Exeter Township School District

On Easter Sunday, the four young Formiconi sisters arrived at church in holiday finery — Easter dresses, hats, gloves and patent leather shoes — and when they came home, Kathleen Formiconi-Sola was the first to strip off her frilly duds and slip on her cowboy boots.

She liked to play basketball, softball, anything athletic, as a child in the 1960s, for “she was always the tomboy, the tomgirl,” said Cindy Jo Kohl, one of her sisters.

Society seemed to be following her lead: Congress passed Title IX, a civil rights amendment that sparked public schools to offer school-sponsored sports to girls, in 1972, a year before Kathleen graduated from East Stroudsburg University with a degree in physical education.

Upon her return to Berks County for a job as a physical education teacher at two Reading elementary schools, she found herself in a breakthrough moment: She was hired as the first coach of the newly formed Reading High School girls basketball team.

While other school districts quickly created basketball teams for girls after Title IX became law, Reading was the only high school in Berks without a team, so student government leaders circulated petitions demanding the school board to act.

The board approved a team, and in 1974, 20 young women became the first Reading High School Red Knights basketball squad, coached by Kathleen, fresh out of college.

She was eager and patient, teaching plays, teaching basketball strategy to girls who may never have received formal, organized coaching, recalled Marita Gehret of Sinking Spring, one of the players on that inaugural team. With Kathleen at courtside, the Red Knights won the first game in their history, a 35-33 victory over Exeter Township High School, Kathleen’s alma mater, in 1974 and won five of their eight games that first season.

Under Kathleen’s coaching, the Knights were even better in 1975. They joined the Berks County Conference and qualified for the PIAA district playoffs.

Kathleen eventually left teaching and worked in health care, retiring from St. Joseph Hospital, where she was a ward clerk. She died March 13 at the age of 67 in Colorado Springs, Colo., where she lived with her son, according to family.

Marita, a junior, joined the Red Knights that first season, even though she wasn’t very good at basketball and wasn’t familiar with Kathleen, who taught phys ed at Riverside and Millmont elementary schools.

Kathleen was eager but calm, not the type of coach who intensely barks orders from the sidelines, recalled Marita.

“She wasn’t a yeller,” said Marita. “She was quiet, but she was into it. She was genuinely nice, and she was young, not much older than us.”

When the Red Knights took the floor for the first time, Kathleen stood at courtside in a pants suit, which was her preferred fashion choice. The Geigle Complex, Reading High’s gym, had just opened, and “it was exciting, just exciting for us to have a team,” remembers Marita.

After Kathleen’s death, Marita has attempted to search for teammates from that inaugural team, for a private memorial service that is planned for Kathleen in the future. She’s using her high school yearbook as a reference, including a team picture featuring the squad in uniform, and standing with them, coach Kathleen in a plaid pants suit.

Contact Jim Lewis: 610-371-5059 or jlewis@readingeagle.com.