Ryan Roney is a teammate for life.
On the basketball court, the Gloucester Catholic High School senior is a 1,000-point scorer and a coach’s dream as a hard worker with attention to detail. He’s also a superstar off the court when he teams up with his best friend and twin brother AJ.
AJ is autistic and attends Kingsway High School because of its special needs program. When reunited, nothing seems to separate Ryan and AJ.
“That’s my guy,” Ryan said. “I love him. He plays TOPSoccer and basketball and participates in Special Olympics through Rowan (University). He plays everything, every season. My dad takes him or I’ll go with him to his games so it’s just great to see him out there.”
During baseball games, Ryan and AJ were in the batter’s box together and would race around the bases side-by-side after AJ smacked one to the outfield.
“They started soccer together at 3 years old and that’s around the time AJ was diagnosed,” their mother, Pam Roney said. “And Ryan always stuck by him. They played Tee-ball and Little League together. Ryan would even go up with him and hold the bat with him and run the bases with him. He’d always be his sports buddy.”
That continued through childhood and adolescence. Sports has been the glue, but Ryan and AJ aligned their religious education classes and received their sacraments together as well.
No driver’s license, no problem. According to their mother, the twins would sit in the family’s parked car and listen to tunes until Ryan was finally able to obtain his license once the DMV opened back up. Now they take nightly road trips to Wawa with their younger siblings, Melanie and Tyler, who are also high school-aged twins.
“They’re such good kids,” the proud mom said. “They’re miracles as it is, the two of them.”
It’s easy to see why Ryan is such a likable kid on the basketball court for the Rams. After attending Kingsway his freshman year, Ryan transferred to Gloucester Catholic and didn’t know what kind of role, if any, he would have on the varsity team. His teammates welcomed him with open arms, and Roney immediately began making an impact on the scoresheet and on his coaches.
“He came here as a transfer from Kingsway two years ago and he fit in seamlessly,” Rams coach Todd Powers said. “Not only on the basketball court but to the Gloucester Catholic family. He’s unselfish. He’s active with community service. He’s a Christian-like kid and he has really ascended to being one of the stars of this school — not only on that court, but around these halls.”
Roney has impacted the school’s record books too. This year, he became the 15th player from the boys program to reach 1,000 career points and continues to ascend up the list. Last season, he recorded 43 points in a game against Clayton to break a long-standing school record. He came close to doing it again last month with 41 points — also against Clayton.
“I didn’t even know if I’d be on varsity when I came here,” Roney said. “I ended up starting sophomore year and working my way up. (2019 grad) Conor Regan was like a big brother for me and showed me the way and gave me confidence ever since then.”
Regan is also on the Ram’s banner with 1,285 points which is only out of Roney’s reach because of a shortened 15-game season this year.
Roney’s goals go beyond basketball. He will pursue a nursing degree at Alvernia University in Reading, Pennsylvania while playing basketball for the Golden Wolves.
“I really admire nurses, especially this past year,” Roney said. “It’s a tough job, but it’s how I was raised. I want to help people.”
If you ask around, Roney has what it takes to excel at the next level in nursing and basketball.
“It’s not a coincidence he wants to go into the healthcare field and help others,” Powers said. “He’s a very unselfish, giving kid and from a basketball perspective, it’s very easy to coach when you have someone that talented, and he really learned the way we like to do things here from a system perspective. He is one of the better players to come through this school in quite a while.”
And he will always be the best buddy for his brother AJ.
“I just love being able to see a smile on his face,” Ryan said. “I just love seeing him happy. He just loves to play sports.”
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
