The dedication of the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) volunteer coaches in this diocese is truly unmatched.

Just think: You work all day, have tons of things to do and places to go, and then you somehow find the energy to keep up with children eager to get their own energy out after a long day at school.

For some, volunteering is a hassle, but for others, it’s a calling. For Phil McBride, coaching boys’ CYO basketball across multiple age groups has been his calling for more than 50 years.

On June 11 at the parish’s Sports Night, St. Andrew Avellino, Flushing, celebrated McBride for 50 years of service to CYO with a plaque that will forever hang on the gymnasium’s half-court wall. McBride is the fifth person in parish history to receive the honor.

“I was blown away when I heard I’d be on the wall,” said McBride, 70, who is also a member of the CYO and CHSAA Halls of Fame. “I started coaching, and I never stopped. Never in a million years did I think I’d ever be involved with this organization for so long.”

For McBride, the journey through CYO began as a batboy for his father’s — Phil McBride Sr. — baseball team at St. Stan’s, Maspeth, when he was 6 years old. He then played 10 years of baseball and basketball for the parish.

During his freshman year at Archbishop Molloy H.S., Briarwood, McBride became the assistant coach for his dad’s St. Stan’s basketball team, where he coached one of his younger brothers, Gary. He was only 14 years old at the time, coaching a team of 9-year-olds.

“He [McBride] hasn’t changed much,” said Bill Pizzo, a point guard on that St. Stan’s team who later helped Our Lady of the Snows, North Floral Park, start up a CYO basketball program. “He was always emphatic and alive at the practices and after practices. He loved to talk basketball. His enthusiasm has been the same for 50 years.”

After his initial stint at St. Stan’s, McBride began coaching for 25 years at St. Ann, Flushing. It was here that he became a head coach for the first time, at just 20 years old, while a student at St. John’s University in Jamaica. In fact, he was so young that his appointment had to be approved by the parish’s then-pastor Father Francis O’Sullivan, who, of course, made a wise decision.

Since 1997, McBride has coached at St. Andrew’s. In March 2020 — in what was one of the last games played before the COVID-19 shutdown — he guided his Pee Wee boys’ team to a diocesan championship victory following an undefeated season. That day was also his birthday.

“Phil doesn’t miss a thing; he’s a constant presence,” said Mike Piotrowski, parish athletic representative at St. Andrew’s who runs the CYO program along with his wife, Darice. “As I watch everything in the world change, there’s one thing that seems like it doesn’t change, and that’s Phil. He coaches with the same approach that he was coaching with 50 years ago. He’s very concerned with developing the kids in terms of their game and their character.”

In addition to coaching CYO hoops, McBride — whose full-time job before he retired was as an auditor and CPA for New York Life Insurance — was known throughout the diocese as a respected referee. He started refereeing CYO games in 1971, as a junior in high school, and began officiating for the CHSAA two years later.

On back-to-back nights in 2015, he was inducted into each organization’s Hall of Fame and still maintains long-term friendships with those he encountered over those 50-plus years.

“Ninety percent of my closest friends today are out of that time … refs and coaches,” he said. McBride retired as a CHSAA referee in 2023, yet he remains passionate about coaching at St. Andrew’s. Through it all, he’s always maintained a consistent message, no matter what age of boys he coached.

“I had three goals every season,” he said. “For the kids to have fun, to represent the name of their parish well, and then for the team to improve from the beginning of the year to the end — whether they were a great team, a good team, or an average team.”

McBride always stresses the importance of putting in the time during the offseason to guide the improvement during the season. He says one of his most cherished accomplishments is seeing how many kids he’s coached go on to become coaches themselves.

“He always did what he could to go out of his way to help teach the game of basketball,” said Robert Pagan, who played for McBride at St. Andrew’s and now helps with the parish’s youth clinics. “He really is an asset to the entire CYO community and especially St. Andrew’s.”

In all his years coaching, only one of McBride’s players went on to play Division I basketball, and that was his younger brother, Kevin, who played at Fordham University in the Bronx. For McBride, it was never about winning or scholarships but more so about living out the CYO’s mission.

“CYO is more about the kids learning teamwork and preparing them for real-life situations,” he said. “The important thing is not how good you are but how good of a person playing in this league helps you become.”

When it comes to coaching, there’s no end in sight for McBride. His legacy will forever live on at St. Andrew’s in the true spirit of volunteerism — giving of oneself so that others may thrive.