It has been 30 years since the August Martin girls basketball team has played a game without legendary coach Joel Ascher walking the sidelines. Now, sadly, simply walking has become difficult for the man who guided the Falcons to a record 12 PSAL city titles.
Ascher will not coach at the Jamaica, Queens school this winter due to bad arthritis in his legs, hips and back, The Post has learned. He’s currently getting physical therapy, being treated with medication and is not ruling out returning for 2010-11. This, he said, is not a retirement.
“I really miss the girls, I really miss the school, but I can’t really do anything about it,” the 72-year-old Ascher said.
Pain, he said, started toward the end of last season and he didn’t see a doctor until June.
“For awhile, I was barely walking,” Ascher said.
The longtime coach didn’t make the decision to step down for this season until October. Mark Williams, who had coached the JV girls basketball team the last two seasons, will take over.
Ascher said he hasn’t been back to the school since last March. At first, walking and sleeping were a chore due to incredible pain. The arthritis has gotten better with treatment, but he said he couldn’t risk not being mobile for practices and games.
“I never thought arthritis could be this debilitating,” Ascher said.
He won a dozen city titles in 30 seasons, the last one coming in 1997, but he said he was never counting. The individual players he had over the years, Ascher said, stood out more than all the championships.
“It’s not about winning,” Ascher said. “I got over 100 girls into college for free. That’s the thing I’ll miss the most. I had more fun doing that than winning. That’s the important thing.”
And the reason why he’s trying his best to make a few games this year and hasn’t ruled out a return to the sidelines next winter.
“If I can walk, sure,” Ascher said.