Radnor's Special Three-Of-A-Kind

They’re three of a kind and won’t be forgotten any time soon by anyone who’s witnessed a track meet, a Red Raiders’ football game or a Radnor baseball game the last few years. They may play different sports, but Connor Walsh, Dave Bowen and Lydia Ali actually have a lot in common, other than being standout Radnor athletes that have recently graduated.

All three entered Radnor high school four years ago uncertain of where they were and where they were headed. All three leave heading to Division I programs to continue what were magnificent high school athletic careers.

Walsh was a decent pitcher who had faint aspirations of pitching in college. Walsh owns the Radnor school record for strikeouts in a game, mowing down 19 as a junior last year in a game against Haverford High School and is headed to the University of Cincinnati on a baseball scholarship.

“I think I’m a better person and a better baseball player because of Radnor,” said Walsh, who graduates as a seven-time varsity letterman [four years for baseball, three for basketball]. “Coach [John] McGillian came in my freshman year and wasn’t afraid to play underclassmen. That helped me build confidence and character. When I go to college, I want to build more character. I think some of the things I’ll remember about Radnor are the class events, the Lower Merion pep rally, stuff within our class. It was always good to see everyone out. Everyone in our class got along and it was a great experience.”

The athletic event Walsh will remember best actually came in a Radnor loss. That’s right, a loss. Lower Merion had a loaded basketball team in Walsh’s junior year and they visited Radnor before a packed gym.

“It was like a college game, everyone was into it going crazy,” Walsh said. “We were blowing them out at one point and they came back. The game went into overtime and they won. But it was probably the game I had the most fun playing in. It’s a game we lost, but the whole atmosphere made it a great game. The whole school was there to support us.”

Ali is headed to Penn for track, and leaves Radnor as the school’s most accomplished female sprinter in school history, winning the 100-meter state championship her junior year and breaking every sprint record the school ever had. Her path, however, wouldn’t have occurred without the freak happenstance of being hit in the eye with a soccer ball her freshman year. Ali was a standout soccer player, but once she suffered an eye injury in a game, she wasn’t allowed to play any contact sports.

She found track. The rest of the state soon found Ali, watching her zip by every runner she faced. Though it’s not the state championship that Ali most remembers, it’s what came before that.

“Winning the state championship is really high on the things I did at Radnor, but I had to break that wall and winning the district championship, after coming close my freshman and sophomore years, is what I really remember,” Ali said. “That’s what broke the barrier and got me to the state championship. Going to Radnor was a great time in my life. My team, my coaches, my classmates, it’s like a family I built the last four years that I’ll always have. The last four years definitely changed my life.”

Out of the three Radnor standouts, perhaps no one found himself more throughout four years of high school than Bowen. He entered the school a gangly golfer with no inclination of taking football anywhere. He missed golf tryouts his freshman year and settled on going out for football. He played in grade school, but Bowen never pushed himself. He learned to at Radnor, thanks mostly to the not-so-subtle urgings of Radnor offensive line coach Mick Bonner and Red Raiders’ head football coach Tom Ryan. They saw something Bowen he hadn’t seen in himself, until the last year.

Bowen is now an amiable—off the field—monster. He’s blossomed into a 6-foot-7, 295-pound left offensive tackle that closed a stellar senior year by being named first-team all-state and landing a roster spot in the prestigious Big 33 game, where he graded well against the best high school players from Ohio. Bowen left on Saturday for Boston College, where he earned a football scholarship.

Keep an eye on Bowen. He was once touted “a project.” Not anymore.

“The last four years have absolutely changed my life,” Bowen said. “As a freshman, I figured I’d play on the golf team and be an average high school student. I just missed the golf tryouts and that’s why I played football. I played football in middle school, but my first love was golf. This has been a completely different destination, absolutely. I know the perception going forward. I understand I’m a very privileged individual; a Radnor kid that’s not that tough. I’m ready to get up to BC and show people what I can do and make a name for myself. I’ll definitely be hearing Coach Bonner’s voice talking to me and everything the coaches ever told me. Now I have to go out and make the whole school proud.”

That may have already happened. For all three of them.