BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. — They spoke of his sweet, 3-point jump shot. Of his love for music. Of his precise haircuts and meticulous fashion sense.
But when it came time to remember Jeff Dailey the person, it was his mother who commanded the crowd.
About 600 or so people packed into the Notre Dame High School gym Friday night as the refurbished basketball court was dedicated in Dailey’s honor.
A 2004 graduate who held the school’s all-time scoring record, he was 22 and a student at East Stroudsburg University when he died in a house fire just off campus on Nov. 8, 2007.
“I know we all think of Jeff mostly as a basketball player and all the notoriety he had in that arena,” mother Jane Dailey said. “But we’ve come to realize over the past several years how much of an impact he made because of the human being that he was.”
“It’s almost 20 years and Jeff is very much alive through all of us.”Chadd Lilly, friend and teammate of Jeff Dailey
Friends, old teammates, family and former coaches shed tears on the first night of the Jeff Dailey Memorial Tip-Off Classic, a basketball tournament that has traditionally kicked off the Crusaders' season.
“It’s almost 20 years and Jeff is very much alive through all of us,” said Chadd Lilly, a Notre Dame teammate and one of Jeff’s best friends.
Dailey scored 1,742 points at Notre Dame, the most ever until the mark was broken by Brendan Boyle in 2022.
Bishop Alfred Schlert of the Diocese of Allentown blessed the court in a dedication ceremony between games. Notre Dame went on to defeat Pocono Mountain West, 61-58.
The night had special meaning, the bishop said, because of his connections to the Daileys and the school. Schlert, a 1979 graduate and former Notre Dame theology teacher, said he has known the Dailey family practically his entire life.
He blessed the court – emblazoned with Dailey’s name – as “a place of fair play and good sportsmanship, just as Jeff would have wanted it – just as Jeff played the game.
“It was such a tragedy,” Schlert said of Jeff’s death. “And almost 20 years later you see all the positive things that have come from his memory, not only athletically, but in his character.”
A family affair
Dailey’s parents, Bobby and Jane, and his two brothers – Christopher, Class of 2002, and T.J., Class of 2007 – all graduated from Notre Dame.
Since 2008, a foundation established by the family has raised about $475,000 to support scholarships at the Catholic school and East Stroudsburg University, as well as nonprofit groups like Special Olympics, the Boys and Girls Clubs and New Bethany.
Notre Dame Principal Jackie Friel said school leaders for years had talked of naming the court for Dailey. Plans for a rehab job also were in the works a long time. When the decision was made last year to finally strip the old court of 30-plus years of wax and wear, Friel said, the time was right.
Notre Dame shut down the gym for a month this past summer, sanded the surface to the original hardwood and repainted the lines and logos at a cost of about $35,000 to $40,000, Friel said.
A Lehigh Valley first
Notre Dame Coach Pat Boyle said he believes it’s the only court in the Lehigh Valley that bears the name of a player. He recalled having his eyes on Jeff Dailey before he ever arrived at Notre Dame, scouting his CYO games at Holy Family School in Nazareth.
“I can’t even imagine what this place would be like without the Dailey brothers coming through,” said Boyle, who coached all of them. “We try to preach to our players about behaving the right way, acting the right way, having a strong work ethic, caring about your teammates and really focusing on the attributes that Jeff possessed.
“We want our guys to try to emulate Jeff as much as any player or any student who has ever came through here. I think the fact we’re naming the court after Jeff … speaks to the magnitude of the impact that Jeff and the entire Dailey family have had on our community.”
Dad Bobby Dailey said the outpouring of love and support the family felt was overwhelming.
“He’s given so much more off the court," he said of his late son.
“What an unbelievable night it was with the amount of support we had. It was just amazing. I didn’t expect this at all."
