By Chris Stevens, Editor
From the halls of Delcastle Technical High School to the campus of Temple University, Chris Laws’ basketball life has been an extraordinary journey. Laws, Delcastle’s all-time leading assist man and steals leader, will come back to where he started, as he was hired late in September as new boys’ basketball head coach, replacing Kenny Avent.
Laws, a 1,000-point scorer at Delcastle, also played for three years at Temple under legendary coach John Chaney, which he feels gives him a unique perspective.
“I’ve definitely had to persevere and overcome – when one door closed, I couldn’t quit,” Laws explains.
“The work that I’ve had to do – on the court, off the court and in the classroom – has prepared me for this position. I want our players to see that playing at the next level is possible.”
Improvement on the court and exposure will be the core of Laws’ mission with these Cougars, part of a 4-way tie for first place in Flight A before being upset by Tatnall in the first round of the state tournament this past March. Notable returnees include 6’4 high-flyer Jaheem Gadsen and point guard Gabe Valmond.
“Basketball has taken guys like Gary Lumpkin (William Penn) around the world, it’s gotten me on national TV three times a week at Temple – these kids see that and they want that,” he said.
Laws hopes that the upcoming schedule, COVID-dependent of course, will be the toughest in Cougar history, as he’s reached out to former Temple teammate Rick Brunson (Camden High) and other Philly area high schools such as Engineering and Sciences and Simon Gratz for possible games. He’s also planning for trips to Atlanta and Texas as well.
“We’ve got some talented kids here who can outplay anybody,” he said. “Coach Chaney’s attitude was ‘I’ll play you any time, any place, anywhere.’ We want to compete and come back home and get these kids scholarships because they deserve it.”
Also, Laws is glad to be a part of a small but important group of former Delaware high school heroes (Lumpkin at William Penn, Shannon McCants at Newark) that have returned to their alma maters to coach.
“We’ve come back out of love and respect for Delaware basketball,” Laws said. “Our era was an era where you saw guys getting scholarships and exposure. I want to see their programs succeed and I want to see ours succeed as well. We want our kids to be recognized.”
