A quiet leader, Mosley flourished at IC
Mary Mosley
Mary Mosley led Immaculate Conception to a WPIAL Girls basketball championship in 1986.
Mary Mosley helped usher in a new era of girl’s athletics at Washington’s Immaculate Conception High School in the early 1970s.
While the Comets had already produced some outstanding basketball players, Mosley brought the school and Washington County its first WPIAL girl’s basketball championship in 1986.
She also introduced volleyball and softball to the girls at the school and by the time she was done 17 years later, Mosley had established herself as an outstanding three-sport coach, health and physical education teacher and influential person.
“She was a quiet and laid-back person,” said Ray Natili, Jr., who worked with Mosley as IC’s athletic director and boy’s basketball coach. “Mary didn’t want much publicity and preferred to stay behind the scenes. She was a great person, wonderful person.”
Mosley, who retired this past spring as a teacher from Oakland Catholic – where she spent the last 23 years of her career – credits IC and Natili for giving her a start and providing her support.
“My time at IC was a special time because it was my first job out of college,” she said. “I was able to start the volleyball and softball programs at the school. We had success in all three sports – section champions in all.
“We had great community support. It was just a very special place to work. I think about all the wonderful people I met and worked with there.”
No one was more important to her than Natili.
“Ray was a mentor to me,” she said. “I relied on him and his expertise. It was wonderful to have someone like him to talk with and learn from.”
The two forged a friendship that ultimately resulted in them taking over the volleyball program at Waynesburg College from the mid- to late-1980s as co-coaches.
Mosley played one year of volleyball at Trinity High School at a time when female athletics was in its infancy.
“There wasn’t a lot of opportunity then,” she said.
Mosley played a few years of volleyball at Slippery Rock University and fell in love with and learned the game.
“Ray knew I had played, started the team at IC and loved the sport,” Mosley said. “He asked me to be co-coach with him. He dubbed us the architect and the engineer.”
Natili said Mosley was a natural fit to coach at the college level.
“That was a great experience for me,” Natili said. “Mary did a terrific job. I would not have done that without her involvement. She knew the game. I knew about recruiting and scheduling. But Mary knew the game. She did a superb job and we won – two-hundred wins in five years, divisional titles and had a lot of fun.”
For Mosley, the fondest memories were at IC.
The Comets were WPIAL girls basketball runners-up in 1982 and 1985 – losing to Turtle Creek in 1982 and St. Francis Academy in 1985 – before breaking through in 1986.
IC defeated Farrell, 48-33, at Pitt’s Fitzgerald Field House to capture the crown.
“It was exciting to accomplish that,” said Mosley, who now resides in West Mifflin. “That team had great chemistry and we had just the right combination of great inside play and outside shooting. Those girls loved competing and they loved playing basketball.”
Some important members of the team included Becky Burlingham, Kim Spencer, Karen Silbaugh, Tricia Natili, Renee Hardie and Carrie Pisani.
“That group worked very hard and very well together,” Mosley said. “We really had a strong inside game with Becky and Kim.”
Mosley also credited her assistant, John Dorsey, for making a huge impact in the program.
“John was the Xs and Os guy,” Mosley said. “I was more of the defensive end of the game. We were both on the quiet side. I was not a screamer from the bench. We’d do our talking more on the side, pull a kid aside and explain. We were more of a cerebral side rather than the screaming side.”
Karen Silbaugh Lebar agrees that Mosley was reserved and her public persona was one of gentleness and calm. Make no mistake though, said Silbaugh Lebar, Mosley could coach and could motivate and when she had to be stern, she had no trouble delivering a message.
“She was quiet and professional,” said Silbaugh Lebar. “That is a good way to describe her. But she would push us and push us to do our best. She drove us to always go out and give everything we had.
“While she always looked calm and reserved, she could and would give it to us in our huddles during timeouts or breaks in action or at practice. She was effective that way when she thought she needed to be. Sometimes, she could be kind of loud to us. She’d give us a kick in the butt when we needed it. Others might not have known but we did.”