Jack Ramsay

Jack Ramsay
Player information
birthday	February 21, 1925
place of birth	Philadelphia (PA), USA
date of death	April 28, 2014
Place of death	Naples (FL), USA
college	Saint Joseph's College
Clubs as coaches
1955–1966 Saint Joseph's Hawks 1968–1972 Philadelphia 76ers 1972–1976 Buffalo Braves 1976–1986 Portland Trail Blazers 1986–1988 Indiana Pacers

John Travilla "Jack" Ramsay (born February 21, 1925 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † April 28, 2014 in Naples , Florida ) was an American basketball coach and ESPN sports commentator. In 1992 “Dr. Jack, "as he was mostly called, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame . In 1996, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the NBA, he was chosen by selected journalists among the 10 Greatest Coaches in NBA History .

Life

Ramsay grew up in Milford (Connecticut) and studied at Saint Joseph's College, Philadelphia, his hometown. Before the end of his studies, he was drawn into a three-year military service, during which he was trained as a " frogman " in the US Navy . Finally, he finished his bachelor's degree in 1949 at Saint Joseph's College, for which he was also active in its baseball and basketball teams. He then played six seasons professionally as a basketball player in the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League , including coaching high school teams. In 1955 he got the offer to return to Saint Joseph's College as a coach. He was able to make his college's basketball program one of the leading within the city's colleges. In 1963 he received his PhD in education from the University of Pennsylvania .

In 1966 he left the university sector and moved within the city as general manager in the NBA to the professional club of the Philadelphia 76ers . In his first year at the club, the 76ers finally succeeded in replacing the Boston Celtics , which had dominated for years, as champions. When the club could not repeat the title in the next season, Ramsay moved back to the sidelines as a coach. He then wanted to rebuild the team and traded star players like Wilt Chamberlain and Chet Walker against supposedly hopeful talents from other clubs. During his coaching time, this conversion did not succeed and the club initially disappeared into sporting immersion. When Ramsay left the 76ers in the direction of Buffalo in 1972, they achieved almost record-breaking few successes in the following season with nine wins in 82 games.

At his next station from 1972 in Buffalo, he came to a club that had only existed since 1970 and had not yet had any successes and play-off participation. Little changed in the first year, but the NBA Draft was successful and was able to sign Bob McAdoo , who was the league's MVP for the third year. With McAdoo as a player, Ramsay was able to reach the play-offs in the remaining years of his coaching time in Buffalo. The Braves as a whole had little success in their environment and so the club owner tried to sell the club from 1976.

Ramsay therefore changed clubs again and went to Portland on the west coast, with whom he celebrated his greatest successes in the following years. In his first season he won his first championship as a coach, which is the only one of the club to this day. On the way to a second championship in the following season, the team was stopped by several injuries, including Bill Walton . After that Ramsay had to rebuild this championship team bit by bit, which he succeeded better than in Philadelphia. Until 1982 the play-offs were always reached. With the commitments of Clyde Drexler , Terry Porter and Sam Bowie , the club seemed to be able to play for the championship again. But Ramsay did not make the leap into the final series for the championship with the club, so that he was dismissed in 1986.

He then took over as a trainer for the Indiana Pacers , which after three championships in the ABA since their admission to the NBA in 1976 had so far not been very successful and had only once reached the play-offs. Ramsay was also relatively successful here in the first year, so that he was able to bring the club into the play-offs with a balanced success account of 41 wins in 82 games. However, he could not repeat this with the club in the following seasons and resigned after a disastrous start to the season in 1988.

Ramsay then worked for ESPN on television, radio and the Internet as a sports commentator. He also published two books on basketball, Pressure Basketball and The Coach's Art . Until recently, his comments on current events in US basketball could be read on the Internet. Ramsay passed away in 2014.

See also

• 10 Greatest Coaches in NBA History
• List of members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Web links

• Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Profile - Profile on the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame website, Springfield, Massachusetts 2017; Retrieved June 18, 2017 (in English). ( english )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ NN: Top 10 Coaches in NBA History ( Memento of the original from February 18, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: NBA website, New York 2017; accessed on June 17, 2017 (in English) 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Ken Shouler: From Harrisburg to the Hall of Fame. ESPN , April 28, 2014, accessed May 1, 2014 . 
3. ↑ Chris Ramsay: Jack Ramsay, father and friend. ESPN , April 28, 2014, accessed May 1, 2014 . 
4. ^ Penn and Philadelphia Big 5 Basketball: Yearly Statistics. Pennsylvania State University , accessed November 26, 2009 (statistics in PennState's online archive). 
5. ↑ Alex Sachare: The Best Team Ever. National Basketball Association , accessed November 26, 2009 . 
6. ↑ David Higdon: Blazermania. National Basketball Association , accessed November 26, 2009 . 
7. ^ Richard Goldstein: Jack Ramsay Dies at 89; Led Blazers to 1977 NBA Title. Obituary in: The New York Times, April 29, 2014; Retrieved June 18, 2017 (in English).