Tony Silver was born on May 6th, 1946 in Asheville, North Carolina. At a young age, his family moved to Lakeland, Florida where he attended Kathleen High School, playing basketball and baseball. Tony played baseball and graduated from Bethany Nazarene College (now Southern Nazarene University) in Bethany, Oklahoma. His first teaching job brought him to Bakersfield in 1969 as a Physical Education teacher in the Fruitvale District.
In 1972, Tony began coaching football at North High School, which would be the beginning of a long coaching career in both football and baseball at North. He coached FS and JV Football from 1972 to 1977. In 1978, Tony moved to the Varsity coaching staff as an assistant and remained on the Varsity staff until 2002.
Tony’s baseball coaching career began in 1975 as the freshmen coach at North. After two seasons, he became the JV coach in 1977. After two seasons as the JV coach, Tony replaced Sam Barton as the Varsity baseball coach, a position he held until 2006. During his 28 year tenure as a head coach, Tony lead the Stars to eight (8) league championship titles in his career, including SYL titles in 1981, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1992, and SWYL titles in 1995, and 1997. Among those league titles, the 1992 league championship included an undefeated league record in the old SYL. Tony’s coaching career was highlighted by the 1981 CIF (Valley) Section Championship.
During Tony’s 28 year tenure at North, he amassed a record of 483-275-6. His total career wins for baseball ranked 5th all-time in the central section at the time of his retirement.
Tony taught at North for 38 years from 1971 to 2007. During his time at North, he was a physical education teacher, physical education department chair, Assistant Dean, and Athletic Director. His retirement from coaching in 2006 and from teaching in 2007 did not end his coaching career. He has remained an assistant baseball coach continuously since stepping down as head baseball coach and has been an assistant football coach at Bakersfield College since 2008.
Since retirement Tony spends time with his wife Judy, three children, Crysta, Todd, and Cy, as well as three perfect grandkids.