The man they simply call "Coach" can't stop smiling.
St. Frances has just held an assembly in the gym. Students have been told to behave, put away chairs and get ready to go home. It's nearing 3 p.m., and the gym needs to be cleared so the boys basketball team can practice.
"Coach" stands at the door, holding it open with dark, leathery hands, and gently pats students on the back as they exit. He's dressed in a gray sweat suit, the same shade as some of the hairs in his scruffy beard. As students leave, his grin gets bigger. In a deep, raspy voice, he says these words to anyone who will listen:
"God bless. God bless."
Everyone at St. Frances knows who "Coach" is. They know William Wells because he presides over one of the best boys basketball teams in Baltimore, but they revere him for reasons that go beyond the hardwood.
He is the faculty member who has been at the school the longest. He's also a respected art and physical education teacher who is known for being a father figure to many St. Frances students.
More important than his guidance on the basketball court, he believes, has been his guidance in young people's lives. His philosophies of using basketball as a tool for a better life have steered players and students to the classroom rather than the streets.
"If you don't have the academic part of it, you're wasting your time playing the game," said Wells, 63, who announced Monday that this season, his 28th at St. Frances, will be his last as coach.
Eric Skeeters, an assistant coach at Towson University who was a junior varsity and assistant coach for Wells from 1992 to 1996, summed up Wells' impact in six words.
"Wells is about saving kids' lives," he said.
Building a program
In the fall of 1979, Monica Strawder was a sophomore on a struggling St. Frances girls basketball team. She went to Wells, who was a senior director at Madison Square Recreation Center in East Baltimore, and asked him to help her team with drills and direction.
Wells agreed, instructing the girls in the gym at Madison. Two weeks later, Sister Rita Michelle Proctor asked Wells whether the 0-6 team could practice at Madison regularly. Wells obliged, allowing the girls to play two hours a day, three days a week.
"At the time, [the St. Frances basketball program] was almost nonexistent," Proctor said. "I watched his interaction at Madison. He instilled values to the young people he came in contact with there with a sense of respect and dignity that I felt our students needed at the time."
Wells helped coach the girls for the rest of that season, and they started winning.
"I grew up without a father, and I could sit down and talk with him," said Strawder, who is now Monica Strawder-Sabree. "I couldn't think of a better person for St. Frances than him."
Proctor and Wells became friends, and she found out he had a certificate from the Maryland Institute College of Art. St. Frances needed an art teacher, and Proctor went to then-principal Sister Mary Lobretto and recommended Wells, who got the job.
In the 1980-81 season, Wells became the boys basketball coach. His teams started in the Catholic Youth Organization, but Wells also scheduled games with high schools.
The Panthers played in the CYO until the 1986-87 season, when they joined the Baltimore Catholic League and competed on the junior varsity level on a two-year probationary period. Still practicing at Madison, Wells secured the University of Baltimore as the team's home site.
The team struggled its first season but dominated the next, going 21-0. The tiny Catholic school with no gym was suddenly making a name for itself.
"They called us William Wells and his traveling all-stars," said Derek Chase, a point guard on those JV teams who now is a business manager at Mount Royal Elementary. "He had a vision it would grow into a dynasty, and it wasn't a long-term goal."
Wells was able to build the program by getting youth players from Madison to attend St. Frances. The Panthers won their first BCL tournament in 1990 and their first BCL regular-season title in 1991. Without a practice facility, players walked to Madison after school and tried to catch a bus home. If they didn't have a ride, Wells would offer a lift.
"He worked with us a lot of times and tried to figure out where all the kids lived so they didn't have to travel far and gave us rides," said Devin Gray, who starred on the 1990 and 1991 championship teams and went on to play at Clemson and briefly in the NBA.
Wells was adamant about keeping kids off the streets at night. At times, that meant opening his home to his players.
"I have to say, I shared my mom's [Marvais Wells'] cooking and shared my [house] with all of these kids that came through," said Wells' daughter, Keita Wells, 32, a director with the Elijah Cummings Youth Program. "He has had kids that didn't have electricity, kids that didn't have a roof over their heads."
A star arrives
Another turning point occurred for the Panthers in 1993, when Mark Karcher, a 6-foot-4, well-built player from East Baltimore arrived on St. Frances' doorstep. The center, who later became a point guard, could do it all: post up, blow by defenders and shoot from long range.
"People were laughing at Mark, saying, 'Why would you go there instead of Dunbar?' who just won the championship in 1992," Skeeters said. "That helped change the culture of Baltimore basketball."
Karcher, who chose to attend St. Frances because of his familiarity with Wells through Madison, led the Panthers to BCL regular-season championships in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 and BCL tournament championships in 1994, 1995 and 1997. The success earned St. Frances invitations to the Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament, which features some of the best Catholic high school teams in the United States. They were third in the invitational in 1995, won it in 1996 and got back to the final in 1997. St. Frances is the last Baltimore team to win the event.
"They couldn't believe that we didn't have a gym and we were winning," Wells said. "[Winning Alhambra] totally took it to another level."
Karcher, who went on to become a top player for Temple and play professionally in France, is now an assistant coach at St. Frances. He will take over for Wells next season, though Wells said he will continue to help out.
Karcher credits Wells with keeping him on the right path.
"If I didn't come here, I don't know if I would have had a career, to be honest," Karcher said. "At that time, I wouldn't be focused if I didn't have Coach on my back and kind of forcing me to do what I was supposed to do at a young age."
Said Wells: "The bottom line is to see Mark progress and to see all the guys I've been working with over the years progress. I know my heart's going to be in the game for a while, and it's hard to give that up. I'm trying to make sure everything's right before I go."
Goal realized
The team's success put St. Frances on the basketball map, and it garnered a No. 14 ranking in USA Today's national high school poll in 1996. With the success, St. Frances began discussing building a gymnasium.
In January 2002, the discussion became a reality. The St. Frances court is surrounded by black bleachers, and black banners hang from the rafters, with the years of the school's championships in mustard-yellow print. On both sides of the court, "Panthers" is written in black cursive writing, outlined in white.
"It was a long time coming," Wells said. "A lot of people told me that I would never build anything here. We started winning, people started recognizing us around the city and around the country, and we started getting donations."
Large, yellow banners, about 10 feet long, hang on both sides of the court. On each, it reads in black: "Sportsmanship first. Athletes today. America's Leaders Tomorrow."
It's that last line that Wells is largely responsible for. He said "at least 10" of his former players have become coaches at various colleges and high schools. Others are succeeding in different fields.
"We have a lot of teachers. We have two or three principals. We have a director of a movie theater," Wells said. "What I like most is that most of my kids have gone on to college and got great jobs and are doing pretty good for themselves."
St. Frances took home its fifth BCL tournament championship in 2005. This season's team, which is 24-9 and ranked No. 4, features Sean Mosley, a Maryland-bound senior whom some have compared to Karcher.
Shaping lives
Coach lounges on a folding chair as the Panthers' practice moves steadily along. It's 3:45 p.m., and Karcher leads the team through jump-shooting drills while Wells speaks with assistant coach Marcus Wise.
R.J. Williams, a freshman and starting varsity point guard, plops down next to Wells and immediately strikes up a conversation. As the drill concludes, the team huddles. Williams, deep in discussion, doesn't move.
Karcher yells, "R.J.! What, you don't huddle with the team now?"
Williams quickly responds, "I'm talking with Coach."
Karcher nods approvingly. After the conversation, Williams sprints over to the huddle to get back with his team.
To Wells, championship banners take a back seat to these discussions that help mold young boys into respectful men.
"That's the most important thing for me, to make sure the kids understand that you got to do something in life other than just hanging out on the streets," Wells said. "I grew up like they did, so I got to give back to these young kids and let them know that there are people out there that are caring for them and that are going to make sure they get the things they need to go on to college."
stefen.lovelace@baltsun.com