The Daily Pennsylvanian is a student-run nonprofit.

Please support us by disabling your ad blocker on our site.

1

Former Penn basketball three-point specialist Scott Kegler (center) has coordinated Saturday morning pickup hoops sessions at the Palestra for over a decade. Andy Baratta (left) has also coordinated the games in the past. Michael Root (right) is one of many participants in the tradition, which dates back to 1989.

Credit: Courtesy of Lauren Kegler

What makes the Palestra so special is more than just a dozen middle-aged guys going as hard as they can there on a Saturday morning.

And on this first Saturday in March, those guys have special thanks in store for the man who has been giving them the Palestra for so long.

It’s 1990s Penn basketball great Scott Kegler’s 40th birthday. Since he’s been responsible for coordinating Saturday morning pickup hoops games amongst Penn basketball alumni since 2000, his pickup partners have gone all out to celebrate him during this particular session.

Kegler’s friend and Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas judge Mike Erdos walks to center court to present Scott with an intricate piece of woodwork. It’s a plaque made with hardwood from the actual Palestra floor that Kegler played on, with Scott’s name emblazoned in red and a silhouette of his distinctive shooting release displayed across its ball-shaped core.

The gray-haired Erdos has to shake off a groin injury that he suffered in the game just before the plaque presentation, but he still gets across how everyone present feels about Scott.

“You could have just graduated from Penn and gone on your way, but you didn’t do it because you recognize how special it is to find a bunch of guys who are able to play smart, competitive basketball,” Erdos says. “It doesn’t matter if the numbers are light one week or you’re going to be out of town or have family commitments, you’ve been steadfast in your resolve to make sure we get in here. We appreciate that.”

Kegler is just as appreciative, gently thanking his Palestra mates, which include his own 1990s teammate Tim Krug and 2000s Penn basketball star Steve Danley. Then he just says, “Let’s keep playing.”

It’s a scene of mutual gratitude that one can only appreciate by taking into account just how hard it is to pull off a pickup basketball game with the guys when you’ve got a wife, two kids, a demanding white-collar job and your peak physical years well behind you.

That’s Kegler’s position exactly. His wife Lauren, who graduated Penn with him in 1995, and his daughters Grace and Libsey — ages 11 and 9 respectively — live in Haddonfield, N.J. and he is vice president of Lockton Companies, the ninth-largest insurance broker in the world. For a three-time Ivy League champion who was one of the nation’s best three-point shooters during his time with the Quakers, a life without basketball as an outlet just isn’t imaginable.

Grace clings to her mother after a break from cavorting around the gym with her sister, but she quietly reveals why these pickup sessions are as crucial for all involved as they are special.

“He told me at home that he likes coming here because he gets to be really mean and aggressive, because sometimes at work he just wants to throw a ball at somebody,” Grace says. “And he says when he comes here, he gets to just let it all out.”

Her parents both call the pickup games Scott’s therapy, and he’s not alone.

“As we get older and have more children, we have less time for ourselves,” Krug agrees. “It’s a great outlet for the energy that we still have and it’s a great place to play and a competitive atmosphere. We’ll take Weightman when we get it, but any opportunity to play at the Palestra is the best.”

Grace has been running around the Palestra since she was a baby and the arena becomes a giant playpen for fathers and children alike on most Saturday mornings from October through May, which is pickup season.

Still, Kegler can vividly remember when he was juggling classes and hoops instead of work and kids. Ask him about his time with the Quakers and he’ll give you a 10-minute long recap of his hoops career. How the Quakers had to come back out of the locker room to win in double overtime after they thought they had already beaten Penn State in Hershey his freshman year. How he made a conscious effort to soak in standing at center court at Madison Square Garden during the ECAC Holiday Tournament his senior year. How the Quakers slowly but surely gained confidence in themselves after a nine-win season the year before he came to Penn, winning the final 43 Ivy games of his career.

But the pickup games even predate Kegler’s glory days. When Fran Dunphy became Penn coach in 1989, his assistants Fran O’Hanlon and Steve Donahue started coordinating the pickup games.

“It’s just really good, competitive basketball,” said O’Hanlon, who stopped coordinating the games when he left to become head coach at Lafayette in 1995. “People love the game and know what they’re doing. It was the toughest move I ever had to make, leaving the Palestra.”

And when Donahue left to become head coach at Cornell in 2000, it was Kegler’s turn to keep the tradition alive. Ed Hoban is one of a handful who has been coming to the Saturday sessions from the very beginning. This morning, though, he sits on the sidelines, nursing a hamstring injury.

“He’s been great for keeping us interested. This is really why we all get together,” Hoban says, gesturing toward the other end of the court where plays are getting called, screens are being set and dumb turnovers are nowhere to be found.

“What differentiates this game from many other pickup games is the basketball IQ is extremely smart,” Erdos says, who is still upset that his groin injury is keeping him from guarding Scott. “We’re not blessed with a lot of athleticism, but we really know how to play. There is an overabundance of screens and passing, good teamwork. It feels like we’re playing the Penn-Princeton game every time we come out here.”

Small wonder the pickup games are full of smart basketball when Penn basketball alumni like Mark Zoller, Jeff Schiffner and Brian Grandieri show up on occasion.

“It’s almost a little bit invitation only, and you need to be a certain quality of player,” Lauren says.

“Brian Grandieri, Jeff Schiffner, I got to know them because they’d come play with us here,” Scott says. “Eddie Hoban, in his mid-to-late 50s, Michael Arizin — his dad [NBA Hall of Famer Paul Arizin] played with Wilt Chamberlain in the ’60s. Mike still plays, it’s his birthday today.”

Now it’s nearing 11:30 and players continue to file out after they started around 8:15.

“Keep a smile on your face, a song in your heart and a spring in your step,” former Palestra custodian Dan Harrell warmly utters to Scott before leaving. Harrell still opens the gym for the Saturday morning sessions.

“You do so much for others, I’m glad you’re allowing others to do something for you,” Kegler’s former teammate and current Penn assistant coach Ira Bowman, who is passing through on the morning of Penn’s 75-72 win over Harvard, tells Scott before playing around with the latter’s kids for a few minutes. Bowman and the Keglers leave soon after.

These exchanges must be why the Palestra is so special. It brings together children and grown-ups looking for a place to play. It makes aging a little more bearable and parenting a lot more fun. It fills athletes with testosterone and nostalgia at the same time.

And every Saturday morning, it gives guys like Scott Kegler a chance to mean a lot to both friends and strangers alike, while losing themselves in basketball.

For Kegler, the Palestra is the birthday gift that keeps on giving. For everyone else, it’s the greatest place in Philadelphia to go to in order to forget your age for a while.

Why is the Palestra so often called timeless? Guys like Scott Kegler are why.

SEE ALSO

Penn-Princeton: A Palestra timeline

Tony | How to keep the Big 5 thriving

Palestra Dan to retire with Class of ’12

Comments powered by Disqus

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.