'Basketball is like the family business' for generations of James Buchanan's Stoners

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

If you’re ever traveling through farm country near Mercersburg, you might hear that sound off in the distance.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

That’s the beat that moves the Stoners, the large, extended family who have worked their land, a massive family dairy farm on Oellig Road, about seven miles from James Buchanan High, for somewhere around a century.

After the chores are done, many of the Stoners wind down by playing basketball. It started near or in barns.

It has since evolved from a hoop hanging out near a silo to a full outdoor court, engineered by Eric Stoner, that is part of the rural landscape. The “basketball palace” is the practice facility, rec center and shooting academy for what’s become the other family business.

“All I can say is that it’s always been in the blood,” said Eric. “It is something with our families … Athletics for sure.”

The game has morphed a tight-knit family’s recreation into a pipeline of players for the James Buchanan basketball teams. That pipeline has been supplied by three families making up the Stoner clan.

For nearly 40 years, a Stoner – or a Stoner relation – has been on a Rockets basketball roster.

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It started in 1988 when Todd Stoner chose to play, changing the family’s athletic course. He was followed by his sister, Becky (Stoner) Miller, – who is JB’s all-time leading scorer – along with cousin Eric and six other family members.

It started in the humblest of ways.

“(My dad) had a hoop out by the silos, but in the winter, it was really nice because he put up a hoop in the barn for us,” Becky said. “We didn’t put any equipment in that area and there was just one incandescent light, but it was just indoor basketball … it was really cool. We had a good time.”

Lately, the “farm team” has had a resurgence as crop of girls' basketball players – daughters of the first wave of players – have stolen the ball and are taking it to the hoop for the Rockets.

It reignited with Eric's daughter, Mackenzie Stoner, who became the family’s third 1,000-point scorer (following Eric and Becky). She graduated in 2023 and is now being redshirted at Point Park University in Pittsburgh.

Presently, cousin Sophia is a James Buchanan senior and Kyleigh, also Eric's daughter, is a sophomore, both making their own marks for the family name.

“I am so happy to be part of this. I am,” said Sophia, Kevin Stoner's daughter. “It is so much fun being part of a big family, especially with athletics. There is always somewhere to go, someone to watch play, something to do. I just love being surrounded by my family.

“Basketball is like the family business.”

One Stoner breaks the mold

If it wasn’t for Todd Stoner, none of this would have happened.

Becky and Eric both recall that all the Stoner boys – including their fathers and other brothers and cousins – were wrestlers.

But one day, for some reason, Todd decided to break ranks with the grapplers and play basketball.

“My dad was a wrestler, and cousin Mark was a wrestler. I’m pretty sure Alan was a wrestler and so was Tim, and they were all cousins,” Eric said. “Todd was really the first one to start the whole basketball thing. But I really don’t know why.”

For whatever reason, Todd’s choice made the Stoners get off the mat and onto the hardwood. That, in itself, turned Todd into the family Pied Piper.

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“All of a sudden, four of the boys – I’m one of the four – started playing basketball,” Eric said. “It was crazy to see that. It just kind of kicked off from there. For me, basketball has been my No. 1 since I’ve been little.”

The basketball passion grew as Eric and Becky attended Rockets games to watch Todd and his friends play, including Clint Brown, one of the school’s all-time scorers.

“I obsessed with those guys. I remember coming home after games, pretending I was one of them,” Eric said. “And it just started from there to be honest. They were so good, and that culture (former JB coach Dick) Heckman had, it just kept growing from there.”

From there, Eric honed his basketball craft with dedication, building off his belief of “hard work” in both farming and basketball.

It led him to his 1,184-point career at JB and two strong, winning seasons at Penn State-Mont Alto, where he met his wife, Taylor. After the Mont Alto stint, Eric had a reality check.

“I could have gone on, but school wasn’t for me,” he said. “I knew I had the farm to fall back on.”

Becky earned her basketball chops, playing mostly on the farm with an array of opponents.

“Some of my earliest and my best memories come from when I was young, me and my dad would play or we would play against my two brothers – even though my one brother Tim, wrestled, and Todd. I would usually end up in tears if we lost.

“I was at that age when you hated to lose. I remember inside on the chalkboard; we would keep track of who won that day. Maybe we played 10 times or maybe we played 100 times, but those are really good memories I have of our family life.”

Then, when Todd started playing basketball, Becky attended all his games, piquing her interest even more. She routinely went out in the yard to shoot on her own and played pickup games with her brothers and their friends.

The biggest break came when she was invited into the boys’ open gym period by Heckman. It allowed her to shoot at the side baskets and watch the boys play.

“I’m so happy I got the chance to play boys. That made me tougher,” Becky said. “I wouldn’t have made it playing in college if I didn’t have that. Tough love … the way boys kind of treat you … you lost, they’d trash talk you a bit. It kind of toughens you up. …. I got to see a lot of quality of basketball being played when I was a young girl.”

Becky played during some of JB’s best girls’ seasons in the 90s. She starred as JB’s four-year offensive-minded point guard, scoring 1,600-plus points before heading to Millersville University.

“As a kid, getting 1,000 points for sure was my goal,” Becky said. “That just seemed your name (appearing on the gym wall) forever. No one can take it down,” she said. “And then when you get that in your junior year, you’re like, it would be pretty cool to break the record. I don’t think I tried … It certainly was a goal, but I hope I wasn’t just shooting shots that I shouldn’t be shooting. Hopefully I was trying to put team first all the time.”

The JB glory years are in the past for Eric and Becky, but the love of basketball remains. Now they are passing their knowledge and experience on to their kids and others as coaches.

Becky is the girls' varsity head coach, while Eric runs the JV program. Becky admits there are times when basketball is an escape, especially when she is found shooting baskets on the side courts in JB’s gym as her teams warmup. It’s her stress therapy.

“I don’t want to say that basketball is my identity. It’s not equal,” Becky said. “But it is definitely a pillar of what makes me. Most coaches will admit that. I have my family, a teaching career, my hobbies and whatever … Basketball is a big pillar to who I am. Again, the more I coach, it’s less about winning and more about perseverance."

The second era of Stoners at James Buchanan

In essence, 2003 was the end of the inaugural, golden age of Stoner basketball.

That first group of nine siblings and cousins passed through the Rockets’ program. The core group had moved on to adulthood and started families.

Then, in 2015, Stoners Era II started with Todd’s sons, Owen and Caden.

The Stoners’ new breed is mostly female as the girls in the family have picked up the basketball baton to keep that family tradition going.

MacKenzie Stoner burst on the scene and picked up where her dad (Eric) and aunt (Becky) left off with her 1,200-plus point high school career.

“It was engrained in me,” she said. “My dad – ever since I could walk – he was on me. We would go out and shoot every day, even if it was snowing or raining. I think with all that hard work, I needed to do something with it.”

Eric’s belief of “success is the product of hard work and dedication” remains a fixture in the family. Before he started working with Mackenzie, he checked her temperature.

“It’s tough. It was definitely a conversation you have multiple times like, ‘You’re sure this is what you want to do and if it is, we are going to put the work in to be really good at it,’” Eric said. “That’s something I made sure.

“We’d be in the barn when it was 30 degrees and just be shooting. She wanted it. I wanted it. And it just kind of worked out when it came to that.

“I didn’t want to push that line to where she didn’t want it anymore. I just made sure we had that balance, but it’s not easy.”

That approach tested Mackenzie.

“It did (challenge me) a little bit. But then I knew had to keep it going. I knew that I could do something – like a legacy,” she said. “I could do something that no one else had ever done. I wouldn’t say I did better than the ones before me, but I wanted to be as good as them, to go to college and get a free education.”

Mackenzie checked all those boxes. Since putting her name on JB’s wall, she signed to and is now attending Point Park University, a NAIA school which scheduled to join the Division II Mountain East Conference – which includes Frostburg and Fairmont W.Va. – in the fall.

For now, a redshirt season has her on pause, for good reason.

“I don’t travel but I practice and go to home games. I’ll be getting an extra year of eligibility so I can play basketball for like five years." she said. "I think (coach Dave Scarborough) just wanted us to watch how college is – the experience – which I like. My real freshman year will be next year so I will be extra prepared for that.”

Basketball, the free education and a redshirt year fits perfectly into Mackenzie’s plan.

“I’m majoring in education, and I’d like to be a teacher and then at night I’d be the head coach – (at JB) or somewhere else. Either one. I’m not picky,” said Mackenzie, who volunteers as a coach at JB when she’s home. “My younger sister would still be in high school when I graduate. It would be cool to coach her … and maybe my little cousin. That would be neat.”

Next Stoner up for the Rockets

Sophia Stoner is nearing the end of her James Buchanan career.

She has straddled the line between the first generation of Stoner basketball players and the rebirth of the legacy. It’s the best of both worlds.

“I started playing as soon as I could pick up a ball, and my dad (Kevin) could take me out,” Sophia said. “It’s really cool, seeing my parents and looking at their photos on how they did that. I look up to them and try to be as good as they were.

“I started playing a little when I was 5. But I remember going up to the barn and practicing with my little basketball. I really enjoyed it, spending time with him and my older cousin (Mackenzie). I watched her play and I love playing with her up at our barn because that’s where we all got started. It was just a lot of fun.”

By her own admission, Sophia’s goal was to play up to Stoner standards, accomplishing it in her own way.

“It can be a big pressure,” she said. “I’ve come from a big family and people know me, but I’d like to be known for myself. I guess my defensive skill has got me somewhere, so I can be proud of that.

“It’s been a big part of my life. I don’t know if I’ll go to college and play. We’ll see. I feel like it shaped my personality to who I am today. I still have room for improvement, but I feel like I got to be the best defensive player I can be, and I really enjoy that.”

The only question remaining is “How long can the Stoner’s other family business can last”?

“My sister has some girls in elementary school, and you start to get so extended with the second cousins,” Becky said. “It’s neat because of what our family has done. Who knows, if Sophia or her brothers want to stay and farm, it’s going to continue because they will be here.

“I wouldn’t trade my childhood for anything. We were outside all the time working on the farm. And when it was down time, we were in the swimming pool or playing 3-on-3. It’s like you don’t know any different. I’m so thankful. I learned so much. I had wonderful parents, and I spent a lot of my childhood with my cousins. You learn a lot on your own about life without having a parent helicoptering over you all the time. It was a great upbringing.”

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: James Buchanan basketball has generations of Stoners on the roster