If you happen to run into Greg Burke and ask him where he lives, he will be quick to tell you that he lives in Richland, but he is from Windber.
Burke has always prided himself on where he came from, and does so to this day.
After a decade as the Richland boys basketball head coach, Burke announced his resignation last week.
He turned the Rams into a powerhouse in the Laurel Highlands and District 6. Burke guided Richland on a memorable run in 2017-18 to the PIAA Class AAA championship game, finishing runner-up.
But, for Burke, all of his success began learning the game as a player at Windber.
“When I played high school basketball for coach (Emery) D’Arcangelo, the way we were able to make it to Hershey my junior year, what I learned was the details made us different from everybody else … doing the little things,” Burke said. “That’s what our coaching staff preached. Hard work is obviously going to get paid off. We went into practice and we went to games with the expectation that we are going to practice hard and play hard. We defined ourselves as a team, not individuals.
“One of the biggest things that came out of that, besides the love of the sport … your high school athletic career has an expiration date and my expiration date came the last game I ever played at Windber. The closest I could ever get back to that drive and sense of accomplishment was coaching. The success I had at Windber drove me to get into coaching in my mid-20s.”
He credits former Windber assistant football and basketball coach Steve Pallo, who coached Burke from eighth grade through his senior year, as one of the major reasons he ventured into coaching.
“He was that one guy who took a special interest in me and was different,” Burke said of Pallo. “He didn’t talk to me about just being a better athlete, but also a better person and a leader — the things you don’t typically hear from a coach — especially when I played back in the day. He is the reason I went into coaching.”
Burke entered the coaching realm as an assistant at Somerset Area High School in 1997-98.
He spent time coaching at the junior high level at Richland and Windber also. After coaching the Windber varsity program for two years, Burke was hired at Richland in 2010.
Since then, there have been more highs than lows for Richland basketball.
In 2014, the Rams won the District 6-AA title — the first since 1975. Richland also won District 6-AAA crowns the past two seasons.
Richland was set to play North Catholic in the PIAA quarterfinals before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the season.
For his efforts in 2017-18, leading the Rams to a state runner-up finish, Burke was named Class AAA Coach of the Year by the Pennsylvania Sports Writers.
He learned the game from some of the greats and translated that into a successful career at Richland, finishing with a 160-94 mark.
“I was lucky enough to be coached by guys who gave me the blueprint on how to run a program,” Burke said. “If I could teach my kids to play as hard as they can, love each, other, to play for each other and play defense like I was taught to play defense and commit to that … good things will happen. I’ve been lucky enough over the years to have players who have bought into that concept.
“I wanted to have teams that were in the top tier in the Laurel Highlands, District 6 and in the state. That was my drive. My passion of basketball is one that comes from where … that’s the only competition I could have. To see players succeed and get the most out of every player was my satisfaction.”
The memories made coaching the Rams are something Burke will cherish, and something he tried to teach his players.
“When I brought a kid up as a freshman, I told them ‘You get to play for me for four years, and what you do for four, you you’re going to talk about for 40,’” Burke said. “‘What memories do you want to have? What stories do you want to tell your friends, tell your children and tell your grandchildren. You only have a limited time to write your story.’”
Burke wanted his Richland teams to be the reason people came to the gyms to watch just like his playing days at Windber.
“We brought that small town Windber concept of family when it comes to athletics to Richland,” Burke said. “When I played at Windber and we had an away game, the home team had the biggest crowd they did all year long because people were there to see Windber. They wanted to watch us. I told my guys at Richland a long time ago ‘If we do it right, we can be that type of team. We are going to go up north to one of the Cambria’s and that gym is going to be packed not to see the home team, but to see us.’
“We were able to accomplish that at Richland and our kids were able to see that. A competitive kid gets recognized by winning, playing hard and getting people in your gym. You get people in your gym by being top tier, and those were all things I was brought up on and learned at Windber.”
Wins and accolades were great, but coaching was about something bigger for Burke.
“I love my players,” Burke said. “To see them go from a 15-, 16-year-old kid to learn the game of basketball, and when we talk about being a basketball player, we talk about not just being a better basketball player but that in turn if I’ve done it right, I have made you a better son, a better student, a better brother, a better nephew, a better dad a better uncle some day and a better grandfather.
“Hopefully what we get out of learning through the good times and bad times through our sport is going to help you become a better person. For me, that’s my biggest reward … seeing guys grow. It pulls on my heart strings when my former players call me or text me and we say ‘I love you’ on the phone. They have gone from my players to my friends.”