Pickett is the coach of the Chester High basketball team. He's the most
successful coach in the history of the program, the standard for PIAA
schools in Southeastern Pennsylvania. He's also on the verge this season of
doing something no other Chester High hoops coach ever has done: win three
Class AAAA state championships.
He's in his 13th season, with a career record of 308-80, for a .794 winning
percentage, and more victories than any coach in Chester history. He has
guided the Clippers to two state titles in four trips to the championship
game, and has a current streak of six straight District 1 Class AAAA
championships (seven total).
But bring any of these sterling numbers up to Pickett, and he'll smile and
want to change the subject, or talk about how those on his loyal coaching
staff have had as much to do with the Clippers' success as he has. Or he'll
mention more pertinent numbers; for instance, that 69 of the 79 seniors he's
coached have moved on to higher education. It's the way Pickett is.
He's part coach, mentor, life guide, philosopher and father figure. And when
he's not juggling all of those things, part taxi service, making sure his
players are dropped off at the front door of their homes each night. And all
for $3,800 a year, one of the lowest salaries of any high school basketball
coach in Southeast Pennsylvania, according to sources.
It's not about basketball with Pickett. It's about life.
"It's about the kids,'' said the 54-year-old Pickett, a juvenile probation
officer in Chester. "It's always been about the kids. For me, it's about
giving kids choices and using that round ball as a way to a better future.
"Any time you alter someone's life and help them succeed, that's what's it's
really all about.''
Keddy Harris is one of Pickett's assistants, and has known him for more than
40 years.
"Everyone can't coach here at Chester," Harris said. "It takes a special
person because you're dealing with a lot of out-of-school issues that no
other coach has to deal with. There are times you're afraid to hear the
phone ring, because you just don't know what could happen. Fred's far more
than a basketball coach. He does a lot of things no one sees, and he's the
reason why so many of us come back year after year. We do it because of him.
He does it, and we do it, to see these kids succeed in life, to give them a
chance."
Pickett has a stoic style - at courtside. You may see him roll his eyes, or
fold his arms in frustration. But you won't find him stomping his feet, or
openly yelling and screaming at his players.
"No, that's my job," Harris said, laughing. "I can't be as calm as Fred."
Yet, behind the scenes, back in the privacy of the locker room, Pickett is a
problem solver who will put his foot down when he has to. But he still has
his critics in certain circles of Chester, and to many, he's very
underappreciated.
"People in Chester don't know what they have in Fred," said Rob Knox, a 1991
Chester High grad who received his first job in sports as the Clippers'
manager in the early 1990s. Knox, currently the sports information director
at Lincoln University, formerly was a reporter for a Delaware County
newspaper who covered Pickett and has lived in the Chester community most of
his life.
"People in Chester are spoiled, because they've become so used to winning,''
Knox said. "But no one looks at it realistically. What Fred doesn't get
credit for is that it's hard to win when you're always expected to win. It's
hard to get kids today to buy into doing the things Fred has his teams do,
like sharing the ball, getting away from the me-first mentality."
The criticism grates on Harris and the rest of the Chester staff. But not
Pickett.
"I really don't care about that stuff,'' Pickett said.
Chester is 10-1 this season; its one loss came in Florida to St. Benedict's
Prep (Newark, N.J.), considered one of the best teams in the country.
Pickett has one of his more powerful teams, one expected to win the state
title. He deflects the talk from reaching his team by stressing a
one-game-at-a-time attitude. Keeping things the same.
Much like Pickett himself. Earlier this season, he won his career 300th
game, unbeknownst to him.
"Fred didn't want to even take a picture to capture the moment; you have to
stop him from time to time and tell him what he's done," said Clippers
assistant coach/statistician Terry Thomas. "You have to pull his coat
sometimes for him to acknowledge what he's done. There's no doubt Fred's
accomplishments would be praised at any other program. And the kids from
Chester are from Chester, each and every one of them.
"Kids from private schools, they're not all from that school district. Fred
deals with the hand he's dealt. We were in a tournament in Florida one time
and someone asked us where all of our kids are from, and we said, 'From
Chester.' They said they knew where the school was, and we said 'Our kids
are all from Chester.' If Fred was at any other school, he'd be a god. But
in Chester, if Fred loses a game, it's the end of the world, and even if he
wins, he doesn't win by enough. I don't know if that will ever change."
Pickett, however, does acknowledge one thing: He might not be the star of
his own home. That distinction, Pickett says, goes to his wife, Wanda.
They've been married 30 years. She's the one who has had to endure his long
absences due to the traveling and long hours of practice, and oftentimes, a
houseful of his players. But she wouldn't change anything. She's accepted
the fact that coaching is Pickett's mistress.
"It's a year-round thing with Fred; he is an amazing, special person, but he
doesn't even want to hear that from me," Wanda said. "I've been trying to
talk him out of coaching for years, but I've learned to keep my mouth shut
anymore. We have two sons, but we've had a lot of his players come in and
out of this house. After a while, you realize they're all his kids. Fred's
easy to understand. It's about the kids." *