A former star big man in the late 1970s at Burrell High School, Joey “Sonar” Myers has spent his entire life around the game of basketball.
Myers played in a WPIAL championship game his senior year at Burrell, losing to Beaver Falls in a heartbreaker, 55-54. He was an inaugural Post-Gazette Fab 5 selection in 1979, then scored more than 1,000 points at Duquesne and was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in 1983. Two of his daughters have played in WPIAL championship games, and all three of them have scored more than 1,000 points in high school.
After all these years, though, it’s safe to say he has never experienced a weekend quite like this past one.
“My wife was saying yesterday — ‘What a weekend,’” Myers said. “It was amazing.”
First, on Friday night, his youngest daughter, Tess, became one of a select few players in WPIAL history to start — and win — four championship games when North Catholic defeated Southmoreland, 61-44, in the WPIAL Class 4A championship game at Petersen Events Center. Tess scored 13 points in the historic win.
Among the thousands of fans watching in the stands that night was Highlands senior guard Korry Myers — Joey’s nephew and Tess’s cousin. The next afternoon, Korry would get his first chance to play in the same arena after falling short in the WPIAL semifinals each of the past two seasons.
After Belle Vernon jumped out to an early lead in the Class 4A boys championship game Saturday afternoon, Korry caught fire. He knocked down six 3-pointers en route to an 18-point effort as the Rams beat the Leopards, 72-54, to capture their first WPIAL championship in 25 years.
There was Joey, watching proudly from the stands. As for Tess? She was sitting with Korry’s younger sister down by the court — although she had a bit of trouble staying in her seat.
“We’re so close in age, and being able to accomplish this our senior year was really special,” Tess said. “Saturday I was able to get floor seats and I was cheering like crazy. People were laughing at me because I was running back and forth. It was really exciting.”
Tess and Joey couldn’t stick around long after the game, though. About 55 miles away in Indiana, Pa., IUP’s No. 8-ranked women’s basketball team was getting ready to celebrate its senior night.
There, at 5:30 p.m., Natalie Myers — Tess’ sister — would be playing in the final home game of her college career.
“As soon as [Korry’s] game was over, we gave him a quick hug and everything, and then we were on our way to IUP for her senior night,” Tess said. “That was really special, too, just being there with her. I’ve always looked up to her and my older sister Taylor on and off the court, so that was kind of emotional to see that her playing time is coming to an end, but she’s had such an impact on me.
“I wouldn’t miss that for the world.”
Natalie scored 13 points and grabbed eight boards in the Crimson Hawks’ 68-48 win against Pitt-Johnstown to improve to 26-2 on the season, and the Myers family capped off an incredible weekend none of them will be forgetting any time soon.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Joey said. “Memories for the rest of our lives and their lives.”
Last year, Tess joined her older sisters Natalie and Taylor as 1,000-point scorers, making them only the third known trio of same-sex siblings to accomplish the feat in WPIAL history. After leading the Trojanettes to the 2019 WPIAL title and a trip to the PIAA championship game, Tess became the family’s second Fab 5 selection, 40 years after her father made the original team.
Now that she has gone four-for-four in the district by helping North Catholic win its record 20th WPIAL title, there’s only one thing left for Tess to accomplish before she moves on to play for Duquesne in the fall — win a state title. It won’t be easy, but the Trojanettes have nearly every key contributor back from last year’s team that made it all the way to the title game in Hershey.
And if last weekend is any indication, it wouldn’t be wise to bet against a Myers.
Steve Rotstein: srotstein@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SteveRotstein.
First Published: March 4, 2020, 11:30 a.m.
