The sports banquets at JC usually honor the achievements of the student-athletes, but the Winter-Spring 2009-2010 Sports Banquet also honored a faculty member at our school who has been around for 46 years.
Gym and Health teacher Adolph Pons has been at JC since the beginning—June 19, 1964, when the school was called John Carroll High. Pons was the school’s first athletic director, although he doesn’t take credit for setting the standard. “Not myself personally, I was just proud to be part of a team,” Pons said.
“Not many students or faculty get that experience of starting a new school,” Pons said. “Our teams were successful from the beginning. We had terrific managers, we had everything—everyone played a part, and we all worked together.”
Pons coached 17 years of basketball and 200 games, and the team won three MSA championships under his leadership.
According to Pons, the school had some of the “best facilities back in the day. We were the first school in the area to have basketball hoops with a glass backboard,” said Pons.
In 1970, Coach Ed Miller led the men’s lacrosse team to win the championship for the first time. “By any measure, our successes are extraordinary,” Pons said. “It’s amazing what the current teams have done and how many teams we’ve had.”
Pons will start another chapter in his life after the 2009-2010 school year. Although he is leaving, he will take the many memories he has collected through the years with him when he goes.
Pons doesn’t have one single best memory but has many great memories. “They’re all good memories,” he said. “Even some of the bad memories have become good ones,” said Pons. “I will cherish them for a long time.”
“My life is not going to change a whole lot [after leaving JC],” he said. “Everything will stay pretty much the same.” However, Pons is looking forward to his freed time to spend with his family.
Pons is proud to be part of the athletic department at JC. “It is not about me, it’s about the team—the big picture—I’m just lucky enough to be here,” Pons said.
Elizabeth Tauber can be reached for comment at [email protected].