Gump Whiteside has announced his retirement as the hockey coach at Holy Ghost Prep. Whiteside will step down at the end of the 2023 season, his 15th as the Firebirds’ head coach.
In that span, Whiteside’s teams have won two Flyers Cup Class AAA titles (in 2015 and ’17), the 2015 Pennsylvania Class AAA state championship, and five National Scholastic Invitational tournament titles.
In 2020, Whiteside was honored by USA Hockey with the 2020 Bob O’Connor Award for Excellence in Coaching Education. The award is given each year to a member of the volunteer coaching staff of USA Hockey’s coaching education program.
Whiteside previously coached at Germantown Academy. He will remain at Holy Ghost Prep as the assistant director of athletics and assistant director for the Holt Center and facilities.
Rick has worked in print and broadcast journalism for more than 35 years. He's covered golf in one medium or another for more than 30. He is the co-author of the book So You Want to Play Golf with PGA professional Kim Verrecchio and the host of the Women's Golf Report podcast.
Most recently, Rick served as an associate editor for The Mulligan Magazine. He also served as an associate editor for Philadelphia Golf Magazine and New Jersey State Golf from 2004-07.
Rick covered his first LPGA Tour event in 1986 and continues to cover women's golf for various media outlets. High on his bucket list is having the opportunity to one day play in an LPGA Tour pro am.
Rick is also a longtime correspondent for two suburban Philadelphia daily newspapers, the Intelligencer and the Bucks County Courier Times in Doylestown, PA. Over the course of his career he has coverzed a wide variety of sporting events.
He is also a veteran play by play and public address announcer, and handles the PA mic for the nationally ranked Delaware Valley University football program.
Rick is also a longtime contributor to Referee, a magazine devoted to sports officiating. He called his first baseball game at age 13 and continues to umpire softball and baseball today.
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