From the Philadelphia Inquirer, January 13, 2017
By Chris Melchiorre
Most don’t realize that basketball was their dad’s first love.
Jon Runyan, an Eagles tackle during the team’s glory years in the early 2000s, didn’t even take up football until his junior year of high school. And he was tempted to accept a basketball scholarship before opting to play football at Michigan.
He still loves the roundball game. And that’s been a big help, according to Runyan’s daughters, Isabella and Alyssa, who star on the girls’ basketball team at Moorestown Friends.
But more than lessons in basketball, the sisters are well-versed in what it means to be an athlete.
And that’s what stands out most for the two key players of a team that has been one of South Jersey’s best-kept secrets.
“I always ask my dad after every game, ‘What did you think? What can I do better?’ ” said Alyssa, a junior forward for a team sporting a 7-2 record. “And the biggest thing is hustle. Just never stop hustling.”
“He always had that aggression, that want to win,” said Isabella, a freshman point guard. “And that’s exactly how we play.”
The Runyan sisters are the latest in a recent wave of legendary Philadelphia athletes with daughters tearing up South Jersey girls’ basketball.
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photo courtesy of Philadelphia Inquirer