La Salle walk-on Tommy Gardler rewarded with scholarship: ‘He just does everything right’

Tommy Gardler had a lab one day last week, so the walk-on to the men’s basketball team and biology major at La Salle had to miss practice. After class, though, he was called into the basketball facility for what he thought was going to be a film study.

“They tricked me,” Gardler said.

Second semester was beginning, and this wasn’t a regular practice session. At center court inside Tom Gola Arena, La Salle coach Fran Dunphy gathered the team in a circle. Gardler, who transferred to La Salle from the University of the Sciences ahead of the 2022-23 season, was getting a scholarship.

His teammates mobbed him and doused him in water.

“It didn’t hit me at first,” said Gardler, a Marple Newtown grad who did a prep year at The Phelps School. “I didn’t really believe what was going on.”

It hit him later that night, when La Salle assistant Joe Mihalich sent Gardler a text message that made the junior guard emotional.

“He’s just special to me,” Gardler said. “Coach Dunphy is really special to me. I transferred from a Division II school. We got bought by St. Joe’s.”

That merger between Sciences and St. Joe’s was a bit of a cruel, comedic twist for Gardler especially. His parents, Chris and Katie, played at St. Joe’s. So did his late grandfather, legendary Cardinal O’Hara coach Harry “Bud” Gardler. His older sister, Kenzie, played at rival Villanova.

» READ MORE: Jensen: Villanova’s Kenzie Gardler breaks family’s St. Joseph’s basketball tradition

The school that had given the Gardler family so much had briefly taken college basketball away from Tommy.

“I was looking for a landing spot, and Coach Dunphy really pulled through for me, gave me a chance,” he said. “I love it here. This team is my family.”

Because of his family’s history with basketball in the city, they know La Salle ended up being a perfect landing spot.

“My dad always says, ‘You hit the jackpot with who you’re learning under,’ ” Gardler said.

» READ MORE: Geno Auriemma on his first coach, Bud Gardler: ‘He didn’t deviate’

Dunphy said Gardler has been “the best teammate you can ever imagine having.”

“You’re looking at that and how do you reward somebody like that?” he said. “What can we do to make a statement that we want to say to him how valuable he is?

“He’s just a terrific young man and everything you can do for that kid you want to. ... He comes from a great family. He just does everything right. Love the guy.”

Gardler, who averaged 7.9 points in 23 games as a sophomore at Sciences, made four appearances last season with the Explorers. So far this season, Gardler has also made four appearances. His lone Division I points came earlier this season during a game vs. Division III Rosemont College just before the Christmas break. Gardler played 15 minutes during La Salle’s blowout win and made a pair of three-pointers on four attempts — both makes drawing a big reaction from the La Salle bench — to go with three assists, three rebounds, a steal, and a block.

“He’s not playing a lot of minutes, obviously, but he is of huge value to us because of the kind of person he is,” Dunphy said.

Gardler said he was taking out loans to attend La Salle, and getting on scholarship this semester was a big deal.

The excitement for him comes during a difficult stretch of basketball for the team. The Explorers lost their sixth game in the last seven Wednesday night vs. No. 16 Dayton, and the scholarship reveal and celebration came on the heels of La Salle’s loss at St. Joe’s (Gardler got in the game, fittingly, near the end).

It was a big night for him, life-changing in some ways, but Gardler, always thinking about the team, was done with the celebrating and ready to move on.

“When everybody celebrated and we were kind of closing things ... I said, ‘Now we got to bounce back.’ I think we will,” Gardler said. “I know we will. We were right there with Dayton. We just got to tighten a couple things, and we could be a really good team.

“It was an awesome feeling, but, yeah, just want to come every day and work hard and help these guys.”