Jenkintown girls' coach Jim Romano gets 500th win

As the boys' basketball matchup wound down at Jenkintown High, a couple of spectators started talking about the game that would follow.

"You know Jim is going for 500 tonight."

"Oh, yeah? It seems just like yesterday he was going for 400."

Jim Romano, in his 31st year as the girls' basketball coach at Jenkintown, got his 500th win Saturday night, as his Drakes defeated Lower Moreland, 40-30.

"When you look at that number, I guess it stands for the program itself," Romano said. "Being able to be successful for all of those years, that's what it means to me. The strength of the program, and the girls I had and have are tremendous student-athletes."

Romano, 58, started at Jenkintown as a football and baseball coach before he took over the junior-varsity girls' basketball team. Four years later, he was at the helm of the varsity.

"It's been a tremendous experience for me," said Romano, whose wife, Ginny, keeps the book for the Drakes. "I'm very blessed and fortunate."

Among Romano's best memories is his first of 12 district titles, in the 1985-1986 season, when his team got a police escort through town to celebrate.

And then there was coaching his daughter, Megan, and all the success the Drakes had in her senior year, including her 1,000th point.

When Jim Romano, a 2010 inductee into the Jenkintown Athletic Hall of Fame, took over the varsity, he felt excited about coaching his former JV players at the varsity level. Three decades later, he still has that same excitement when he talks about the atmosphere surrounding the team at school during playoff runs.

Romano lives in town, only three blocks from the school, and would love to continue coaching for many seasons to come.

"As long as they are willing to have me," he said with a laugh.

Lower Moreland 10 2 8 10 - 30

Jenkintown 15 6 8 11 - 40

LM: Lauren Killion 12, Jessica Dranzik 6, Demi Morganstein 6, Bridgette Alexander 4, Kaley Przbylinski 2.

J: Emma Dorshimer 25, Madison Kremp 4, Ruby Westkaemper 4, Emma Dillon 3, Sarah Dillon 2, Sarah Ross 2.