Charlie Sibley, of Owego, and the Tioga County Boys and Girls club coaching MVP, still keeps on giving of himself to the club. Recently the club received a generous monetary gift from Charlie’s estate that will sustain the club’s basketball program for years to come.
On Thursday, Oct. 7, Lee and Heidi Sibley presented this gift to the club. And there are many stories of Charlie’s connection to the club.
Ken Henson, director of operations at The Tioga County Boys and Girls Club in Owego, stated, “Personally I have known Charlie for almost 40 years and spent lots of hours and days with him talking, playing, coaching, and dreaming about basketball ideas, and watching him give kids all of his attention through the game of basketball.”
Charlie Sibley grew up as a young kid at the club and later as an adult volunteer, and coached and provided clinics to kids right up until his passing. One summer he offered individual clinic sessions at the club with many area youth.
“He would keep score every Sunday for the boys modified league at the club,” said Henson, adding, “If Charlie wasn’t at the club he would provide rides for kids to AAU tournaments or travel basketball games.”
Sibley worked with kids at the Pee Wee level on Saturday mornings and coached kids from first grade through twelve, while providing leadership and basketball skills to hundreds of kids for many years. Sibley didn’t just help out the youth in the immediate area; Charlie also impacted surrounding area youth.
Mike Constantine, who recently donated a monetary gift to the club from his place of employment, mentioned how Charlie impacted his life and talked about his outstanding High School basketball career. Other kids and adults throughout the years have shared their stories of how much Charlie impacted them as well.
One person once said that Charlie’s heart was bigger than a basketball court.
There was a humorous side of Charlie that should be mentioned. He was known for his famous strawberry individually wrapped licorice Twizzlers that he liked and shared. Today in the club’s snack bar you will always see a big plastic canister of Twizzlers on display because of Charlie, who was always reaching into his pocket and handing them out to the kids.
“Charlie never asked for anything but gave of himself to the club and kids,” said Henson, adding, “If Charlie knew of kids that couldn’t afford a club membership he would anonymously pay for it. He purchased sneakers for kids in need and spent time with all kids, even if basketball wasn’t their favorite sport of choice.”
The Tioga County Boys and Girls expressed their appreciation for this generous gift. Charlie Sibley was 69 when he passed away on Aug. 24, 2020.
Charlie was staple to the Tioga County Boys and Girls he coached me in his early years, then coached both of my sons even though we lived in Endicott I brought them down to Owego to be coached. God bless the Sibley family!