DAYTON – Kettering's Archbishop Alter opened its doors to incoming freshmen in 1962 and Joe Petrocelli showed up a year later.
No one has found a way to get rid of Joe Petrocelli since.
Petrocelli, who announced his retirement after 49 seasons in early February, will get to coach another day after Alter knocked off Ohio's top-ranked Division II team Thurgood Marshall, 62-58, Thursday night at the University of Dayton Arena. It was the 828th win for the guy who is No. 2 on the state's all-time victory total.
Thurgood Marshall, led by Drake-bound Mark Alstork, was 23-1 coming into the game. Its lone loss of the season had been to Nevada's Findley Prep, the No. 1-ranked team in this week's USA Today Super 25 poll. Some of Petrocelli's Optimist Club buddies, sensing his run could be ending sooner than later, had mock pictures of him in a new line of work – as the next Pope.
"I told everybody today that if you lose that's my last game, that's it. I expect if we lose I'll walk out of the arena and there will be a white helicopter to pick me up," said Petrocelli, clutching a photo of him wearing the papal mitre. "I thought we could hang with them but they have an awful lot of talent for nothing. They're not No. 1 in the state for nothing. They're very good but we stayed around long enough to get a little run."
Petrocelli is the only boys' basketball coach Alter has ever known.
Thursday night he paced the sideline exhorting his players, pleading his case with officials and watching the clock tick down as Thurgood Marshall's pressure defense tested Alter's ball-handling skills. At times it appeared Alter was on the brink of becoming unnerved but the Knights never let Thurgood Marshall break free; the Cougars led 13-9 at the end of the first quarter, 24-22 at halftime and 42-40 entering the fourth quarter.
Senior Jaaron Simmons is a 6-2 guard who is currently uncommitted for college. He scored 29 points Thursday, including a step-back three-pointer from the left wing over Alstork with 1:10 remaining that gave the Knights a 58-56 lead. Simmons' two free throws with 7.6 seconds left sealed the victory.
"We knew (Petrocelli) was going to retire a couple of weeks ago and we said from then that we don't want Petro's season to end early," said Simmons. "We're going to put our all out on the court. This is not the end."
Alter, ranked No. 7 in the final state poll, is now 18-5. The Knights will play the winner of Saturday's Taft-Wilmington game next Friday for the district title and a trip to the regional tournament. Petrocelli's teams have won 24 district championships, the last one coming in 2008.
Petrocelli graduated from Cincinnati's Purcell High School in 1956. His bachelor's degree and Master's degree are from Xavier University. He coached the Alter JV team his first year and the school began playing a varsity schedule in 1964. In his 10th season he led the Knights, with the help of future NBA first-round pick Jim Paxson, to the Ohio state tournament for the first of eight times. Three-time NBA champion John Paxson helped give Petrocelli and the Knights their first of three state championships in 1978.
His teams won 77 consecutive home games from 1971-81 in a gymnasium that now bears his name.
He has coached in multiple national all-star games, including the first McDonald's East-West game in 1978.
He is already a member of the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, being inducted in 1999, and the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. That honor came last year.
"I still think it's funny that when I was born in 1965 he was coaching and they'd joke I'd be the Class of '84," said Tony Petrocelli, who played for his father. "Not only is he still here but I'm now 47 years old. There's something to be said for longevity.
"(Retirement) was a little bit of a surprise. Probably not to my mom, but to me it was. He announced it late. My guess is he knew from the beginning but he didn't want a production."
Petrocelli's wife of 51 years, Marianne, has been around throughout her husband's career.
"He picked the right woman," she said.
Next Friday, she'll get to watch one more game.
