Like all other sports, basketball was probably invented right here in Philadelphia. For a long time, it was called the “ball-in-basket” game until the term “basketball” was famously coined by Philadelphia 76ers center player Joel Embiid. The first varsity basketball team in St. Joe’s history played their inaugural season in 1909-1910. They were coached by John Dever, a man so synonymous with basketball that when you Google him, you only get results for John Denver, the singer.
The first season of St. Joe’s basketball ended with a winning record of 10-6, according to the Saint Joseph’s Men’s Basketball Record Book. Not bad, until you take a closer look at the game logs: the first ever game played by a St. Joe’s varsity basketball team ended in a 19-5 loss to a local high school called “Catholic High.” That’s right, a whole five points. To be fair, basketball in 1909-1910 looked very different from what we are used to today. There was no three-point line, shot clock, athleticism or skill required. The NBA wouldn’t even exist for another 40 years. At this time, the only exciting thing to do was go to baseball games, eat cans of sardines and listen to the radio. It was a dark time.
The rivalry between Villanova University and St. Joe’s is talked about a lot, yet we neglect our first-ever, true rival: Catholic High. Between 1909 and 1917, we played 12 games against Catholic High and only won five. Two of those wins didn’t even have the statistics recorded, losing the truth of history to time. After our first loss to them, St. Joe’s lost the next four rematches as well. It was not until the 1911-1912 season that we seized our first win against Catholic High in a 24-22 barnburner.
The fledgling basketball program had many opponents including the Pennsylvania Institute of the Deaf, a seminary, multiple high schools, the Atlantic City YMCA, “Philadelphia Textile” (which I really hope is just a textile factory) and some place called “Temple.” We’ve truly come a long way since the beginning of our basketball journey.
