School: Souderton
Basketball
Favorite athlete: Kobe Bryant
Favorite team: Duke
Favorite memory competing in sports: “Beating Reading in the state playoffs last year.”
Music on iPod: Lil’ Wayne, Ludacris
Future plans: College, basketball
Words to live by: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
One goal before turning 30: “I would like to be coaching basketball somewhere.”
Jim Connolly can flat out shoot the basketball.
But the Souderton senior wasn’t content to simply be known as a scorer. Not by a long shot.
Connolly also wanted to be a standout defender and asked his coach for the chance to shut down the opposing team’s best player.
“Jim came to me at the end of last year and said, ‘I want that responsibility next year too,’” coach Perry Engard recalls. “I thought, ‘So now you have to lead us in scoring and then want to defend the other team’s best player?’
“At that point, I realized he really is a notch above anything we have had. I love all the players who have played here, but more than one person has said to me recently that we may have just watched the best player to ever play at Souderton. It could very well be true.”
Connolly recently made a verbal commitment to accept a full basketball scholarship to play at Philadelphia University.
“For Jim, I’m glad because he’s earned it, and he deserves it,” Engard said.
At Philly U, Connolly will be playing with Pennsbury’s standout guard, Eddie DiRugeris.
“They’re going to be a nice combination,” Engard said. “Jim does the work. It’s not like he stands there and calls for the ball. He runs all over the floor to try and get open.
“Having a coach like Herb Magee who’s known as a shooting coach, they’re going to do exciting things together the next four years. He’s a perfect fit.”
Just as Connolly was a perfect fit since he stepped onto the court at Souderton as a sophomore. The gifted guard transferred back the week before the season started after spending a year-plus at LaSalle.
“The travel time and the commute from here to LaSalle every day - some days it would be quick, and some days the traffic would build up, and it would take 50 minutes,” Connolly said. “I couldn’t drive, so my parents had to do it every day, and it got to be a lot.”
The transition to Souderton was effortless since Connolly attended Souderton through middle school.
“I knew everyone really well,” he said. “Coming back – it was nice to be back with my friends I grew up with playing basketball.”
Engard - who had coached Jim’s older brother Mike and now coaches his younger brothers Kyle and Ryan - knew he had inherited a special talent.
“He had the respect of his peers, specifically the older players,” Engard said. “When older players are talking about a (younger) player being special, that’s really something because that’s usually a rite of passage.”
Connolly was in the starting lineup of an Indian squad that advanced to the district’s final four and earned its first ever berth in the state tournament.
“He earned it right from the get-go,” Engard said. “When Jim came to us, he was a shooter, but he continued to work on his game.
“You can’t just go from one level and add another tool and another tool just by playing during the season. It’s not anything we’re taking any credit for. Jim pushed himself, not only throughout the season but during the offseason. He came back stronger each year.”
As a junior, Connolly, according to Engard, became more of a complete scorer, finishing off the break with authority. As a senior, Connolly upped his game by becoming the Indians’ shutdown defender.
“Being a captain this year, I wanted to come out and be the best leader I could be and do what I could to help the team win,” he said. “If that meant guarding the other team’s best player, that’s what I was going to do.”
Connolly was averaging 19.7 points a game prior to rolling his ankle late in the season. He was sidelined for four games and then eased his way back into the lineup.
“He came back in the Quakertown game, and we were down by 12 or 13 in the second half, and he hits three bombs from 25 feet,” Engard said. “He looked over at the bench – ‘I’m back. We’re not going to lose this game.’”
The Indian went on to earn a 72-64 overtime win. Connolly had 19 points.
Souderton fell to Chester in the second round of districts, this despite 23 points from Connolly.
The Indians’ season ended in a consolation game loss to Bayard Rustin, but it had been quite a career for the senior sharpshooter, who surpassed the 1,000-point plateau this year. A first team all-league recipient, Connolly also received a prestigious Markward Award, but talk to the senior star, and he is reluctant to talk about his accomplishments.
“The last three years have been great,” Connolly said. “I’ve played on some great teams. The teammates I’ve had have been awesome.
“The success we’ve had couldn’t have been done without the players we’ve had. Everyone contributed over the years. We won some big games and some memorable ones. I’ve just had a fun time playing with the kids I did and with the coaches as well.”
***
Connolly came by his love of basketball honestly. His father, Mo, was a standout player at Father Judge and later at LaSalle. His mother Terri also played, so it was hardly surprising that Jim grew up with a basketball in his hands.
“As long as I can remember, I have always been playing basketball with my dad,” Connolly said. “He would coach CYO when my brothers and I were real young, and we would always go to practices and play.
“I don’t know how good I was right away, but from playing all my life, it’s something you get better at. All of us have always loved basketball. We love talking about it, and we love playing.”
Connolly also played football and baseball. He dropped baseball after eighth grade and football one year later, opting to invest his time and energy in basketball instead.
The payoff has been a scholarship that will pay for his education. An excellent student, Connolly chose Philly U over a list that included Chestnut Hill, West Chester, Kutztown and Ursinus. He is undecided on a major but leaning toward business.
Connolly is looking forward to playing under legendary coach Herb Magee.
“That definitely came into play,” he said. “He’s one of the best shooting coaches there is, and he can help me progress as a player.
“It’s definitely a relief and exciting at the same time to know where you’re going and to be at a place where they’ve had so much success under coach Magee. I’m definitely excited about going there next year and being a part of the team.”
Ask Connolly for a personal highlight, and he immediately points to Souderton’s 66-58 upset of previously undefeated Reading in an opening round state playoff game last year at Garden Spot High School. It was the program’s first ever win in the state tournament.
“That’s definitely the most memorable game I have ever played in – I think a lot of players on our team would say that,” Connolly said. “It was a long bus ride out there. It was a big gym, and every seat was filled, and they all seemed to be Reading fans.
“The environment was so loud. We knew they were 30-0 and one of the top teams in the state. We just came out and hung around the whole game. In the end, they missed shots, and we made foul shots. I remember it like it was yesterday.”
Connolly, who had 24 points, combined with teammate Ronnie Benson to score 50 of Souderton’s points. He was 8-for-8 from the foul line down the stretch. A big-game player, Connolly averaged 21 PPG during the post-season last year, seven points more than his regular season scoring average.
“He rose to the occasion,” Engard said. “He’s such a team player. He didn’t go play Sonny Hill and AAU in the summer. He stayed and played with the team. That hurt him a little bit in the recruiting process, but it’s the kind of leader he is. He took his captain’s role seriously.
“A big part of why I have what I have coaching-wise is because of Jim Connolly. I’m not too proud to admit it. I think back to the phone call from Mo (Connolly) in November of ’06. That call changed a lot of things in the last three years.”
