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PHILADELPHIA (AP) – John Chaney’s hoarse, booming voice drowned out the gym when he berated Temple players for a turnover – on top of his basketball sins – or lesser effort. His voice was the loudest when it came to picking unpopular fights, attacking NCAA policies he said discriminated against black athletes. And it could be profane when Chaney let his own sense of justice get the better of him with fiery clashes that threatened to undermine his role as a father figure for dozens of his underprivileged players.
Complicated, cranky, quick with a quip, Chaney was an imposing presence on the field and a court jester, while also turning the Owls perched in rugged north Philadelphia into one of the toughest teams in the country.
“He wrapped his arms around you and made you part of his family,” said Chaney’s successor Fran Dunphy.
Chaney died on Friday, just eight days after his 89th birthday, from a short, unspecified illness.
Chaney led Temple to 17 NCAA tournament appearances in 24 seasons, including five NCAA regional finals. Chaney has won 741 victories as a college coach. He was twice named National Coach of the Year and his teams at Temple won six Atlantic 10 conference titles. He led Cheyney, in suburban Philadelphia, to the 1978 Division II National Championship.
When Chaney retired in 2006, the scowl was gone, the dark, sunken eyes behind sunglasses, and the over-the-top personality turned subdued: “Excuse me while I’m gone,” he says.
He became the de facto father of dozens of his players, many of whom came to Temple from broken houses, violent education, and bad schools. He has often said that his biggest goal is simply to give poor children a chance to get an education. He said the SAT was culturally biased and he joined John Thompson of Georgetown – another giant in the black coaching community who died in August – in speaking out against NCAA academic demands that appeared to isolate “the youngster from a poor and disadvantaged environment. .
Eddie Jones and Aaron McKie, perhaps Chaney’s two best players, were Prop 48 rookies who turned their Temple years into successful NBA careers. McKie is now Temple’s coach and leaned on his mentor when he had to shape the program.
“Coach Chaney was like a father to me,” McKie said. “He taught not only me but all of his players more than how to be successful in basketball. He taught us life lessons to make us better individuals off the pitch. I owe him so much. He made me the man I am today.
When Chaney joined Temple in 1982, he took over a program that had only two nominations for the NCAA tournament in the previous decade and that was not widely known outside of Philadelphia. Often times, as he urged his team, he would put himself in situations that he later regretted. He was known for his fiery temper – sending a player he called a “jerk” into a 2005 game to commit serious fouls. Chaney served time and apologized.
In 1994, he had a heated exchange after a game against UMass in which he threatened to kill coach John Calipari. Chaney apologized and was suspended for one game. The two later became friends.
“Coach Chaney and I have fought in every game we have played – as everyone knows, sometimes literally – but in the end he was my friend,” Calipari tweeted. “Throughout my career we have talked about basketball and life. I will miss these discussions and I will do so to my friend.
In 1984, Chaney grabbed George Washington coach Gerry Gimelstob by the shoulders at halftime in a game.
Chaney, whose deep, dark eyes seemed suitable for a school whose mascot is the owl, was intense on the sidelines. Her loud, booming voice could be heard in an arena, and her nearly perfect designer clothes were in shambles after most matches. After a particularly bad call, he stared at the umpires. He once looked at a referee for a whole timeout with a look he dubbed the “One-eyed Jack”.
Although he seemed constantly cranky, especially during games, Chaney was often tender and funny. He loved to tell stories. His post-match press conferences were at times more entertaining than the games that came before them. His press conference on retirement in March 2006 was not about barriers, but about the role of education in helping the poor and disadvantaged. They included funny anecdotes, punches at the school administration, and playful threats to slap the mayor.
After losing to Michigan State on his last trip to the NCAA Regional Finals in 2001, he was the same old John Chaney – with his eyes full of water, wearing a ripped necktie and poetic hair removal on another missed chance at the final Square.
“It’s something we all dream of, but very often the dreams are not enough,” he said. “Very often you don’t achieve everything. But you have to understand that the growth you see in young people like these is probably the greatest achievement you can achieve.
Temple’s playing style under Chaney has never looked better than Duke’s or North Carolina’s. Slow, patient and disciplined, their top teams rarely made mistakes, rarely returned the ball and always played hard defense. Chaney was simply fearless in all aspects of his work.
He refused to load his schedule with easy teams and instead traveled to hostile grounds to play for teams said to be brimming with talent. He’s been outspoken about NCAA recruiting rules, which he says hurt players trying to improve their position in life.
“John Chaney was more than just a Hall of Fame basketball coach. He was a Hall of Fame in life, ”said Dunphy. “He touched countless lives, including mine.”
Chaney arrived at Temple before the 1982-83 season. Sitting in one of Philadelphia’s toughest neighborhoods, Temple was the perfect match for a coach who prided himself on helping players turn their basketball skills into college degrees.
He was 50 years old and was already successful at Cheyney State University, where he had a record 225-59 in 10 seasons.
Chaney was born January 21, 1932 in Jacksonville, Florida. He lived in a neighborhood called Black Bottom, where, he said, torrential rains brought rats. When he was in the ninth grade, his family moved to Philadelphia, where his stepfather found a job in a shipyard.
Although known as a Hall of Fame coach, he was also one of the best players in Philadelphia. He was the 1951 Philadelphia Public League Player of the Year at Benjamin Franklin High School.
A graduate of Bethune-Cookman College, he was an NAIA All-American and NAIA Tournament MVP before turning pro in 1955 to play with the Harlem Globetrotters. With black players still being discriminated against in the NBA, he spent 1955-1966 in the Eastern Pro League with Sunbury and Williamsport, where he was twice the league’s MVP.
“He knew what I needed when I started coaching. He just encouraged that and allowed me to grow and allow me to make mistakes and was there to pick me up when things didn’t work out the way I thought they would, ”said the South Carolina coach and former Owls coach Dawn Staley. “Everyone in their life, be it in coaching, outside of coaching or in any profession, needs someone as a Chaney coach in their life.
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Associated Press writer Jonathan Poet contributed to this report.
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