Jack Donohue (basketball)

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John 'Jack' Donohue M.S.M. posthumous (born June 4, 1931 in New York City, USA - died April 16, 2003 in Ottawa Canada) was an American born head coach of the Canadian national men's basketball team for 17 years, leading them to many international successes.

Power Memorial Academy high school basketball head coach from 1959 to 1965, Donohue had a career win-lose record of 163-30, including winning 71 straight with star center Lew Alcindor. He went on to coach College of the Holy Cross from 1965 to 1972, compiling a record of 106-66.

Donohue was head coach of Canada from 1972 to 1988 during which time the team participated in four Olympic Games and achieved two fourth-place finishes, in 1976 and 1984. He also coached the Canadian national universiade team to the gold medal at the 1983 World University Games.

Retiring from coaching in 1988, Donohue is enshrined in the Canadian, Ontario, and New York basketball hall of fames.

Jack Donohue

Born: 1931-06-04

Deceased: 2003-04-16

Birthplace: New York, NY Sport: Basketball Builder

Inducted: 2004

Category: Team

Career Highlights:

1974 - 8th place finish at the World Championship

1975 - 6th place at the Pan American Games

1976 - 4th place finish at the Montreal Olympics

1983 - won the Gold Medal at the World University Games in Edmonton

1984 - 4th place finish in Los Angeles

1985 - bronze medal at the 1985 World University Games

1988 - Altanta Olympics 6th place

Biography:

Jack Donohue made the decision early in life. He toiled as an Assistant Coach while a student at Fordham University and by the age of 20, he knew he wanted to be a coach for life. Following his undergraduate degree in Economics, Jack attended New York University, earning a Master’s Degree in Health Education. He was ready to begin his coaching career, but as happened in those days, Uncle Sam had other ideas. Jack ended up spending two years in Korea working on tanks in the Korean conflict.

When he returned in 1954, he started his teaching career at St. Luke’s Episcopal primary school in New York, but transferred a year later to St. Nicholas of Tolentine High School, where he had the opportunity to coach basketball. He remained at the school for five years, developing his unique approach to coaching that gave his players lessons in life as well as basketball. This served him in good stead when he moved to Power Memorial High School in Manhattan. It was here that he had the good fortune to coach a young player named Lew Alcindor, now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Donohue was able to guide the young superstar through his formative years, keeping him focussed on becoming as good a person as he was a player. The results were outstanding. At one point, the team won 71 consecutive games.

The success earned Jack Donohue an opportunity to become the Head Coach of Holy Cross University, a Division One school in Worcester, MA. During his career at Holy Cross, Donohue amassed a record of 106 wins against 66 losses. He was twice named NCAA Division One Coach of the Year. No one could doubt his coaching ability.

In 1972, the leadership of Basketball Canada was searching for a coach who could elevate the country’s basketball program. Jack Donohue, who jokingly referred to himself as “The total loss from Holy Cross”, was their choice. He did not disappoint them. His coaching record through the next 17 years was outstanding. Two years after taking over the program, his team finished 8th at the World Championship. In 1975 it was 6th at the Pan American Games. His magic continued at the Montreal Olympics in 1976 with a 4th place finish. He added three more fourth place finishes in international tournaments, then in 1983 won the Gold Medal at the World University Games in Edmonton, defeating the United States in the semi-final and Yugoslavia in the final. The program had definitely matured. In the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Canada again finished 4th , captured a bronze medal at the 1985 World University Games and finished 6th in Coach Donohue’s final tournament before retirement, the 1988 Olympics.

But Jack Donohue’s greatest attribute was not building extraordinary teams. It was building extraordinary human beings. Without exception, players who had the good fortune to play for Coach Donohue remember how he stressed the importance of being not just outstanding athletes, but being outstanding human beings. Here, he led by example. He showed his players how to act in public and the meaning of words such as “respect” and “politeness” and “responsibility”. He followed the Golden Rule without exception.

For his coaching and his teaching ability, Coach Donohue has received many honours, including election to the New York City, Canadian and Ontario Basketball Halls of Fame and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame. Tonight, with pride for a job well done, we elect him to Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, adding his name to the Honour Roll of Canada’s greatest athletes and builders.

Jack Donohue, M.S.M. (posthumous), Ottawa, Ontario Meritorious Service Medal (civil division)

In 1986, legendary basketball coach Jack Donohue founded the Canadian Association of National Coaches (CANC), which later became the Canadian Professional Coaches Association (CPCA). Highly regarded in Canadian and international sport communities for his motivational success in coaching, Mr. Donohue devoted much of his time and expertise to clinics and symposiums on the merits of coaching as a career. A true giant in terms of his contribution to basketball and to sport in Canada, he enjoyed continued popularity as a TV host, sports commentator and speaker.

Obituary: Jack Donohue, who was the architect of the Canadian basketball program and coached such famous players as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in high school, has died of cancer in Ottawa at the age 70 years.

He served as head coach of the Canadian men's basketball team for 17 years and was the longest-serving head coach in amateur or professional sports in Canada. He led the team to the Olympics four times and won the gold medal at the 1983 World University Games in Edmonton.

He led the Canadian basketball team to a fourth-place finish at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics. He was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame and retired from coaching in 1988.