Former players, colleagues and students of longtime Penn Manor coach and gym teacher Harry Frey packed the high school gymnasium December 6 to mark its renaming in honor of Coach Frey, who died December 9.
Frey, 84, taught physical education for 41 years at Penn Manor and spent 30 years coaching the Comets’ mens’ and womens’ basketball, mens’ soccer and baseball teams.
He was unable to make the ceremony, held between the girls’ and boys’ basketball games, but his wife, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren were in attendance. Harry’s wife, Faye, and great grandchildren Scarlett and Christian Breneman walked onto the gym floor to accept the honor on his behalf.
Also on hand was Wally Walker, a member of 1971 and ’72 Comets teams, coached by Frey, that won league titles. Several other members of those teams were in the stands.
Coach Frey “pushed us beyond levels which we didn’t know we had,” Walker told the crowd, as Harry listened in from home via cellphone. “No matter how hard we worked, it was always fun.”
Walker went on to play in the NBA, winning championships with the Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle SuperSonics.
Superintendent Dr. Phil Gale listed Coach Frey’s many accomplishments at Penn Manor, where he was a member of the soccer, basketball, and baseball teams and was named First Team All-County in basketball and soccer.
Frey was hired as a gym teacher in 1962, beginning a 41-year teaching career, 40 of them as a high school PE teacher.
He coached the JV boys basketball team from 1963 to 1966 and the boys’ varsity basketball team from 1966 to 1978. Frey also coached the girls’ varsity basketball team from 1980 to 1985, and coached soccer and baseball.
After his boys’ basketball teams were named County Champions in 1971 and ‘72, Frey was named Coach of the Year in 1972. His 1984 girls’ team won the LL League Championship.
In 2004, Frey was inducted into the Susquehanna Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
Congratulations to Coach Frey on this latest honor!
