CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Bill Zwaan knows what a lifetime achievement award means.
As difficult as it’s been to shift from the week-to-week granularity of coaching football, the life he’s known without interruption since 1988, there’s been more time to reflect since he retired this fall after 20 years at the helm of West Chester University’s football. And so with the awards and acclaim come some truths he’s unaccustomed to.
“I was thinking about the fact that when you get an award like this, it’s like the last award you get,” Zwaan said Wednesday. “The last banquet, the last speech, so it’s kind of funny that I’m at that point in my career.”
If this is to be one of the last, Zwaan said, then a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association seems not a bad place to have it. The Archbishop Carroll grad has been to the banquet plenty of times through the years to honor his players and teams, including one time he recounted from the dais sitting next to Dick Vermeil and drawing his ire for appreciating emcee Joe Conklin’s impersonation of the former Eagles coach.
But being there for himself is a different sensation. It’s all part of the adjustment to life away from the sidelines for the 69-year-old.
He’s been a successful coach for most of the last five decades, since ending a stellar career as the quarterback at the University of Delaware.
That journey started at Monsignor Bonner in the late ’70s. It included six winning seasons at Widener — after four seasons as its defensive coordinator and head baseball coach — and 20 at West Chester. He led football teams to five league titles and the semifinals of both the NCAA Division III and Division II (twice) tournaments.
Zwaan still thinks about the wins — and, if he’s honest, a few of the losses. But more often, he gravitates more toward the human element. He’s left behind a prodigious coaching tree, which includes his son, Bill Zwaan Jr., with whom he’s coached for the last decade. Those personal connections resonate the most.
“I got a lot of nice notes from my ex-players, and they would bring up something that I said, that they remembered 25 years later,” he said. “So you kind of feel like, ‘OK, I did have an impact in some way.’ Sometimes you never know if they’re listening, and they repeat it back to you years later, and you know they were listening.”
• • •
When Aaron Nola signed a seven-year, $172 million contract to stay with the Phillies in November, the city of Philadelphia was part of the lure. He and his wife, Hunter, are expecting their first child in the spring, and Nola has called only one city home as a professional, the one that drafted him in the first round in 2014.
Nola has made the region a home base for his many charitable endeavors. Seeing the two converge in Nola receiving the Ed Snider Humanitarian Award seemed fitting.
“I wanted to be here, for sure,” Nola said. “I wanted to start my career out and end my career out (here). It’s a special place.”
Nola has represented the city well, well beyond the 90-71 record, 3.72 ERA and contributions in 2022 to the Phillies first playoff berth in a decade and first pennant since 2009.
The Louisiana native is an ambassador for a variety of the Phillies’ philanthropic endeavors, has long ties to the ALS Association and works with youth through the Philadelphia Futures mentoring program, the Shred Hate initiative and Hospitality Assistance Response program. He’s hosted fundraisers for many of those organizations as well as donating his time.
All of Nola’s talk about being part of the community is rigorously backed by his actions.
“Outside of the field, outside of baseball, I love helping everybody out in the community and the organizations I’ve teamed up with,” he said. “They’re such great people. They have such great goals in mind, and it’s very easy to work with.”
“It just shows how important he is to the community and how much he gives back,” manager Rob Thomson said. “That’s all part of being a professional in my mind. This guy epitomizes being a Philly athlete. He’s tough, he competes, he prepares, he’s not afraid of everything, and he wants the ball in a big game. And he’s humble and he gives back. I think that’s in a lot of ways Philly to a T.”
• • •
It was a busy night for the Saleski family at the PSWA banquet.
Don Saleski was honored with the Living Legend Team, the 1973-74 Philadelphia Flyers. Grandson Nate Saleski was part of the 2023 Team of the Year, the Media Little League squad that went to the Little League World Series.
Zwaan shared his Lifetime Achievement Award with longtime St. Joe’s and Temple sports information director and Big 5 Hall of Famer Larry Dougherty and Rowan softball coach Kim Wilson.
Glenolden native and former Eagle Vince Papale received the Living Legend award.
Chas McCormick of the Houston Astros won the Native Son Award, the West Chester Henderson graduate recognized in the banquet program by the Astros with a picture of his game-saving catch at Citizens Bank Park in Game 5 of the 2022 World Series. The Flyers’ Sean Couturier won the PSWA’s Good Guy Award.
Boxer and North Philadelphia native Jaron Ennis was named Pro Athlete of the Year, while St. Joseph’s Prep grad and Clemson linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is the Outstanding Amateur Athlete.
Among the college athletes honored was La Salle runner and Cardinal O’Hara All-Delco El Mancini.
Source: Berkshire mont
Be First to Comment