The Last Great Old-School City Title
Mark "Max" Levin's defining moment as Overbrook basketball coach came at the Palestra in the spring of 1980. The Panthers were 33-0. The last great old-school City Title — the annual game between the Public League champion and the Catholic League champion — was set for them against Roman Catholic. Roman had 6-5 senior forward Lonnie McFarlan, the Markward Award winner and a McDonald's All-American. Overbrook had Tony Costner, a 6-10 center who had been named to Parade Magazine's fourth-team All-American list earlier that same week.
Regulation ended 50-50. Levin pulled his players into the huddle. "I just said three little words," he told reporters afterward: "'Get the ball to [Costner].'" In the overtime period that followed, Costner scored eight of his 23 points, making free throws, drawing fouls, and turning two Darryl Brown feeds into layups. By the end of the extra period, Overbrook had won 65-56 and Levin had his second consecutive City Title in what would be the last old-school title series ever played.
In the overtime, it was my world. I wanted the whole thing to come to me. I knew they could put two and three people on me and push and shove, but it didn't matter. I knew they weren't going to stop me.
This one is sweeter, because I don't think anyone expected us to do it — including myself. You start out knowing what Tony can do and that we usually have a good crop of players, but hard work is the only thing that will get you this far with an undefeated record. Even last year's team didn't do that.
