In 1990, Dobbins Tech basketball coach Rich Yankowitz holds up a photo of one of his teams that included Bo Kimble (32) and Hank Gathers (24).
In 1990, Dobbins Tech basketball coach Rich Yankowitz holds up a photo of one of his teams that included Bo Kimble (32) and Hank Gathers (24).

By Rick O’Brien (Inquirer Staff Writer)

In the fall of 1969, when he arrived at Murrell Dobbins Tech, 22d and Lehigh Streets, Rich Yankowitz became the latest “White Shadow” to coach athletics at one of Philadelphia’s predominantly black public high schools.

And like Ken Reeves, the fictitious basketball boss at Los Angeles’ Carver High in the 1978-81 television series of that name, Yankowitz, then 26, became exposed to an often dangerous and chaotic urban environment: a basketball hotbed for some, a dead-end street for others.

Yankowitz, an Overbrook High graduate, was the right man for the job. Known as “Yank,” he saw just about everything while walking the hallways inside Dobbins and reaching out to his players on the impoverished, bleak-looking North Philly landscape, but he had the thick skin to handle the turmoil and instability that the school’s teenagers faced.

Yankowitz, 66, retired four years ago after 40 years of service in the Philadelphia School District. The health and physical education teacher was Dobbins’ varsity basketball coach for 34 years. He also coached baseball, soccer, cross-country, and track and field.

“With the kids, I tried to make positive changes in them,” Yankowitz said. “But the thing about it is, I grew up and learned as much as they did. I got a better understanding of life and people.”

For Yankowitz, who compiled a 486-269 record with the Mustangs and is the winningest basketball coach in Public League history, his job was anything but the 9-to-5 variety…Read Entire Article Here