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Just the latest obstacle

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BERWICK — Building the Berwick boys basketball program from laughingstock to district finalist in just five years took long hours and hard work from coach Jason Kingery.

But Kingery, who has led the Bulldogs into Friday’s District 2 Class AAA final against Scranton Prep, is no stranger to hard work — or enduring things harder than losing basketball games.

Kingery went through much of his life without his parents and was raised in Madison, W. Va., by his widowed maternal grandmother, who did everything she could with limited resources to provide for Kingery and his older brother Tom.

When Kingery was 2, he lost his father to a house fire. When he was 4, his mother died of cancer. Kingery quickly learned to do things without a lot of money and with a proper work ethic.

Kingery didn’t know his father, and the only memory he has of his mother was her year-long fight with cancer. His grandmother filled both parents’ roles, and he credits her for getting him to this point in life.

“She taught me the importance of having a work ethic,” Kingery said. “Everything I have in life, I’ve had to work for, and she instilled that lesson in me.”

Those lessons carried him through college, where he got a degree in elementary and special education at West Virginia and an athletic administration degree from Virginia Commonwealth, as well as through 18 years of coaching high school basketball.

His grandmother also helped him grow as a coach, allowing him to become a standout in both basketball and football.

“My grandmother, right until she died 11 years ago, remembers me doing diagrams and drawing up plays for West Virginia (basketball) growing up,” Kingery said. “In the eighth grade, I knew I wanted to grow up and coach.”

Though he always understood basketball, his passion when he was younger was football.

Kingery played football through high school and was actually better at football than basketball. His talents on the gridiron did get him looked at by some colleges, but instead he went to West Virginia and played four years of rugby with the hopes of coaching football upon graduating.

Kingery did coach football for 12 years as a defensive coordinator and special teams coach, but his love for basketball has taken him to five schools in four states over 18 years.

Before turning Berwick around, Kingery had a knack for doing such at other schools.

In his first gig at West Lincoln High School in Lincolnton, N.C., Kingery took a program that was winless in its last 66 games and led it to 30 wins in three years. He followed that up by becoming the first coach hired at Hanover High School in Richmond, Va., where he had to play against established programs despite his team having no juniors or seniors.

The team had won 16 games by his second year, and he led the program to a state championship berth within five years. He also coached Portland Trail Blazers forward Ed Davis during his tenure there.

Kingery moved on to King William in Virginia for one year, where he also served as athletic director before returning to his alma mater, Scott High School in West Virginia.

Kingery met his wife Maria while coaching at Hanover, and the two of them got married and had two sons, Mason and Axton.

Kingery credits Maria for much of his success, saying she’s never questioned the long hours he puts into the job. But Kingery could tell she was tired of all the moving and raising two boys while both of them also worked as teachers.

So Kingery came to a decision. He told Maria that if any coaching positions were available near her hometown of Berwick, he would apply. A few months later, the Berwick job opened, and in June 2011, he got the position, allowing him to move his family.

Kingery walked into a mess. He was the program’s 18th coach in 30 years — and 11th in 17 years — to attempt to turn around a program that had not had a winning season since 1997, and had gone 4-64 in the three years before he was hired.

Kingery brought energy and a rigid routine. He focuses on fundamentals, like being on the court at 2:50 p.m. sharp, then doing free throws until 3:05.

But he’s also picked up superstitions along the way.

Kingery is known for chewing grape gum and carrying around a yellow index card with a new inspirational quote or message he writes every week.

He doesn’t allow any player to wear the No. 13. His players claim there’s more his dislike of that number, but he won’t tell them until they graduate.

Senior forward Tyler Evans remembers asking Kingery for a piece of gum and being refused because Kingery said it was bad luck.

Senior guard Max Melito remembers Kingery yelling at the team at halftime for a lack of hustle. During the rant, Kingery accidently spit out his gum, looked at it, picked it up, put it back in his mouth and said it was, “the best damn gum I’ve ever had.”

Despite the routines and superstitions, things did not turn around as quickly as Kingery would have liked.

In his third year in 2013, the Bulldogs went 2-20. Things looked so bleak, the school board considered firing him — what had been a typical pattern for the board and its basketball coaches.

“There were people that didn’t like him and were against him,” Melito said. “He came and told us he wasn’t sure if he’d be the coach because he wasn’t sure if they wanted to keep him.”

“He could’ve walked away after that, but he stuck with us. He told us he doesn’t care about the overall record, and that he loves each and every one of us. He saw the bigger picture, the potential in the future, and it’s paying off.”

The result is Berwick playing in its first district championship game since 1980, when it was in District 4.

Evans, who under Kingery’s watch became Berwick’s all-time leading scorer, credits Kingery for resurrecting Berwick.

“Coach Kingery has everything to do with the turnaround,” Evans said. “After a tough loss, he’d stay in the locker room for however long he needed to break down film and see what went wrong. There were times he wouldn’t go home after practice or games, and stay overnight, ordering takeout. He does all of that to make us smile. I’m thankful for all that he does.”

Melito and Evans are the only two seniors that played all four years under Kingery. They recall when he first arrived and demanded their best.

“I was in eighth grade and we had a pretty good season, making it to the championship game,” Melito said. “We were talking about that game, and Kingery said, ‘That’s BS, you were playing against some of the worst eighth graders. The good ones were called up.’ He didn’t want us to be complacent, and he demanded. A few left and a few stayed with it. Those that stayed, we’re here because of it.”

But Kingery and his assistants are looking for sustained success, not a one-year run. Kingery is also in charge of the Berwick youth league, and sees bright days ahead.

“We have over 100 kids in the youth program. I see the future going... steady and continue to get better,” Kingery said. “Berwick is a sports town and they like to win. It means a lot to me to give them something they could be proud of.”

Link to story: 
https://www.pressenterpriseonline.com/daily/022516/page/9/story/just-the-latest-obstacle