Leave it to the Martellis to make Penn State-Michigan at the Palestra a true Philly affair

Jimmy Martelli had just settled into his new office at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center in April when he received a call from his father Phil, the longtime head coach of St. Joseph’s and a current Michigan associate head coach.

The Nittany Lions’ previous coaching regime, then led by Micah Shrewsberry, had scheduled a game against the Wolverines at The Palestra in Philadelphia. Phil wanted to clarify that was still the plan under first-year Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades.

“Hey, you better make sure that game still happens,” Phil told Jimmy, who took matters into his own hands.

The two will coach against each other at noon on Sunday. Why?

Despite being a legend inside St. Joseph’s Hagan Arena, the Palestra has always been Phil’s playground.

That was the case when Phil and his elementary school buddies took the trolley down for Big Five basketball games on Friday and Saturday nights in the 1960s. It remained that way in 2004 when Phil stepped onto the floor, looked around, and reflected near the end of the Hawks’ historic 30-2 season.

Phil’s return to The Palestra won’t necessarily be about the game’s outcome. It’s all about memories, and he’s just grateful to share another with his son.

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“I can remember being a kid and looking around and not knowing,” said Phil. “I was always thinking in the back of my head, what if a kid is sitting up there that wants to be the next Phil Martelli? It chills me to know that we will walk with the greatest who’s ever done this on Sunday.”

Jimmy followed a similar path as a kid, attending doubleheaders and throwing streamers onto the court after the first basket by each team, the stands split in half by team color.

Phil took note from members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, such as former St. Joseph’s coach Jack Ramsay and Harry Litwack of Temple. Jimmy, meanwhile, learned from his father while witnessing all-time greats such as LeBron James make their mark in the historic venue.

“That’s what college basketball was about. It was about The Palestra on a Saturday afternoon,” Jimmy said. “It could be 10 degrees outside but it was always hot in there.”

Sunday won’t mark the first game at The Palestra between Phil and Jimmy. The two coached against each other in 2010 while Jimmy was an assistant at Rutgers and Phil remained in charge of the Hawks.

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That doesn’t mean the Martelli family, expected to turn out strong on Sunday, isn’t having fun with the matchup. Phil said his grandson is planning to wear a Penn State sock and a Michigan sock.

However, Phil’s wife, Judy, has pledged her loyalty to the Wolverines. She’ll wear a “different color of blue than she should be,” Jimmy said.

“There’s a lot of love in that family,” Rhoades said. “Coach [Phil] Martelli has been so good to college basketball. He’s what’s good about this game and about college coaching. To share the court with him is an honor for me and to have Jimmy on our side is great.”

Phil won 36 games at The Palestra over his 24-year tenure with St. Joseph’s. But those were only a fraction of the memories he made inside the 97-year-old arena.

Kids today are “babysat” by the internet, Phil said, the same way the previous generation was babysat by television. Phil’s babysitter? The Palestra — where his parents knew he was every weekend.

Sunday will be a full-circle moment for Phil as he greets his son in the building that carved his path to coaching greatness.

“I will greet my son with, ‘I love you and I’m proud of you’ and I will end the game with, ‘I love you and I’m proud of you’ — not based on who wins and loses,” Phil said.