t mean he was a perfect player. In fact, I can’t wait to eventually catch up and talk about his “shot selection.

I couldn’t stand Bobby when I was 10-12 years old because those Wyomissing teams would toy with my brother’s Muhlenberg teams. Yeah, there was this one game I remember, where the Muhls roared back from double-digits in the third quarter at that old Wyomissing gym (with the balcony!) but Crider and Wertz and Miller and Holls brought it home. Of course.

I can absolutely be fact-checked here. Whatever.

Bobby was ridiculously athletic and loved the deep, baseline corner jumper. Would have been a 3-pointer nowadays but back then, you miss that shot and it was the bane of Dick Sherry’s existence. But if you ever over-committed on Hollinger’s baseline jumper, he’d head-fake, take one dribble and dunk on your big man’s ass. You think I’m lying? Check out the all-time high jump records at Wyo!

Here’s to Bobby Hollinger!

I’m imagining myself back at 3rd and Spruce – or Kaley’s Korner (Is it still there?) – ten years from now. That’s Reading, PA, for all who should know but don’t. I bump into all my old friends, basketball players from back in the day. And we, of course, immediately talk hoops.

The subject of point guards comes up, and I find myself with so many of Berks/Reading’s dynamite players. Roz is there, Neil Christel, Stu Jackson, Perry Wentzel, Pete Mullenberg, Bobby Wolfe (Kutztown), Mike Reedy, Dennis Westley. Bobby Hollinger, too, of course. We’re re-living the old days. The Deke’s, Tony Cassamassa (did I spell it right?), Wendell Scott and the Kautter brothers at Governor Mifflin.

We talk Keith Bricker and Kevin Becker at Conrad Weiser. We talk Crider and Wertz at Wyomissing. We’ll never omit Tony Bonanno, Tony Jankans, Alan Tyson, Sam Marella, Bobby Ford (was he a point or two-guard?) … and even Exeter’s Matt Acker!

I say confidently … “Kathy Folk was as good as any point guard who ever played around here.”

Folk guided one of the best teams I ever watched. It was late-ish 1970s and Muhlenberg’s team had action. Big action. Chris Smith, Kevin Smith and I went to almost all the games. They were “our team.” We were captivated by a squad I can still remember to this day: Kathy Folk, Gretchen Bybel, Jill Messner, Michelle Smith and Anita Unger.

Folk made it all happen. Her mission every game was to get her teammates involved … and she did that frequently. But there are times in a basketball game when a point guard must, in essence, forsake teammates in an effort to keep a team in a game or to win a game. It’s a fine line every point guard must walk at some point.

No point guard understood that fine line like Folk. She could score when she needed to, she could spoon-feed teammates when that’s what was called for, and she could wreak havoc on defense if “we needed a stop.”

Her decision-making was impeccable, though there’s an easy one-liner to be made about her choice of Terry Bickhart! Just kidding, Terry. Love you, buddy!

By the way, don’t you ever foul Folk late in a game. She was automatic, and never met a clutch free throw she didn’t get over on. When I think of all the point guards who influenced me … you’re damn right Kathy Folk was one of them.

Here’s to Kathy Folk. She could freakin’ play!

Dennis Westley’s basketball resume speaks for itself: Division III All-American; Final Four participant. It wouldn’t be fair to call Westley a late-bloomer, though he was a more impactful player at Franklin and Marshall College (D3 Powerhouse; home of beautiful basketball) than he was at Holy Name.

Lloyd Wolf (RIP) brought Westley as far as he could. Then Glenn Robinson took Westley to another level. Westley was a ferocious rebounder, particularly offensively, with good hands and above-average athleticism. To put it mildly, he was a problem in his prime during the West Reading Summer League halcyon days. Nevertheless, all players have flaws and Westley had his.

It was a head-scratcher, too. Westley was a terrific shooter from the elbows — where the foul line meets key. His face-up game for a big man was ahead of its time. But alas, something happened between those elbows. For whatever reason, Westley struggled at the foul line … and Jesus Christ did the baseline crew in June and July — Mike Fry, Richie Heckler, the Bailey brothers, Rugs, Alfred Pieterbone, Tommy Moyer, etc. — drill him for that.

Nevertheless, no list of great players from Reading is complete without Dennis Westley: A dogged, heady competitor who always had to be accounted for. Here’s to my fellow Holy Name and Franklin and Marshall brother Dennis Westley! You were a hell of a player, my man!