(EDITOR’S NOTE: Since May of 1999, the Times News Sports Department has featured an On This Date practically every day, highlighting an event that happened in the past. With the coronavirus putting a halt to sports locally and nationally, the On This Dates have been expanded to the stories that actually ran in the next day’s newspaper. Today’s On This Date story is from June 22, 1987).

By Emmett McCall

Sports Staff Writer

What was it like to replace John Wooden at UCLA or Bear Bryant at Alabama? Bill Zahora may soon know the answer.

Zahora, the boys junior varsity basketball coach at Marian High School last year, has been named to succeed Elsie Tolan as the school’s girls varsity basketball coach.

Tolan, who retired at the conclusion of the 1986-87 season, will be moving to New Jersey where she has accepted the head coaching job at Immaculate Heart Academy High School in Westwood.

Zahora, a teacher at Jim Thorpe High School, has been coaching basketball for nine years. He began his coaching career at Jim Thorpe as the girls JV coach. After one year, he took over the girls varsity job at Thorpe and held that position for five years.

He then moved on to Panther Valley where he was the boys freshmen coach and a varsity assistant to Mark Brown for two years. After taking a year off from coaching because of the birth of his daughter, Zahora moved to Marian last season and became head JV coach and a varsity assistant to Sid Llera.

“This is one of the finest coaching jobs anyone could want,” Zahora remarked about his new position. “I’m sure there were many qualified applicants so it’s a great honor to be selected. I’m very, very pleased to have this opportunity.”

Zahora will have some lofty expectations to live up to as he takes over a position that Tolan has held for the past 21 years. During that period, she has compiled a phenomenal 496-85 record; won six Schuylkill League titles; six District 11 championships; took her team to the Eastern final six times, including the last five years in a row; and captured one PIAA state championship.

“I’m looking forward to the season,” Zahora commented. “I know I’ll have a fine group of girls, both athletically and academically, to work with.

“As far as basketball is concerned, I’m just going to have to see the girls play before I make any decisions.

“At this time, it would be impossible for me to say what kind of offenses or defenses I plan to use or if I’m going to make any major changes. I’m just going to have to evaluate all of the girls and then proceed from there,” he explained.

With all of Tolan’s success, including a 20-12 record and a trip to the state title game last year when she had just one senior on the team, Zahora knows what is expected of the Marian Fillie basketball program.

“I realize it’s a great challenge,” he said. “But I accept challenges and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Zahora isn’t the only one who will be facing a challenge, however. Tolan, who helped make Marian’s program one of the most respected in the state of Pennsylvania, will be taking over a team that had an 0-16 record a year ago. Immaculate Heart Academy, an all-girls school, is a member of the Bergen County League and is Class AA in enrollment.

“It doesn’t bother me that the team didn’t win a game last year. I consider it a challenge,” Tolan stated. “I told the principal not to expect miracles next year, but within four or five years I hope to have established a competitive program.

“The school has been very receptive to my requests. They have already changed the starting time of their games (from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.) for next season and instead of playing the varsity games first and then the JV games, they have switched it so that the JV’s will play first.”

Tolan said that since Immaculate Heart is an academy, it draws over 700 students from close to 60 different towns.

“Hopefully, we will be able to build a solid program so some of the better athletes will want to come here and play ball. Right now, the school had about 10 varsity sport teams and the basketball team was the only one that had a losing record.”

Tolan mentioned the new challenge that the position will bring as one of her reasons for leaving Marian.

“I feel I’ve accomplished just about everything I possibly could’ve at Marian,” she explained. “When I started here, we had one ball and only practiced on Saturdays and Sundays.

“But the hard work, effort and dedication of all the girls who played for me have helped make girls basketball in general and Marian girls basketball in particular looked up to across the state.”