http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/in...l_of_fame.html
Jack Ramsay, the intense Hall of Fame coach who in 1977 led the Trail Blazers to their only NBA le and later became a beloved elder statesman of basketball, died Monday after a 15-year battle with cancer. He was 89.
The 77 Blazers used Ramsays fast-break offense to overcome a 2-0 deficit to beat the Philadelphia 76ers for the championship, still Oregons defining sports achievement. Two days later The Oregonians front page depicted Ramsay as he rode a convertible through thousands of delirious fans thronging downtown Portland, his arms upstretched in triumph.
We all love Jack Ramsay, and we could never thank him enough for what hes done, said Bill Walton, Blazers center on the 77 team. Hes just such a phenomenal example of what a full life can possibly engulf.
Ramsay finished with a .525 record over 20 years of NBA coaching (864-783). As part of the 50th anniversary of the league in 1996-97, the NBA named Ramsay one of its top 10 coaches of all time. He demanded the best from his players, and often got it.
I just look at Jack as one of the premier coaches, said Pat Riley, who coached the Los Angeles Lakers to four NBA les and the Miami Heat to one. And he could be considered the most premier coach in the NBA. It has nothing to do with how many games a coach wins or les. He was a coachs coach.
A headline in the Oregon Journal on June 2, 1976, announcing his hiring as Blazers coach, read, Ramsay: Well Win. He was referring to a winning season, something the 6-year-old franchise had never had.
Ramsay pushed preparation, requiring his players to run a 7-minute mile before the season, and lived the example. A former Navy demolition diver a precursor to the SEALs Ramsay ran, biked long distances and swam in Oswego Lake.
As the NBA began moving to a one-on-one game defined by slashing jump shooters and slam dunks, the Blazers were cutting and passing to create the highest-percentage shots.
I dont think theres ever been a team that ever scored more layups than that Blazers team, Ramsay said in a 2007 interview. It was a compliment.
Ramsay coached games from the sideline on one knee, often in plaid or paisley flared pants and a brightly colored jacket, his thick black eyebrows hooding his hawk eyes. He would get so worked up as he directed his ball-movement offense and the zone press defense he helped popularize that Ramsay often later forgot the things he yelled in games, former Blazers trainer Ron Culp said.
I used to live for his pregame speeches, said Walton, the key to the 77 team. They were so compact, so organized, so tight, so brilliant, so analytical. And just right to the starting line. He would say, OK, lets go,' and we would just hit that door running.
The 1977 Blazers swept the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-led Los Angeles Lakers 4-0 in the Western Conference finals and faced the Julius Erving-led 76ers in the NBA Finals. The 76ers had homecourt advantage in the best-of-seven series and took a 2-0 lead in games. The Blazers fought back to return the series to Portland for Game 6, which they won 109-107.
Lionel Hollins, point guard on the 77 team, praised Ramsays consistency and leadership by example.
He got up and he worked out every morning, Hollins said. He ate correctly every day. There was so much discipline in his life, and you respected and admired that. He was such a good person. He genuinely liked the game of basketball. He genuinely liked the players. And all he wanted to do was win.
Losses transformed Ramsay. His face would redden with anger, and after the Blazers lost road games he would take off on long marches through the city.
In a 2007 interview Ramsay recalled stomping through a rough part of Chicago, hoping that somebody would accost me so that I could vent my anxieties. On one occasion, a guy did come up to me and I thought, This is going to be it. It was winter and I had some kind of an overcoat on. My fists were ready in my pockets.
This guy comes up and says, Do you have a match? Ramsay recalled, chuckling. I said, I dont smoke.
Often surly with the media, Ramsay showed a sense of humor with players. Dave Twardzik, a guard on the 77 team, recalled suggesting a prank on a trip to play the Lakers.
We come down to the locker room to catch the bus, and I see (Lakers owner) Jerry Buss is flanked by about 30 reporters, vehemently denying any shred of truth to the fact that we were trading Kareem to the Knicks, Twardzik said. And it was all started by Jack.
Ramsay was the rare literary coach, giving players books such as The Inner Game of Tennis, and writing a regular column for The Oregonian. He played tennis with author Gay Talese in Ocean City, N.J., where Ramsay owned a vacation home, and through Talese met author David Halberstam.
Ramsay consented to let Halberstam follow the Blazers for the 1979-80 season, and the product was The Breaks of the Game, still regarded as one of the best sports books ever written.
Ramsay coached the Blazers for nine seasons after the championship. But with Walton lost to injury then departed to San Diego, his teams won just two playoff series. He was fired after the 1985-86 season.
After a 1-year stint coaching the Indiana Pacers, Ramsays coaching career was over.
He never stopped teaching the game. Ramsay traveled as a radio and TV broadcaster for ESPN, offering advice to coaches and players and becoming known nationwide as Dr. Jack. The nickname referred as much for his articulation of basketball knowledge as it did the doctorate in education he earned at the University of Pennsylvania.
Former center Shaquille ONeal developed such a respect for Ramsay that when the two were at the same game, ONeal would ask Ramsay what new advice he had. Ramsay would impart some nugget, and ONeal would nod silently, said Beth Faber, Ramsays on-site producer with ESPN.
ONeal would use the suggested move in a game, Faber said, then look right over at the broadcast booth as he runs by, and wink.
Born in Philadelphia, Ramsay grew up during the Depression with his parents and three older sisters in Milford, Conn. His father, in the mortgage business, encouraged his play in baseball and basketball and took him to see amateur boxing bouts, Ramsay wrote in his 2004 book Dr. Jacks Leadership Lessons Learned from a Lifetime of Basketball.
Ramsay left St. Josephs College in Philadelphia to serve in World War II, then returned to St. Josephs, where he captained the basketball team his senior year and met his future wife, Jean. He became head coach of St. Josephs in 1955 and coached the Hawks for 11 years, during which his teams played in the postseason 10 times, including one Final Four, in 1961.
He coached the 76ers from 1968-72, and from 1972-76 coached the Buffalo team that later became the L.A. Clippers.
Ramsay moved into broadcasting, providing TV commentary for the 76ers and the Miami Heat in a smooth, deliberate tone. In 1991 Ramsay began working for ESPN and continued to provide radio analysis and contribute to the networks print and TV platforms well into his 80s. He retired from broadcasting in May 2013 because of health issues.
In 1992, Ramsay was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The best way I could describe him is, whether he was doing a game nationally or locally, I would tune in, both myself and staff, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. Because I wanted to hear what he would say about what each team was doing. What this team was doing, what this person was doing on a pick-and-roll, what this team was doing on offense. Its like going to class.
During the 1999-2000 season, Ramsays last as a broadcaster with the Heat, he underwent radiation treatment for prostate cancer. In October 2004 he noticed spots on the sole of his foot that turned out to be melanoma. For the next several years he fought the cancer there and in his groin, lungs, calf and brain with a variety of treatments while continuing work and his daily workout regimen.
Ramsay had five children and 13 grandchildren. His wife, Jean, died in 2010.
For decades, Ramsay and his family met each August in Ocean City, N.J.
In 2007, Ramsay said he was at peace.
Ive been blessed, he said. Ive had a great life and am continuing to have one. So however long it lasts, I have no regrets. Ive been very, very fortunate.
Great coach (he was till coaching when i first started watching hoops) I actually went to a game he coached at the old forum.
underrated Radio guy was pretty good on the ESPN radio broadcasts.
Sad day, Tlong. At least blazers are doing their best to help ease that loss.
Damn, sad news. TNT was just talking about his health during the game last night. It sounded like he was at peace. He's probably one of the big reasons why the Blazers have a Larry O'Brien trophy. Maybe this could motivate the Blazers to go on a deep run.
One of the finest gentleman in the game. He will be missed.
RIP
Rip
RIP Dr. Jack. True basketball legend.
Getting that '77 Blazer team (Tlong was about 55 that year) to come back down from a 2-0 hole was great. Too bad Walton was always hurt and they never really lived up to potential. Hopefully they close out the lolrockets.
Great coach, long life, good life.
Rest in peace.
Loved the guy's analysis, and his le team was freaking ridiculous. What could have been there with a healthy Walton. That 78 team was way better than the 77 team until Walton went down.
RIP Dr. Jack. I'm too young to remember him being a coach, but he was a damn great basketball mind. Listening to him on radio broadcasts was a pleasure. He knew the game that's for sure...
Dr Jack was a ing boss.
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