| Chuck Daly, the NBA Hall of Famer had connections to St. Mary's, PA. by Bill Gaffey |
 Photo of Chuck Daly in his high school days. pahoops.org file-taken from the Pennsylvania Basketball Hall of Fame found at http://www.pahoops.org/coaches.htm |
 AP – FILE - In this July 27, 1992, file photo, U.S. men's basketball coach Chuck Daly talks with the team. Photo found on yahoo news. |
On July 20, 1930, he was born in St. Mary's, PA.
He grew up and played his high school basketball for the Kane (PA) Wolves.
Kane and St. Mary's Public were members of the Allegheny Mountain League
and were competitors in the late 1940's. Stu Edwards was the Kane coach
and Harry "Hap" Wolfe who still lives in St. Mary's was the St. Mary's Public
coach. Chuck Daly graduated from Kane High School in 1948. The next
year, Kane won the state championship with his brother Bud playing. Also
on that state championship team was Jim Thompson, who was later the long time
successful coach at Cameron County High School in Emporium.
Chuck Daly played his college basketball at St. Bonaventure and Bloomsburg. Joe Falls in his book entitled, Daly Life (Masters Press, Grand Rapids, Michigan:1990) recounts the times when Chuck hitchhiked back and forth from his hometown, Kane to college in Bloomsburg. A modest start for the man who walked the sidelines in the NBA with his impeccable, expensive suits and ended up living in a seaside mansion. He earned it all with his special coaching style that took him from Punxsutawney High High School to the Detroit Pistons and the Olympic Gold Medal. He was the first coach to win both the NBA title and the Olympic title.
When he coached at Punxsutawney High School, he brought his team to St. Mary's for a post season scrimmage with St. Mary's Public then coached by Norm Sundstrom. It was 1956, Punxsutawney was going into the District 9 Class A playoffs and St. Mary's Public was bound for the District 9 Class B playoffs. In those days, the PIAA was split into three classes, A, B, and C.
In the early 1960's, he was also the player-coach for the Punxsutawney Hotel playing in the then popular Brookville YMCA tournament for adult teams when the St. Mary's Legion team played in the that same event.
Also for years, the mayor of Kane, Jessie James used to stop at the Peacock Restaurant in St. Mary's. He had been the manager on the Kane basketball team when Chuck Daly was playing.
Another St. Mary's resident, Chuck Thompson, who once coached the St. Mary's Junior Legion baseball team and was originally from Kane was a friend of Chuck Daly and spoke of the last deal Chuck Daly made with the Orlando Magic when they lured him back into coaching with the fringe benefit of a beautiful home on the ocean for a rental fee of $1.00 per year.
From the Associated Press, Auburn Hills, Mich. -- The Detroit Pistons say former coach Chuck Daly is dead at age 78. The team said Daly, who coached the United States to the 1992 Olympic gold medal after winning back-to-back NBA titles with the Pistons, died Saturday morning in Florida. The Pistons had announced in March 6 that the Hall of Fame coach had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was undergoing treatment.
From Channel 21, Dallas-Fort Worth. Daly was renowned for his ability to create harmony out of diverse personalities at all levels of the game, whether they were Ivy Leaguers at Pennsylvania, Dream Teamers Michael Jordan and Barkley, or Pistons as dissimilar as Dennis Rodman and Joe Dumars. Daly was voted one of the 10 greatest coaches of the NBA's first half-century in 1996, two years after being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the first coach to win both NBA and Olympic titles.
From ABC News 7, Denver-- The Detroit Pistons made plenty of enemies while winning titles and throwing blows two decades ago. Chuck Daly, though, was universally admired for his class and coaching acumen. "I never understood how a great man and nice guy coached the Bad Boys," Charles Barkley said.
Kane's 1949 State Championship Game, http://www.pahoops.org/kaneashley.htm