History with Chuck: Lady Panthers’ legendary head coach Bob Schaefer | CHS upset first-place Lower Moreland on Jan. 26

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January 29th, 2024 | By Ryan Genova

In 1981, Bob Schaefer, former Cheltenham High School girls’ basketball coach, inherited a program that had lost nearly every game during its previous three years.

Over the next 31 years, the Lady Panthers won 24 Suburban One League titles, four District I class AAAA crowns, and two state championships in 2000 and 2007.  

Schaefer, who coached the team from 1981-2012, won 757 games, the fifth-highest total in Pennsylvania high school girls’ basketball history, according to local historian Chuck Langerman. In the greater Philadelphia area, his 757 victories are second all-time behind former Downingtown East girls’ coach Bob Schnure (769 wins).  

According to Langerman, Coach Schaefer is the first to admit that the wins are nice and a big part of the game, but most important are the life lessons the girls learned over the years about punctuality, about discipline, about commitment, about teamwork, and the rewards of hard work.  

“For me, it has been 31 challenging and rewarding seasons,” Schaefer said in a 2012 letter. “Our program has reached a point where we can step down and open an opportunity for a new coach to come in and establish their program and style of basketball. In 1981, when I was hired as the head coach, I never thought that I would be staying in for 31 years and achieve our record. As I’ve always said, ‘If you want to be successful, have good people around you.’ I have been blessed with a reliable, loyal staff throughout those years, most of them who could have been head coaches themselves.”

Paige Powell
Bob Schaefer


In related news, the Lady Panthers took down first-place Lower Moreland High School in a 68-47 upset victory on Friday, January 26 in Wyncote.

Paige Powell (pictured above) led the Lady Panthers with 25 points, while Ije Ojukwu (18 points), Maya Simmons (11 points), and Cassie Bugg (10 points) each scored in double figures.

For head coach Bo Bowman, a 1997 graduate of Cheltenham High, the victory ranks as one of the biggest wins during his six-year tenure. Cheltenham (9-9, 5-7 SOL) will be on the road at William Tennent in Warminster on Tuesday, January 30.

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Photos: CSD, The Reporter, PA Hoops