It’s likely no one has been around the Reading High boys basketball program in as many different capacities as Tony Zonca.
He covered the Red Knights during his 34 years working for the Reading Eagle. His son, Chris, Class of 1990, played for Reading High. He later was a volunteer assistant coach under Rich Reyes and Rick Perez.
It’s that insight gained in his more than 50 years around some of the program’s all-time great coaches, players and personalities that Zonca has turned into a 36-page book titled “60 Years of Reading High Basketball, Carril to Perez.”
“I’m very pleased with it,” Zonca said. “I think there’s some stuff in there people don’t know about.
“The research was hard. The writing was just a labor of love.”
The book will be for sale for $18 at all Reading High home games, starting with Tuesday’s game against McCaskey at the Geigle.
It is available by mail for $20.50 by sending a check to Anthony J. Zonca, 1006 Whitford Drive, Reading, PA 19605. Zonca also will be selling the book from that address from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 18-19 and Dec. 22.
All proceeds will benefit the Reading High boys basketball program.
So, for those looking for the Christmas gift for the Red Knights fan, here you go.
The project was the brainchild of Perez, who wanted to do something to commemorate the history of Reading High hoops.
Zonca decided to “limit” it from the days of legendary coach Pete Carril to last year’s heroics of Moro Osumanu and Joey Chapman. That’s what he knows best.
The project started out as four articles, but grew into 10.
The book, which includes pictures, begins with a chapter on coaches Carril and Jim Gano. It continues with a look at coaches Rick Binder, Mike Miller, Reyes and Perez; the best players of the last 60 years, including profiles of the top five; a recap of 2016-17 season, which ended with the program’s first state championship; and a story on the 1977 district final against Steel-High, which Reading won in triple overtime on a shot by Pete Mullenberg.
Last year’s state title team is well represented with chapters on Osumanu, Chapman’s title-clinching steal and a recap of the season that ends with a takeoff of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” that is a must-read for Reading High fans.
“I don’t know how many it’s going to sell,” said the 81-year-old Zonca, “but everybody who has purchased one has been impressed.
“I’m hoping to sell 200-300. The money, of course, is important. It goes back into the program.”
Zonca said he is not making any money from the sales. That wasn’t his intention.
“I look at it as part of my legacy,” he said. “I know you reach a certain age where these things are kind of important to you, and it is important to me. It’s been a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun at the same time.”
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December 14, 2021 at 06:34AM
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Book commemorates last 60 years of Reading High boys basketball - Reading Eagle
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