(Our Senior of the Month feature highlights a senior student-athlete who exemplifies excellence both on and off the field. We consider things like athletic ability, academic achievement, leadership qualities and the athlete’s impact on the sports teams they play for and their school as a whole. Pitman High senior three-sport star Stephen Devanney is our choice for the month of June.)
By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
Pitman High has been a force in South Jersey Group 1 competition for the better part of the last four years. Although a collective effort throughout, there’s been one senior who has made a major impact in three different sports.
Stephen Devanney’s highly talented play in football, basketball and baseball has made his name well known throughout not only the Pitman community, but all of South Jersey athletics.
In football, the defensive side of the ball was where he’s always excelled, ending his career with 72.5 tackles and nine forced fumbles, including eight this past season. However, this past fall, Devanney shifted and had a very productive season on both sides of the ball. He had 22 receptions for 469 yards and eight touchdowns. That’s good for 21 yards a catch. Not too bad for someone who caught only one varsity pass prior to the 2023 season.
“Stephen was an absolute force on both sides of the football this past season, and his production was that much more impressive when you consider that teams consistently tried to take him away,” said Chris Thomas, Pitman’s head football coach. “His ability to control the middle of the field as a tight end as well as his knack for forcing turnovers and getting to the quarterback on defense proved to be invaluable to our team. He’s always had the athleticism to be a dominant receiver, and he was a perfect fit for our offense this past season, specifically with our play-action shots down the field. When you factor in his character and accomplishments as an all-around student-athlete, Stephen is truly irreplaceable.”
Not only did he have an excellent senior season for the football team, but he arguably had a better one for the basketball program. He served as Robin to Batman — 1000-point scorer Elijah Crispin — scoring 354 points this winter. That’s more than 100 points better than his previous three seasons combined.
The basketball team captured the South Jersey Group 1 title in a 60-56 victory over KIPP Cooper Norcross Academy on March 2. Devanney scored a game-high 22 points in the title-winning effort.
“Stephen was awesome this year and he was a massive part in our success,” Crispin, a junior, said. “He’s an amazing teammate. He is a super confident, amazing person, and is a winner. He does whatever is needed to win. I’m so glad he played with us. We wouldn’t have been able to do what we did without him.”
After stepping up big in the fall and winter, the time of the year he always looks forward to is spring. Baseball is the sport that has always come naturally for him as a versatile utility weapon.
He hit .310 this season with 27 hits, setting the Pitman all-time record with 138 hits, and he also finished his distinguished career 91 RBIs, 38 stolen bases and a career batting average of .442.
“Utility player, in my opinion, has a negative connotation — you don’t really have a position. He excels anywhere we put him and he is happy to play where he is needed,” said Pitman baseball coach John Hopely.
You can ask any coach Devanney has played for, and they’ll all tell you the same thing. His play speaks for itself. What’s even more impressive is that he holds a 4.0 grade-point average and is a member of the National Honor Society.
“He’s an incredible human being, he really is. He’s locked in, he loves his teams, he loves the players — he’s been a starter for us since he was a freshman and he does everything for us. He pitches and he’s our No. 1, plays great defense and broke the school record for hits. And, he’s a 4.0 (GPA) student — he does everything right. He truly is a model student-athlete and I hope that term isn’t overused, because it really identifies who he is,” Hopely said. “He doesn’t waste any time. He wants to compete all the time. He had a successful football season and a wonderful basketball season, and it rolled right over into baseball. He’s a true leader. He can get into a guy’s face when he needs to, but he rarely needs to. He takes guys aside and will talk to them. He’s the guy that everybody want to follow. He’s out there taking extra batting practice after practice, shows up early, takes BP in the cage, and that rolls over to the young guys.
“He’s the big man on campus, he really is,” Hopely added. “He’s the guy everybody wants to hang around with, and I can’t say it enough — he truly is a great human being. He has great parents, a great family, and I’m very lucky to have had him as a player.”
Said junior Hudson Rue, a teammate of Devanney’s in all three sports, “he has to be the greatest player I’ve ever played with. He hits the ball all over the place. It might not be going over the fence every time, but 120-plus hits, he’s been so good for us. Ever since I got here, I never knew how he did it, but he always seems to put the ball in gap. He’s a freak athlete. I played football with him and he was unbelievable. He had three touchdowns in our last game to win it for us (a 29-13 win over Clayton in late November), and in basketball he was one of the main contributors on a championship team. He just knows how to compete. He put this team on his back and times and brought us along with him.”
“It’s been a lot of fun, growing up with all these guys, we’re all close and everybody respects each other,” Devanney said of his career as a Panther. “You get to make so many connections and friends with all the kids playing different sports. It just keeps building.”
In today’s age of specialized sports, it’s rare to see a kid who still plays football, basketball and baseball into his senior year. Devanney is an outlier in that respect.
“It’s definitely tough, especially in baseball because a lot of these guys are hitting all year and I’m not,” he said. “I’m not out practicing football or basketball (when it’s not in season). I love playing (all the sports) and that’s why I do it.”
Committed to Immaculata University for baseball, Devanney said he hopes he’s remembered in Pitman lore. He probably doesn’t have to worry about that. Someday he’ll be in the school’s athletic hall of fame.
“I hope people remember me for how hard I work. Even though I wasn’t able to be at a lot of offseason workouts for a particular sport, I just want people to know how hard I worked during the season to get to where I am. I think it shows on the field,” Devanney said. “There aren’t many who still do it. I think Hudson is the only guy who does it with me, but it’s pretty cool being able to play all three sports. The best part was probably the playoff run in basketball. All the Pitman teams have always had trouble in the playoffs, but that team was just different. We didn’t care who we were playing against.”
Staff Writer Dave O’Sullivan contributed to this story.
