Building Imhotep from Startup to State Champion
Andre Noble took over Imhotep Charter School's basketball program in 2005, when the school was still early in its existence and nobody in Philadelphia basketball was yet sure what the charter school era was going to look like. Eighteen seasons later, Imhotep Charter was one of the most dominant programs in the state — a perennial Public League championship contender and the team every other charter, Catholic, and Public League program in the city had to plan for.
The 2009 Title Trifecta
The defining season of Noble's Imhotep tenure came in 2008-09, when his Panthers captured three championships in a single spring: the overall Public League championship, the Class 2A City Title, and the PIAA Class 2A state championship. Trifectas like that — Public League, City, State in the same year — are the rarest achievement in Philadelphia scholastic basketball, and Noble's 2009 team pulled it off in Imhotep's short program history.
The 400-Win Season, Halted
In the 2019-20 season, Noble's Panthers marched through their Public League schedule, won another city title, and advanced to the second round of the PIAA Class 4A state playoffs. There, they beat Montoursville 60-38 — a win that gave Noble his 400th career victory. It was also his last game of that season. Two days later, COVID-19 shut down the state tournament and the remainder of the Imhotep basketball season along with it. The 2020-21 campaign started with Noble's team running out to a 14-0 record before the pandemic cut that season short as well.
The All-Public Pipeline
Noble's program produced an All-Public selection almost every year of his tenure — an unusual streak for any single program. Curtis Jackson (2006), Tamir Johnson (2006, 2007), Kashief Edwards (2007), Jermaine Washington (2007), Rashad Savage (2008), Sam Prescott (2009), Will Adams (2009), Parrish Grant (2009), David Appolon (2010, 2011), Ameen Tanksley (2010, 2011), Erik Copes (2011), Brandon Austin (2013), Sean Lloyd (2014), Daron Russell (2015, 2016, 2017), Jaekwon Carlyle (2016), David Beatty (2017), Koby Thomas (2017), Donta Scott (2018, 2019), Chereef Knox (2018) — and many more.
All-Public Honorees
Below are the All-Public selections who have played for Andre Noble at Imhotep Charter.
