There’s more than one way to define “winning.”
The Dover boys’ basketball team, which recently concluded an 0-22 season, is this year’s Gretchen Wolf Swartz Sportsmanship Team Award winner on the boys’ side. This marks the first time a Dover program has received the coveted sportsmanship honor, which has been awarded annually since 2001. Dover’s boys won by a landslide, leading all programs in both first- and second-place votes.
On the girls’ side, the York Catholic program (10-2 in the YAIAA, 16-7 overall) was recognized for a second time, having first won the team award in 2012.
The winning programs are determined by a poll of members of the York Chapter of PIAA Basketball Officials. At the conclusion of each regular season, the officials vote to recognize a boys’ and girls’ program after observing the season-long conduct of YAIAA players, fans, faculty, students, managers, coaches and cheerleaders from junior high to varsity. Both winning programs receive a traveling trophy in recognition of their accomplishments.
In May, members of the Gretchen Wolf Swartz Scholarship Board will recognize some college-bound senior players from each team with scholarships. The Board has awarded $1.2 million in scholarships over 24 years. The winners will be announced at a later date.
Gretchen Wolf Swartz was a York County basketball official from 1981 to 1995. Following her untimely death from leukemia in 1997, her fellow officials created the memorial team awards and a scholarship fund to promote and honor the sportsmanship she so effectively displayed.