Two weeks ago, the basketball community mourned the loss of legendary former basketball coach John Chaney, at the age of 89. In 2001 he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. But did you know that Chaney had a Williamsport connection?
During their last two seasons of existence, that connection was his play for the Williamsport Billies of the Eastern Professional Basketball League during the 1962-63 and 1963-64 seasons. He served as a player-coach in one of those seasons, providing him with some of his first coaching experience.
Chaney had a fine career in the old EBL. He was a seven-time EBL All-Star. Before coming to Williamsport, he played for the Sunbury Mercuries. He was a two-time EBL All-Star Team Most Valuable Player in 1959 and 1960, and two-time EBL season Most Valuable Player, 1959 and 1960. It was quite a coup for the Williamsport Billies when they acquired him from Sunbury following the 1961-1962 season.
I remember asking the late Bill Pickelner, one-time owner of the Billies, about Chaney at the time of Chaney’s induction in the Hall of Fame in 2001. He told me that John Chaney “was a great guy and a wonderful player, who brought great leadership skills and determination to the basketball court, and I could tell then that he had the stuff to be a fine coach.”
Pickelner was certainly right. Chaney became a successful high school coach in the competitive Philadelphia area leagues with the Simon Gratz High School from 1966 to 1972.
His good work at Gratz landed him a job at Cheney State College from 1972 to 1982, garnering an enviable 225-59.
This fine record landed him a shot at big-time college basketball with the Temple Owls. It was there that he really made his mark with a sparkling 516-253 record.
While at Temple, the Owls under Chaney won or shared 15 Big Five Conference championships, six Atlantic 10 conference championships, and reached the NCAA Regional Tournament Finals five times.
He compiled a plethora of coaching honors, the most prominent being in 1988 when he received the Consensus National Coach of the Year.
He retired from coaching following the 2005-2006 season.
As mentioned previously, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001.
And to think a lot of this in part started right here in Williamsport with the Billies.
1 comment
1 Comment
Bob Russell
February 10, 2021, 3:37 pmHi John. Enjoyed your article on John Chaney and thought you might be interested in some other bits of history on John’s career. He was Philadelphia All City when he graduated high school and in todays world would have his pick of collages to play for but not in 1951. None of the Big 5 schools offered him and Bethune Cookman was his only offer. Upon graduation, he not only played in the Eastern League with Sunbury and Williamsport but also with the Harlem Globetrotters. After his playing days he became a physical education teacher in Philly and coached high school basketball and eventually took over the head coaching position at Cheney State. While there he won a Division II National Championship in 1978 and then onto Temple University where he made his mark. Different times and different culture but looking at where he came from his focus was to provide opportunities to insure his players had a chance at success. Thanks again for the article.
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