Beyond the Court: Meet Coach Tony
06/02/2022
Anthony Rivers, aka Coach Tony, miraculously survived a horrific crash — which changed his outlook on life forever. AAU spoke to him at the AAU Memorial Day Classic about his story.
By: Kelsey Burr
Anthony Rivers, aka Coach Tony to his team, currently coaches the Florida Pythons, a 16U AAU member team in Jacksonville. But he almost didn’t live to see this day. On February 2, 2006 a fateful, nearly deadly crash, changed everything.
“I was coming down to Lakeland and I was delivering some trailers. I started feeling kind of light-headed, and I was just trying to make it out of the construction zone, when I just passed out. I went across my four lanes, across the median, and up on the other side of the interstate and hit another 18-wheeler head on,” Rivers said.
The crash scene was so horrific — and Coach Tony’s injuries were so severe — that paramedics assumed he did not survive.
“It knocked the motor in on me. So when paramedics got there, they actually went to the other guy first, because they thought I was dead. Then they found out I was okay, and they cut me out of the truck and got me to the hospital as fast as they could,” he recounts.
The crash left Coach Tony with a multitude of serious injuries to overcome. He broke his femur bone in three places, his scalp was peeled back, and his neck was cut up. He spent 14 days in the hospital. While there, the doctors and nurses ran multiple tests to figure out why he had passed out, but they didn’t find an answer.
Once recovered, his outlook on life changed.
“It made me realize life is short,” Rivers said. “I left my home, kissed my family goodbye like I did every night, and two and a half hours later I could have been dead.”
He knew he was spared for a reason — and he wanted to make a difference and be more involved with his children’s lives.
“My boys kept begging me to be their basketball coach and football coach, but I always wanted to work more, make more money. When I had my accident, it made me realize that life is too short and to enjoy your family now,” he said.
So, “dad” soon became “Coach Tony”. A job he takes very seriously.
"He is always researching ways to better the players. He listens to their concerns. He joins every coaching site that has anything that will be of use in developing his players. For my husband, it's always about the difference you can make in a player's life," Evelyn Rivers, Coach Tony's wife, said.
Coach Tony played basketball when he was younger, but he knew he needed to gain experience on the coaching side in order to access the full potential of his players, and himself.
He began by training under other coaches at the YMCA, soon becoming a head coach and taking his team to two championships. That’s when he decided he wanted to make the move to AAU.
“It wasn’t challenging anymore, because we were winning. AAU is more challenging because you never know what you’re going to incur. Every game is different,” Rivers explains.
Now, with the Florida Pythons, who he’s already won one championship with, he tries to instill in his players the important life lessons he’s learned.
“I instill in my players to live every day like it’s your last. And when you come into the gym and train, train like it’s the last day you’re going to be training,” Coach said. “And take what you learn, and pass it on to somebody else. Because if you’re in this world, and you’re not passing something on that helps the next man, you’re not living.”
Anthony Rivers, aka Coach Tony to his team, currently coaches the Florida Pythons, a 16U AAU member team in Jacksonville. But he almost didn’t live to see this day. On February 2, 2006 a fateful, nearly deadly crash, changed everything.
“I was coming down to Lakeland and I was delivering some trailers. I started feeling kind of light-headed, and I was just trying to make it out of the construction zone, when I just passed out. I went across my four lanes, across the median, and up on the other side of the interstate and hit another 18-wheeler head on,” Rivers said.
The crash scene was so horrific — and Coach Tony’s injuries were so severe — that paramedics assumed he did not survive.
“It knocked the motor in on me. So when paramedics got there, they actually went to the other guy first, because they thought I was dead. Then they found out I was okay, and they cut me out of the truck and got me to the hospital as fast as they could,” he recounts.
The crash left Coach Tony with a multitude of serious injuries to overcome. He broke his femur bone in three places, his scalp was peeled back, and his neck was cut up. He spent 14 days in the hospital. While there, the doctors and nurses ran multiple tests to figure out why he had passed out, but they didn’t find an answer.
Once recovered, his outlook on life changed.
“It made me realize life is short,” Rivers said. “I left my home, kissed my family goodbye like I did every night, and two and a half hours later I could have been dead.”
He knew he was spared for a reason — and he wanted to make a difference and be more involved with his children’s lives.
“My boys kept begging me to be their basketball coach and football coach, but I always wanted to work more, make more money. When I had my accident, it made me realize that life is too short and to enjoy your family now,” he said.
So, “dad” soon became “Coach Tony”. A job he takes very seriously.
"He is always researching ways to better the players. He listens to their concerns. He joins every coaching site that has anything that will be of use in developing his players. For my husband, it's always about the difference you can make in a player's life," Evelyn Rivers, Coach Tony's wife, said.
Coach Tony played basketball when he was younger, but he knew he needed to gain experience on the coaching side in order to access the full potential of his players, and himself.
He began by training under other coaches at the YMCA, soon becoming a head coach and taking his team to two championships. That’s when he decided he wanted to make the move to AAU.
“It wasn’t challenging anymore, because we were winning. AAU is more challenging because you never know what you’re going to incur. Every game is different,” Rivers explains.
Now, with the Florida Pythons, who he’s already won one championship with, he tries to instill in his players the important life lessons he’s learned.
“I instill in my players to live every day like it’s your last. And when you come into the gym and train, train like it’s the last day you’re going to be training,” Coach said. “And take what you learn, and pass it on to somebody else. Because if you’re in this world, and you’re not passing something on that helps the next man, you’re not living.”
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