Ralphal ‘Rap’ Curry Jr., hall of fame basketball player and longtime athletic director at Penn Wood High School, has died at 51

Ralphal “Rap” Curry Jr., 51, of Upper Darby, hall of fame basketball player, former high school and college coach, teacher, community activist, and longtime athletic director for the William Penn School District in Delaware County, died Friday, July 21, of complications from a heart condition at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

Mr. Curry grew up playing basketball in Lansdowne and went on to become a premier player at Penn Wood High School and St. Joseph’s University. He was named the best high school boys’ basketball player in Pennsylvania by the Associated Press in 1990 and selected to college all-star teams after three of his four seasons at St. Joseph’s.

He was assistant men’s basketball coach at Widener University in the early 2000s and hired as head boys’ basketball coach at Penn Wood in 2003. He became athletic director for the school district in 2005 and was celebrated by colleagues, students, and parents for his passion for sports and tireless efforts to help everyone he encountered.

“Rap was a joyful and charismatic person who made an impact both on the court and in people’s lives,” Don DiJulia, former director of athletics at St. Joseph’s, said in a tribute. “He was the whole package: loyal, caring, and faith-filled.”

Mr. Curry was inducted into the St. Joseph’s men’s basketball hall of fame in 1999, the Big 5 basketball hall of fame in 2008, and the Delaware County athletes hall of fame in 2013. “He embodied what it was to be a hometown hero,” said his wife, Gina.

Away from athletics, Mr. Curry pursued an eclectic array of interests. He worked as a music producer with DJ Cash Money, DJ Miz, and others in the mid-1990s after college. He founded the Curry Real Estate Group in 2012 and served as his wife’s campaign manager and strategist for her successful 2021 election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

He was a one-on-one support teacher. He taught business classes. He sat on the Upper Darby Township Civil Service Commission and was active with community programs that addressed hunger, housing, jobs, education, and equal opportunities in Upper Darby, Yeadon, Lansdowne, Drexel Hill, and elsewhere.

“Rap was a remarkable player,” former St. Joseph’s coach John Griffin said, “but an even better leader and person.”

In 2019, Mr. Curry developed a partnership with a local sports broadcast company so that Penn Wood students interested in broadcast careers could gain firsthand experience before graduation. “The goal is to find your passion and find something around your passion that you can do for the rest of your life,” he told The Inquirer.

In February, he took part in a ceremonial groundbreaking to mark the redevelopment of Penn Wood’s Kerr Field, a project he championed as athletic director and nurtured to fruition. “He was always thinking about how to push the kids forward,” his wife said.

Ralphal Samuel Curry Jr. was born April 30, 1972, in Drexel Hill and grew up in Lansdowne. He shoveled snow off his backyard basketball court to practice at home and played soccer in the fall. He worked summer jobs and paid attention to what his mother and grandmother, both named Viola, told him.

“My concept was always about how can I raise myself and my family, and make myself better.”

At 9, his mother watched him dribble, pass, and shoot the basketball better than anyone else. At 15, he was 6-foot-2 and receiving so many college scholarship offers that his mother had to limit phone calls from coaches to weekends only. He outperformed older players in summer leagues and at blue-chip camps, and was selected to every high school all-star team while leading Penn Wood to the playoffs every year.

He scored his 1,000th high school point in 1989, pulled his mother out of the stands, and gave her the game ball. She cried. “Any success I’ve had has been as a result of her,” he told The Inquirer.

He earned a scholarship to St. Joseph’s and became one of the best point guards in team history. A serious injury to his left knee in 1991 scuttled plans to play in the pros after college. So he took his 1994 bachelor’s degree in business and went to work.

Mr. Curry met Gina Hackett at the St. Joseph’s student center in 1990. They never really agreed who approached whom first that day, his wife said, but they married in 2000. They lived in Upper Darby and had daughters Rylee and Rowan, and son Reed.

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Mr. Curry was a favorite interview of local media, and he told nostalgic stories of friends he played against and long-ago games he remembered. He was organized and planned family trips to Florida and Mexico. He was known for his work ethic, love of family, and service to his church.

“He fed his spirit,” his wife said. “We lived really hard and beautiful. He was my strategist. He was my best friend.”

In addition to his wife, children, and mother, Mr. Curry is survived by his father Ralphal Sr., a brother, a sister, and other relatives.

Visitation with the family is to be from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, July 30, at Batchelor Brothers Inc. Funeral Services, 3215 Garrett Rd., Drexel Hill, Pa. 19026, and 9 to 11 a.m. Monday, July 31, at St. Joseph’s Hagan Arena, 2450 N. 54th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19131. A service is to follow on Monday.