Resolution 080582

..Title Recognizing the Accomplishments of the Basketball, Cross Country/Track and Field and Tennis Teams at Community College of Philadelphia. ..Body WHEREAS, Community College of Philadelphia has an excellent athletics program, in which the men's basketball team has won two consecutive state championships, the men's and women's cross country track teams have won statewide awards and the tennis team captured its first Pennsylvania Collegiate Athletic Association Championship in 2007 and was runner-up in 2008; and WHEREAS, The Colonials cross country/track and field, tennis and men's basketball teams at Community College of Philadelphia continue to distinguish themselves as champions in their leagues and encourage individual athletes to excel in academics and as athletes; and WHEREAS, 2006, 2007 and 2008 will go down as some of the best years in history for the College's coaches and sports teams, all of them bringing home more than their share of championships and accolades; and WHEREAS, Rogers Glispy, assistant director of athletics and coach of the men's and women's cross country and track teams, and Ephener Green, assistant coach, received the Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2005 and 2006 and again in 2007 alongside assistant coaches El'Phant Eure and Robert Taylor; and WHEREAS, Glispy and Green also received two consecutive Pennsylvania Collegiate Athletic Association Coach of the Year Awards after the men's team won their second PCAA State Championship and the women's team won their third; and WHEREAS, The men's and women's cross country teams celebrated another championship season in 2007, going undefeated in league competition to win the PCAA State Championships; and WHEREAS, Not only did they win every 2007 meet as a team, but then freshmen standouts Pamela Alva and Alex Bernier earned Runner of the Year Awards; and WHEREAS, The men's basketball team, not to be outdone, capped its undefeated 2006-2007 season with an unprecedented win over Beaver County Community College in Pittsburgh to capture the PCAA junior college championship. The College's men's basketball team retained the state championship in 2008 by defeating Beaver County again - this time in Philadelphia; and WHEREAS, The victories made men's basketball coach Robert "Dondi" DeShields the first African-American coach to win the state basketball title - not once, but twice; and WHEREAS, No college basketball coach in Philadelphia can match Coach DeShields winning 58-10 record over the last two years; and WHEREAS, The tennis team served up an equally outstanding performance capturing its second statewide doubles title and fifth singles championship in the PCAA men's competition; and WHEREAS, Community College of Philadelphia draws students from a wide range of ages and backgrounds, and seeks to provide a coherent foundation from which they can achieve their goals; now it is therefore RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, To commend Community College of Philadelphia for its outstanding athletics program. FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the Community College of Philadelphia. ..End