Remembering legendary LCMR coach and teacher and former terrific athlete Steve Riley

Posted: February 15th 2026

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

Steve Riley was renowned in many circles as a terrific basketball player in his day. At Lower Cape May Regional High School, he became well known as a physical education teacher and successful coach of numerous sports at the school.

People in multiple communities are in mourning after the long-retired Riley passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer last week.

Mr. Riley first made his mark in athletics as an outstanding basketball player at Lenape High School in Medford. The 1966 graduate was a two-time all-South Jersey selection and finished his career as the Indians’ all-time leading scorer with 1,147 points. That record stood for more than 55 years until current St. Joseph’s University standout Derek Simpson surpassed it in 2022. Mr. Riley and some of his Lenape teammates were present when Lenape honored Simpson for the achievement at the team’s next home game that season.

Mr. Riley went on to play three seasons at Division I Murray State University – freshmen weren’t permitted to play at the Division I level at the time – and appeared in 31 games over his career, averaging 2.3 points per game. Murray State went a combined 55-23 overall and won two Ohio Valley Conference titles during his time in the program.

STEVE RILEY

Mr. Riley eventually landed at Lower Cape May as a health and physical education teacher in the mid 1970s and coached multiple sports, including basketball and cross country.

But it was in tennis where Mr. Riley made his biggest impact. He started the boys tennis program at the school in 1980 and coached for 17 seasons. His teams went 255-80 and won six conference championships within the Cape-Atlantic League over the course of his career. His teams never endured a losing season. After stepping down as tennis coach at Lower, Mr. Riley later became an assistant women’s tennis coach at Stockton University.

“Steve had such a huge impact on me,” said Greg Douglass, himself a longtime tennis coach at Lower who won the CAL individual boys tennis title as a student athlete at the school in 1982. “I was just in awe of his athletic ability. In gym class, whether we’d be playing basketball or softball or whatever, he’d jump in and he’d be the most athletic guy there.

“Everyone always wanted to take his class. Growing up, that’s who I wanted to be as an athlete.”

Mr. Riley co-coached the boys and girls cross country teams with Jim Ridgway and helped lead the girls team to the program’s only CAL title in 1990. He also led some very good Caper Tiger boys basketball teams during his four-season tenure as head coach in the mid 1970s, one of which finished second to Wildwood in the CAL standings.

Mr. Riley is a member of two halls of fame. He was inducted into the Al Carino Basketball Club of South Jersey Hall of Fame in 1996 and was enshrined into the Lower Cape May Regional High School Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.

“He was a very good coach,” said Ridgway, who was also Mr. Riley’s assistant basketball coach at Lower in the mid 1970s. “He had a little Bobby Knight style in him because he was tough, but his players in all the sports he coached loved him. He always had good teams, no matter what, and I think that’s because he was just a very, very competitive guy who really wanted to win.”