By Don Ketchum

Tears of joy from the Phoenix St. Mary’s girls basketball championship run now are mixed with tears of sadness.

On Wednesday (Feb. 29), four days after the Lady Knights won it all in Division I, the St. Mary’s community lost a loyal friend and supporter with the death of longtime basketball scorekeeper-announcer and football announcer Tom Ciani at his home in Phoenix.

Mr. Ciani was about a month shy of his 88^th birthday.

This story probably should be filed under blogs because of my personal comments, but to me it is more, much more.

The reason I call him “Mr.’’ is because it is a sign of respect – that is what he was to me.

When I attended elementary school in west Phoenix (we won’t say how many years ago), Mr. Ciani was my physical education teacher.  He sometimes had a gruff exterior, which didn’t make him very popular with some of my classmates, but I suspect that deep down, he was more respected than people let on.

He wasn’t very tall, not much taller than we were, and he strolled around the school grounds with a flat-top haircut while wearing a white T-shirt, white shorts and white sneakers. He always had a white substance on his nose, zinc oxide, to prevent the sun from burning him too much.

We were a mischievous lot, sometimes drawing Mr. Ciani’s frustration.

He would scold us and punctuate his sentence with, “And I’m not laughing about it, boys.’’

I think he genuinely cared about us and the rest of the students. He allowed us to work in his PE equipment shack, checking out equipment to students during recess and lunch hour.

I performed such duties two days before that dark November day when President John F. Kennedy was slain. It was the beginning of the end of our innocence.

Mr. Ciani supported us and coached us through championship flag football and basketball games against our fellow district schools.

We moved on to high school, and it was there I discovered that Mr. Ciani was a high school basketball referee.  To the best of my recollection, he was one of the referees in the 1974 classic championship game, when Phoenix Alhambra defeated Phoenix East in four overtimes.

I lost track of him for awhile. Then, when I became a sports reporter for The Arizona Republic, I learned that he was a volunteer at St. Mary’s athletic events. He bled green and gold. I don’t think he missed too many games in 42 years. He was affectionately known as “The Voice of St. Mary’s.’’

To the end, he was one of the main reasons why I enjoyed attending the girls’ basketball games. He was always there, meticulously keeping score with different colored pencils and making announcements, pronouncing the names as best he could.

We would catch up on the news of the day, and he would critique some of the officials. He would tell people that I was one of his students. I think he was proud of me, like a father figure. And I was proud of him, happy to see he was still working.

My own father liked him. My dad came home after attending some elementary school event and revealed that Mr. Ciani’s first name wasn’t Tom.

It was Ametilio.

“Ah-mit-teel-ee-oh,’’ my dad would say. He thought the name had an interesting ring to it.

Mr. Ciani loved his children and grandchildren. One of his sons  became a rowing coach here in town, and one of his grandsons played football for St. Mary’s a few years ago. He doted on his wife, Alice, and they attended ASU athletic events.

Alice passed away a few years ago and I don’t think Mr. Ciani was the same. A piece of him was gone. That happens when you lose your spouse after 55 years.

But through it all, there was St. Mary’s. It was a special place for him.

He loved the kids, and they loved him.

Rest in peace, Mr. Ciani.

**Visitation will be held from 5-8 p.m. on Sunday (March 4) with a Rosary at 7 p.m. at Whitney & Murphy Funeral Home, 4800 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. Funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m. on Monday (March 5) at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, 2312 E. Campbell Ave., Phoenix. Interment will follow at St. Francis Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Mary’s High School (http://www.smknights.com/waystogive.htm).