At first, Jeff Gamber didn’t deviate from the speech.

His preseason pep talk in October about hard work and season goals had made Gamber the winningest coach in the Capital Athletic Conference over 35 seasons. Entering his 36th year, York (Pa.) College’s head coach made sure his players knew what it would take to earn his second CAC championship.

But after the normal preseason speech was over, Gamber also made sure his players knew something else. To the shock of his players, Gamber revealed this season would be his last.

‘The locker room was really quiet at first. I think some of us were stunned,’ senior forward Andrew Pawlyk said. ‘And we could all tell coach was getting choked up. It was an emotional day for everyone.’

Pawlyk said the Spartans players made a pact after that locker room revelation. After their coach’s speech, they met in the locker room and promised to send Gamber out a winner.

Sending their veteran coach out as a winner ended up being more important to the seniors than their own record, Pawlyk said. And five months after that pact was made, Gamber retired as the coach of the reigning CAC champions.

‘We were out there all season fighting for each other,’ Gamber said. ‘It’s amazing how we put it all together at the end.’

York battled back from a poor 7-7 record to extend its coach’s stay on the bench into the postseason. Gamber said he saw his players play enough good basketball to believe his team could turn its season around.

In a game against Hood College on Jan. 11, Gamber’s players proved him right. The Spartans trailed the Blazers by four points with 28 seconds left, but a quick layup by York’s Julian Watson cut into that lead. York forced a turnover, and then tied the game 61-61 with a layup by Mo Oursler.

Hood gave possession right back to the Spartans with an errant inbounds pass. York recovered on its own baseline, and Oursler found a cutting Paul Kouvaris for the winning layup.

‘We knew right there that we could start something,’ Kouvaris said. ‘And we won some games after that.’

Dean Gamber, Jeff’s son and York’s assistant coach, said he noticed a change in the Spartans after that victory. Players and coaches in the locker room both agreed to use that comeback win as a ‘building block,’ and they refocused their efforts for a postseason run during a six-game winning streak.

York’s postseason run overshadowed its regular-season winning streak. It began with a go-ahead 3-pointer by Watson with 16 seconds left in the opening round of the CAC tournament against Frostburg State University.

Dean Gamber said he was one of the few in the locker room who noticed his father break away from his normal routine to soak in his last CAC tournament moment.

‘Me and my mother were the only people that knew that he was enjoying himself,’ Dean Gamber said. ‘You could tell he was though, especially after those crazy moments that sealed wins at the end of games.’

Those crazy moments kept York’s head coach smiling during the tournament. Watson hit a jumper with 31 seconds left against top-seeded St. Mary’s College to put York ahead 59-58 in the semifinals. Kouvaris drained two free throws at the end to give Gamber a shot at his second conference title.

Against the University of Mary Washington in the tournament finals, York didn’t need any big comebacks or magical finishes to win the title 59-51. In his final season, the only storybook ending belonged to York’s veteran coach, Gamber.

‘We all wanted to send him out that way, and when we did, it was that much better,’ Pawlyk said. ‘You can’t define what it means to us players to be able to do that for our coach.’ 

The Spartans lost their opening-round game of the Division-III NCAA tournament, but Dean Gamber said that’s not the moment he’ll remember when he thinks back on York’s run.

Instead, he’ll remember his father cutting down the nets in his final CAC game after 36 seasons on the Spartans bench.

‘I’ll never forget the delighted look on his face as he cut those nets down,’ Dean Gamber said. ‘Our whole family, and that includes the basketball players, knows that moment is special.’

nctoney@syr.edu

Published on March 5, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Nick: nctoney@syr.edu | @nicktoneytweets