Laney Clement-Holbrook: An appreciation.

Oliver Ames' girls coach Laney Clement-Holbrook has retired. (Boston Herald photo)

Laney Clement-Holbrook was the coach of the Oliver Ames High School girls' basketball team for 47 years, and while she did not coach a team from the circulation area of my former newspaper, I will always consider her one of the individuals most responsible for prodding me to become an advocate for the equalization of coverage of boys' and girls' high school sports.

Ms. Clement-Holbrook, 68, confirmed reports on Wednesday that she had retired from her position, mere days after leading the Tigers to their third state championship under her leadership. There's no better way to retire than going out on top, and she certainly deserved it.

But why, you ask, do I consider her so instrumental in a facet of my career? Let me tell the story.

Many, many years ago, she called the newspaper one day and gave me an earful about what she believed to be unfair coverage of a state tournament game between her team and one of the teams we covered on a regular basis. And she had every right to make that call.

Memories fade a little after time, but I believe the game in question was either in 1978 or 1979, very early in my career as a full-time writer and editor for The Sun Chronicle. It was, I think, between Oliver Ames and Seekonk, and the writer we sent to the game (I didn't cover it) returned to the office thoroughly disgusted with the low-scoring affair and determined to get that point across in the story he would write about it.

It was my responsibility to edit the copy for publication, and had I approached it with a little more maturity and experience under my belt, I would have located the offending passages and edited them out to present a more benign description of the contest. One of our cardinal rules for most of my tenure there was to be fair and forgiving toward high school athletes because they were not pros and were not to be held to standards and expectations of those playing the sport for money. But because I was young and a little overwhelmed by the task of editing other writers' copy on deadline at the time, I let the story go with only basic grammatical corrections.

The next day, after the newspaper hit the stands, I got the phone call from Laney. She was not pleased. She picked out every single passage that was too damning to the athletes or the sport of girls' basketball in general and repeated them over the phone in an equally damning tone -- one that chillingly reminded me of getting chewed out by Sister Mary Rita during a moment of misbehavior in sixth grade at Dominican Academy in Plainville.

I tried to mount a half-hearted defense of the story, saying that we're paid to accurately reflect the events in the games we cover, not to sugarcoat them. But Laney wasn't buying it. Neither was I after a while, although I was loathe to admit it to her. I re-read the story in print during the course of the phone call and realized that there were several ways that I could have rewritten the story to make it reflect the lesser quality of the game without turning it into a complete damnation of girls' basketball as a whole.

So I just basically shut up and let Laney have her say. When she hung up, I figured she was someone who would never speak to me again -- by her choice. Then maybe an hour later, I got a call from the other coach in that game, Seekonk's Dorene Menezes, who made the same points and expressed the same anger. This time, all I could do was grunt "uh-huh" several times out of a sense of resignation, and then ask contritely at the end if she would still call in her scores after every game.

The scoldings did have a positive effect. It reminded me of another incident earlier in my life when I failed to show the proper respect for a female athlete's desire for equal treatment -- my high school sweetheart, at the time the center of the Mansfield High girls' basketball team, who asked me one day why I never covered any of her games for the weekly Mansfield News. 

"It's only girls' basketball," I said. The look of hurt on her face was something I will never forget, although it still took me another five years or so to actually get the point.

Following those phone calls, I made a point to give girls' sports more of an even break in the pages of The Sun Chronicle. It took a while to get everyone on board with the plan, probably because it was essentially doubling our workload to give the same coverage to both genders, but Peter Gobis and I embarked upon the noble crusade by the end of that decade, maybe seven or eight years after Title IX made it federal law preventing discrimination by schools or colleges against women athletes. And the equalization of coverage is one of the things of which I'm proudest -- even if a lot of knuckle-dragging male sports fans rejected our efforts under the mistaken notion that we were taking something away from our coverage of the boys' teams.

Over the years, Laney Clement-Holbrook noticed. She welcomed Sun Chronicle coverage of Oliver Ames even though it wasn't as regular as it was for the 10 schools we did cover on a regular basis. And along the way, Laney and I became friends, with great mutual respect for what the other had accomplished.

Laney won three state titles for OA and shepherded many great athletes through their careers. But it wasn't all sweetness and light for her there.

Occasionally I would hear stories about parental discontent in the ranks, which is not surprising. There are still a lot of parents out there who don't understand that basketball is a team sport and that it's the job of the coach to find the right personnel combinations and win games. Sports are meritocracies. You earn your playing time by what you do every day in games and practice. If you can't start, it's an athlete's responsibility to work harder and either earn more playing time, or find ways to make their teammates better. There are no guarantees of playing time, nor should there ever be. And it's not the job of Mommy or Daddy to storm into the offices of the athletic director and demand a coach's firing because their little Joanie with suspect skills isn't playing as much as the kid pumping 17 points through the bucket in every game.

But Laney persevered. She won 733 games to set a state record for girls' basketball, and was a pioneer and a tireless advocate for the tenets of Title IX. And how she was able to endure the slings and arrows of 47 seasons at the helm is further testimony to her grit. 

I sent her an email yesterday congratulating her on her retirement and telling her that getting away from the daily stress can be like a Fountain of Youth. But I suspect she will remain close to basketball (as I have). It's in her blood. It's part of her. And everyone that watched what she did or participated in her program is better for it.

An overdue tribute to basketball season.

Alex Salachi, left, and I have logged a lot of hours behind the microphones.

Yes, I know. I’ve been lax in updating this site. And that’s not all.

Over the past five months or so, I’ve let a lot of things slide — not the least of which were this site, and my two podcasts, the audio “The Owner’s Box,” and the video “The Owner’s Box After Dark.” Plans are in place to stick a firecracker up my ass and to re-inspire myself to attend to these creative pursuits.

But I was busy. Honestly I was.

If you don’t believe me, and are not a fan of the Mansfield High, King Philip Regional High or Foxboro High winter sports teams, all you need to do is look at the video archives of Foxboro Cable Access, Mansfield Cable Access or North TV, and you will find me there.

In all, I probably was the play-by-play announcer for roughly 35 games in basketball and hockey for those three schools (and add in a few from Bishop Feehan and North Attleboro) from December through March 8, when my schedule was exhausted after one of the best games I’ve ever seen and called.

No doubt about it, I had a blast this year, my fourth as a high school play-by-play announcer. It reinforced my opinion that this would have been my career calling had I not spent almost 50 years as a sportswriter, and it also made me appreciate even more the people with whom I share the “broadcast booth,” so to speak.

Yes, we have no booths at this level. I get to work in the Macktaz Field press box when I’m doing King Philip football, soccer or field hockey in the fall, but for basketball, we’re either at a table at courtside or as far up in the stands as we can be in other places. And for hockey, it’s wherever we will be the coldest.

No problem. It’s how one learns. No one in either of my professions should ever start in a cushy press box where information is fed to you between the free meals. The best way to learn is either by following teams from field level, keeping one’s own statistics regardless of weather conditions, or being surrounded by cheering or jeering fans, trying to maintain your composure and concentration while surrounded by chaos.

The teams I covered this year achieved varying levels of success. 

At KP, a coaching change for the girls’ basketball team seemed to have a positive result as the Warriors qualified for the tournament on the last day of the regular season and managed to make it two games deep in the new statewide Division 1 tournament.

The boys didn’t fare as well. Early struggles with COVID-19 infections disrupted the starting lineup on a regular basis over the first half of the season, and the chemistry and cohesiveness the Warriors needed never really developed. Still, there were some outstanding individual performers, and enough of them will return next season to give KP reason for optimism in a reconfigured Kelley-Rex Division of the Hockomock League.

I was able to return to Foxboro girls’ basketball telecasts this year after a year’s absence, and I enjoyed watching veteran coach Lisa Downs mold a young team into a winning unit over the course of the season.

Most of the games I did were of the Mansfield boys and girls, two established winning programs that did not disappoint. 

The girls were a little streaky, having to mesh returning veterans with newcomers or returnees taking on new roles, but they still made it to the Division 1 tournament and defeated Worcester’s Doherty High in the first round before losing a nailbiter at Woburn in the Round of 32. With standouts Abby Wager and Kara Santos returning next season, I expect good things in Heather McPherson’s third season as head coach.

The more games, the merrier, I always say.

The boys, meanwhile, made a strong bit to maintain the excellence established over the past two decades under Mike Vaughan’s leadership. Losing Matty Boen’s 27-point average was a hit the team had to absorb, but senior guard Matt Hyland stepped up as a consistent scorer and on-court leader, and Chris Hill, Anthony Sacchetti, Trevor Foley and Andrew Slaney developed the classic Mansfield chemistry over the course of the season.

The Hornets finished 20-5 overall (19-5 for MIAA purposes because their game against Cranston West was considered an “endowment game” for charitable purposes). And for them, this new statewide tournament actually took on the look of one with an entirely new set of postseason opponents.

Dropped to Division 2 because of Mansfield’s shrinking enrollment, the Hornets faced some unfamiliar foes during their tourney quest. First up was Middleboro, which was clearly unaccustomed to playing at the pace the Hornets maintained over their 13-year tenure in Division 1. But Shepherd Hill Regional High of Dudley proved up to the task in the Round of 16, giving the Hornets all they could handle with a strong defensive effort before Mansfield clinched the win on the last possession of the game.

That brought the surprise team of the tournament, seventh-seeded Norwood, to the Albertini Gym in the Round of Eight. As I told anyone that would listen as the tournament began, this was the matchup I wanted to see. The Mustangs are coached by one of the brightest talents in the profession in this state, Kristen McDonnell, who has clearly proved that her knowledge of the game and her motivational skills know no gender boundaries. And of course, Mansfield’s Vaughan has repeatedly proven himself worthy of his status as a state coaches hall of fame member.

The game was a double-overtime classic, 57-51 in Norwood’s favor, with more twists and turns than I could recount here without you having to continue reading this post into next week. Perhaps one of the strangest twists came with 10 seconds remaining in regulation time, when Hyland drove to the basket and beat his defenders to put up what looked like the game-winning shot with 1.8 seconds left — only to have the ball stick between the rim and the backboard, turning it over to Norwood on the alternating possession. That sent the game into its first overtime, and a second was required to finally send the Mustangs to the Final Four.

I spent the entire game standing on the top row of the bleachers behind the scorer’s table, holding on to the auxiliary basket for dear life so I could get the best view I could amid the overflow crowd. That’s not any easy thing for me to do at 68 years of age and with a left knee that would prefer to be immobilized in a prone position. But Alex Salachi and I persevered for the duration — and without patting myself on the back, I can say without hesitation that it was one of the best calls of a game that we have ever done.

Kristen McDonnell broke barriers.

Norwood went on to eliminate Burlington, but then ran into the best team that money can buy in Division 2, Malden Catholic, which pinned a 50-point loss on the Mustangs. I have never been one to want to segregate the Catholic schools of the MIAA into their own tournament, but when your team in Malden has a starting center from Stoughton and a talented guard from Quincy leading the way, one has to wonder how this sort of abusive recruiting is allowed to continue. It’s not like Bishop Feehan, which has a somewhat more contained regional appeal. This level of abuse makes life a lot more difficult for the smaller Catholic schools that follow the rules and should not have to suffer because of the behavior of others.

And that’s why, if I had to pick a state coach of the year, it would be McDonnell. In her third season with the Norwood boys, she motivated a smallish and not overly deep team to take on all comers, maintain their poise and follow their coach’s teachings, and reach a state title game. Norwood has every reason to be proud of its boys’ team, as well as the state-finalist girls coached by former Feehan standout Amy Lepley Quinn.

I did enjoy the statewide tournament, but there must be tweaks made to the rating system to give more weight to a team’s record. One reason for the change to power ratings was because the old “Sullivan Rule” allowed schools to qualify with miserable records if they defeated teams that were in the same tournament division as theirs. The membership wanted losing teams purged from the ledger, but under the power ratings, there were at least three or four teams in each division with sub-.500 records in the top 32. It was even worse in the hockey tournament.

Of course, accommodations were made and all teams with records of .500 or better were allowed to qualify, which resulted in brackets as large as 46 schools in some instances. I’m not opposed to a “the more, the merrier” approach, but these power ratings are too strongly based upon the strength of teams’ schedules and the margin of victory in games, and not enough upon whether you win those games.

Still, for variety’s sake, I’ll give the statewide tourney a B-plus to start.

Alex Salachi, Tom Faria and I man the mics.

Finally, I want to offer a lot of thanks to a lot of people for helping me and my broadcast partners do our jobs.

First, of course, are the bosses — North TV’s Peter Gay, Foxboro Cable Access’ Mike Webber and Mansfield Cable Access’ Jack O’Neill, who put their faith in my talents to deliver a listenable telecast despite my having only a few years of experience at doing it. And the camerapersons — Scott Tooker and Loren Carpenter of North TV, all the volunteers in Foxboro and the incomparable Maureen O’Neill in Mansfield — all delivered an outstanding product to the viewing public.

And of course, the athletic directors and coaches of the teams I covered all deserve thanks for fitting our needs into their very busy schedules. Thanks to you all!

Most of all, I want to thank my broadcast partners for the expertise they shared to make me sound less of an idiot than I really am. I’ve talked to many great big-time broadcasters in my day and every one of them credited their analysts with being the bedrock upon which a strong broadcast was built — and through personal experience, I’ve learned the truth in that statement.

Glen Farley, at left, makes the KP telecasts better.

For King Philip hockey, my old friend Glen Farley serves as my partner. A long-time Brockton Enterprise sportswriter and former Patriots beat scribe, Glen has great timing for when to interject, as well as a love and full understand of hockey and sharper eyes than I, bailing me out on several occasions when I couldn’t follow the puck into the net. We work together just as well on KP football, field hockey, baseball, softball and (new this season) lacrosse, and I’m privileged to have him by my side.

My former co-worker (and boss) at The Sun Chronicle, Mike Kirby, joined me for a Feehan basketball game this year and I really enjoyed having an old friend (and former basketball referee) at the mic. I hope we get a chance to work together more going forward.

Always thankful for Lisa Downs’ help and support.

At Foxboro this year, I had a rotating crew of analysts for the games I did. Mark Davis returned to the table following the graduation of daughter Lizzy in 2020 for two games with me, and it was like there had never been a pause. Kate Hill (freshman Ava’s mom) joined me for one game and senior Hannah Blake’s dad, Tom, joined me for another. All were welcome additions.

And in Mansfield, I had plenty of help.

My partner of three previous seasons, Tom Faria, had other responsibilities this year as a proud grandfather to Samantha Faria, a freshman and starting guard at North Attleboro. But he was able to join me for three games, and I’m very happy he did. I intend to make sure Tom stays involved with his beloved Hornets when there’s no conflict with his family responsibilities.

I was also privileged to join up with Kathy Hill, mom of all those Hill kids and, as Kathy Finn, a 1,900-point scorer at Providence College in her day. Can’t beat her background and her enthusiasm. And when I couldn’t do a Mansfield game because of a schedule conflict, Kathy and Bridgett Casey (now in her 25th year as Bridgewater State’s coach after stellar careers at Oliver Ames and Bryant) filled in admirably.

And of course, my primary partner for KP and Mansfield games is my brother from another mother, former Mansfield star hoopster Alex Salachi, who coached the Mansfield girls briefly before embarking upon a long career as an assistant and head coach at Xaverian Brothers High in Westwood. Alex and I had built-in chemistry because of our long friendship, and his knowledge of the game and coaching strategies has been absolutely invaluable to our telecasts. And the feedback we get proves that. 

Aside from that, it’s also a joy to work with a friend that has been there through thick and thin for almost 60 years. At this stage of our lives, it’s almost the fountain of youth for both of us.

And now, it’s on to lacrosse. Anyone got a rule book I can borrow?