Five hundred wins cannot begin to quantify the impact William Wells has made on countless students at St. Frances Academy.
In his 28th season as head boys basketball coach at Baltimore City?s oldest private school, Wells, 62, has won 501 games since joining the Baltimore Catholic League in 1986 ? earning No. 500 with a 58-52 win Sunday at Calvert Hall.
“He?s a role model because he?s been around for a long time. He?s a great person,” senior guard Sean Mosley said. “Winning 500 games, it means a lot. I know he?s trying to hold it in, but he should be proud of himself and the teams that got him to 500.”
Mosley, who will play for Maryland next season, is the star of Wells? team, but the program today is nothing like the one Wells started as a Catholic Youth Organization squad in 1979.
Those teams had to walk to practices ? at times as far as 20 minutes away.
“We had to walk to Madison Square Recreation Center, and try to get home on the bus before it was too late,” said Devin Gray, a 1991 St. Frances graduate who starred at Clemson. “He tried to do everything he could to make it reasonable for us.”
Today, the Panthers play in a 7-year-old gym adjacent to an aging school just off the Jones Falls Expressway.
Wells, who is known as a laid-back coach ? he?s earned just one technical foul in his entire career ? was coy when asked about the significance of the milestone.
“I?m really happy that I accomplished this, but moreso than anything, I have to give the credit to the Oblate Sisters [of Providence], who gave me a chance to be a high school coach,” Wells said. “Knowing that I was here to witness the milestones of guys that went off to college, its been a really mind-blowing thing. It makes you feel that you?ve done something positive.”
Wells accepted a part-time coaching position with the school ? founded by the Oblate Sisters of Providence in 1828 ? when approached by then-president Sister Rita Michelle in 1978. Wells began the boys program in 1979, and initially coached the boys? and girls? teams.
The Panthers played in the Christian Youth Organization from 1979-85, with Wells going 100-36 in the Sunday league, and compiling a 37-23 record in interscholastic play. In 28 years with the boys program, Wells is 626-358.
Wells? most productive years were from 1994-97, when, led by current assistant coach and former college and professional standout Mark Karcher, the Panthers went a combined 91-15, winning three BCL championships and claming two Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament titles in three trips.
Wells has been “contacted a couple times” about leaving St. Frances ? including overtures from Frostburg, Shepherd (W.Va.) and several small colleges in Pennsylvania.
But Wells remains at St. Frances, continuing to impact the lives of countless inner-city boys.
“I get a real joy out of helping the kids ? seeing that they go to class and they pass,” Wells said. “That?s when you know you?re doing the right thing, when you see them go off to college, and then come back and say, ?Thank you.? That?s really letting you know that you really meant something.”
Karcher, who was raised by his grandparents in East Baltimore, is the perfect image of a William Wells reclamation project.
“Coach, honestly, was a father figure to me at an early age,” Karcher said. “I didn?t realize it until I went to Temple, but he was motivating me indirectly. I?m willing to do whatever for Coach, because without him and [school president] Sister John Francis, there?s no telling where I would have been.”
12th ANNUAL BASKETBALL ACADEMY
» The 12th Annual Mayor?s Basketball Academy will be held today through Saturday at Morgan State?s Hill Field House. A dozen local boys teams will compete, including: City, Digital Harbor, Douglass, Dunbar, Glen Burnie, Lake Clifton, Mervo, New Town, Parkville, Randallstown, St. Frances and Walbrook. For more information, visit www.bballacademy.com.
