O’Connor honored by alma mater
Photos: Eleanor Bailey/ The Almanac
Ben O’Connor (center) was honored recently by his alma mater. The former Bethel Park basketball coach and Collier Township resident is pictured with Keystone Oaks players, who will benefit from an award in his name. The O’Connor Golden Eagle Award will be distributed annual to the player that demonstrates leadership, teamwork and unselfishness.
Gee Bogden and Ben O’Connor look at photos from a book compiled during the span he coached a girls’ metro basketball club. Bogden was one of the players on his teams.
Major League Baseball’s loss was Western Pennsylvania basketball’s gain in 1998, and 25 years later Ben O’Connor’s career has come full circle. At 46 and semi-retired from coaching, he is beginning to reap rewards from his athletic endeavors.
For example, on Jan. 6 his high school alma mater established an award in his honor. The first O’Connor Golden Eagle Award was distributed at Keystone Oaks High School prior to a game against Seton LaSalle.
Ian Barrett, who attended the high school across the street, and Aidan Barett were the recipients. Ian is a coach and Aidan a team manager for the Golden Eagles.
With the blessing of the administration, Gary Goga instituted the honor, which is to be given annually to the player demonstrating leadership, teamwork and unselfishness.
Goga was hired in May of 2021 to coach the Golden Eagles after having spent 15 years at Peters Township and one season as an assistant at Bethel Park, where O’Connor once coached. During Goga’s tenure, the Indians won a WPIAL title in 2009 and compiled a 172-179 record.
“Ben and I have been friends for two decades,” Goga said. “He has done a lot for kids, especially my players. They grew up with Ben being the one that first got them into basketball. We are grateful to him for that and what he has done for KO.”
Goga added that the team, program and administration wanted to do its part to recognize someone special that bleeds Black and Gold – the school’s colors.
A 1994 KO graduate, O’Connor was an 1,000-point scorer for the Golden Eagles. An Almanac boys’ basketball MVP, he went on to excel in that sport as well as baseball at Westminster College. After three years of competing in two varsity-level sports, O’Connor transferred to Duquesne University in a “last-ditch” effort to pursue his dream of being drafted by a MLB team.
“Wasn’t meant to be,” O’Connor said. “In a strange way though it led me to where I am today. I never looked back and never pitched a baseball again.”
Instead, at the tender age of 21, O’Connor dove into his career as a guidance counselor and head basketball coach. He is in his 20th year of education having spent two years at Bethel Park and the last 18 at Fox Chapel. After four years as head coach at KO, he left to earn a masters degree at Westminster and served as an assistant coach for the Titans. After a four-year varsity coaching stint at Fox Chapel, he spent six seasons as head coach at BP.
O’Connor forged his friendship with Goga long before he arrived at BP. The pair met informally while playing basketball against each other as seventh-grade, middle-school students. They continued to be rivals as coaches. O’Connor served as an assistant under Johnny Lee at Baldwin while Goga was on staff at Upper St. Clair under Danny Holzer in the early 2000s. When Goga got the job at Peters Township, O’Connor coached the Foxes.
“We just slowly began to create a coaching frienship and rivalry. When I went over to Bethel Park, it just grew,” said O’Connor. “I think we just understood each other and in our section battles in front of crazed student sections, we gained an appreciation for each other.”
The coaches conferred, traded texts, shared stories and grappled with game plans. Goga even gave O’Connor his Walking Dead series of DVDs. They were supporters ever since.
O’Connor recalled one of his fondest memory of his foe and friend. It was his last season at Bethel Park and the Black Hawks were playing McKeesport at Baldwin in the WPIAL playoffs.
“I’ll never forget,” O’Connor said. “Gary was there with his father. Both were dressed in BP gear, cheering and rooting for me and his alma mater.
“I also respected Gary and his energy for the kids and the game of basketball. He is a hard person to not like.”
As he worked the gym on his special recognition night, one could tell O’Connor, too, was well liked. He was showered with love not just from the scholastic world but by the many people he touched throughout his career as a coach and counselor.
KO has always been a special place for O’Connor. He said it gave him a platform to start his life in many ways. He never truly left or said goodbye. He always kept coming back as his role evolved.
Before he built a home in Collier Township and moved into the Chartiers Valley School District in 2020, O’Connor lived on Philadelphia Street, a stone’s throw from Dormont Stadium and a short drive from the high school.
He and his wife, Aimee, are raising three athletic children. Delaney played on CV’s WPIAL and PIAA runner-up basketball team as a freshman. As a sophomore, she is expected to help the Lady Colts on the softball diamond as a pitcher. A seventh grader, Donovan is the quarterback of the middle school football team. He also plays basketball and baseball. Tenley is a sixth-grade middle school student.
O’Connor helped coach some of the current KO ninth- and 10th-grade players in the community’s youth programs. They were second and third graders when they first met. He also coached a girls metro basketball club from 2016-2020. That organization presented him with a memory book. Inside it expressed gratitude saying how O’Connor would remain with them “like a handprint on our hearts” and that a truly great coach is hard to find, difficult to part with and impossible to forget.
“It was a very, very special night,” O’Connor said. “I owe Gary and KO a lot for providing a washed-up coach like me an opportunity to come back to where I started as a student athlete, where I started as a coach, and where I started my life as a dad. The night meant more to me than anyone will ever know.”
O’Connor added that he is anxious to repay Goga for the sentimental journey.
“I’ll make him cry one day the way he got me to when I got chocked up in the locker room before the game saying a few words of encouragement to the players and when they gave me the award. I appreciate him, Mark Elphinstone (athletic director) and the boosters for providing me and my family a memory I’ll never forget.”
When the Keystone Oaks varsity boys’ basketball coach opened in 2021, Gary Goga called Ben O’Connor for advice. O’Connor is one of KO’s most prestigious former players.
Shortly after the discussion, Goga applied for the position. He was hired immediately.
“Keystone Oaks hit the jackpot hiring Gary as a coach,” O’Connor said. “If someone were to put together a very short list of who would be the best candidates to turn the program around, Gary would easily be at the top of that list.”
In 15 seasons, Goga turned Peters Township into a winner. The Indians won 172 games and a WPIAL championship in 2009.
After an 11-11 campaign last year, the Golden Eagles are 2-2 in section and 5-6 overall this season.
“The goals are to build something that lasts, something that people care about and something that brings the community together,” Goga said. “We want the program to be strong and something that the players care about and have pride in.
“We are on our way to doing that. We just have to take it day to day. Every day we just have to keep getting better.”
Goga has settled into his role and is as happy as he was while guiding his charges at PT.
“I has great years and work with awesome people at Peters Township. I have nothing but good memories from there,” he said.
“Here at KO, it’s going fantastic so far. I love it. Everyone has been great. There are great people here, the kids are awesome and the community and the parents have been very supportive.
“We’re just trying to build something special here.”