24 SEPTEMBER 2026 By Mark Hays Arcadia High’s girls basketball program will enter the season with a new head coach in Myron Crawford, who will be joined by assistant coaches Montana Oltrogge, Kay Port and Bethany Roessler. Crawford’s basketball roots go back to the south side of Chicago, where he grew up playing the game and watching Michael Jordan. Those early experiences helped inspire his interest in coaching, and he began studying basketball more closely. While attending Morehouse College, Crawford focused on academics but continued playing intramural leagues. He eventually started attending professional practices to learn from coaches. He also met multiple times with legendary coach Pat Summitt to discuss what she looked for in successful teams. Crawford later volunteered with USA Basketball, coached at the youth level and attended the 2016 U.S. Women’s National Team training camp. Since then, he said he has helped coach more than 50 players who went on to play collegiately or professionally. Crawford has coached with Arizona Select and Arizona Elite and served as an assistant at Casteel High and Xavier Prep. At Casteel, he helped the team reach its first 5A Final Four in 2019. Xavier Hall of Famer Jennifer Gillom mentored him, helping him and the team win its first basketball state championship in 2024. Crawford said his coachi ng philosophy centers on fundamentals, shared responsibility, and emphasizing improvement over results. “Fundamentals first. Shared responsibility. Process over outcome,” Crawford said. “I like to play in transition, with great pace, and high-level IQ. Defensively, I want to teach our players to make the game a night to remember for the opponent. That includes pressure, communication, and a ton of energy.” Crawford said his priority is building a strong community within the program and creating an environment in which athletes can develop confidence while enjoying the sport. He also hopes to emphasize passing, shooting, and support for multi- sport athletes. “I want Arcadia to be proud of the product that we put out there on and off the court,” he said. Crawford has already held camps combining basketball and yoga as he forms the program. “I am most excited about laying a great foundation. Cementing a base for our culture to stand on,” he said. Port brings extensive playing, coaching and education experience to the staff. She played point guard at Perry High School in Massillon, Ohio, from 1973-76 and was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010. She began coaching in 1976 and eventually accumulated 28 years of experience across several sports, including 12 years in Ohio and the past two at Xavier. She spent 43 years in education as a teacher, middle school administrator, and educational service center director. Her coaching philosophy emphasizes sportsmanship, academics and developing a lasting appreciation for basketball. “I believe you start with exemplifying sportsmanship to the athletes, school, community, and parents/caregivers,” Port said. “I hope players develop a deeper love for the game and the excitement of its complexities, work ethic, and skill development that it takes to compete at the high school level.” “We are going to be a completely different team this year,” Crawford said, “and I hope that our seniors can graduate knowing that they had a great experience playing for me.” New faces on the basketball court at Arcadia Myron Crawford Kay Port Crawford brings years of high school, club and youth coaching experience to his new role at Arcadia. PHOTOS COURTESY OF ARCADIA HIGH SCHOOL By Robin Sewell Heart disease takes on a different meaning when it happens to someone you love. For Justine Hurry and Andrea Robertson, it became personal when their fathers got sick. Both remember the fear of watching their dads face life-threatening heart problems. At the time, neither could have known how much those experiences would stay with them or how important those early lessons about heart health would become. Hurry was only 17 when her father suffered his first heart attack and underwent a quadruple bypass. “It was a really scary experience to go through and so hard to watch my dad recover,” she says. Heart disease would continue to touch her family. Her father later suffered several strokes, and her mother struggled with congestive heart failure and an arrythmia. Looking back, Hurry says her parents came from a generation where there simply wasn’t the same conversation about prevention, nutrition and heart health that there is today. For her, though, awareness came early. At 19, Hurry began seeing a cardiologist after being diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse. Watching both of her parents deal with heart-related illness also changed the way she approached her own life. “My whole attitude of eating healthy, exercising, and wanting to be the best version of myself, not just for me, but for my kids and husband is so important,” she says. Robertson’s awareness began with her father’s TIA, often called a mini stroke, that she says almost went undiagnosed. Having already learned to advocate for her daughter who has autism, Robertson knew to trust her instincts and keep asking questions. She’s glad she did. Doctors discovered her dad needed a triple bypass. Seven years later, those bypasses failed. That could have been a devastating turn, but advances in cardiovascular care gave her family another option. Robertson’s father became the first patient in Arizona and second in the country to receive treatment with the Shockwave Javelin Peripheral IVL Catheter, technology used to treat severely blocked arteries. “Today, he is doing amazingly well,” Robertson says. “Without this technology, he simply wouldn’t be here.” For years, Robertson had been paying attention to someone else’s heart. Then one night, it was her own. She woke from a sound sleep with her heart racing. It felt like it was skipping beats. She was sweating and her chest felt tight. “At first, I tried talking myself out of waking my husband because I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it,” she says. Robertson had recently joined the Phoenix Heart Ball committee and had been learning more about heart health and the importance of listening to your body. This time, she listened. Robertson went to the hospital and was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation or AFib. That experience changed the way she thinks about her own health. “As a mom, it’s easy to put everyone else first,” she says. “But I’ve learned that taking care of myself is part of taking care of my family.” For both, involvement with the Phoenix Heart Ball has built on lessons that began years earlier around their own families and reinforced the importance of knowing your body and speaking up when something doesn’t feel right. Hurry and Robertson first learned about heart health by worrying about someone they love. By sharing their stories, they hope to remind other women the importance of taking care of their own hearts. phoenixheartball.heart.org When someone else’s heart becomes your wake-up call Andrea Robertson Justine Hurry

25 SEPTEMBER 2026