I just received a call at 8:00 a.m. this morning.  The coach at the other end told me "Coach Dooley has died."
 Coach Jim Dooley was a very good friend of mine, he was one of the most respected and well loved basketball coaches in Pennsylvania for many years.  I first met him at a basketball camp in the Poconos when he first got into coaching.  Then, we met the next time in the downtown Harrisburg YMCA when both of our teams were in a summer league when he coached Shippensburg.  Next, we had some good games when he was at Cumberland Valley and I was at Susquehanna Twp.  Then after his stops coaching in Iceland and at Gettysburg, he retired.  But, he resurfaced at Delone Catholic as the Jr. High coach, just something for retirement- but then he returned to the varsity ranks and became the Delone varsity coach and led them into the 2013 state playoffs.

I talked to a young lady working in the bank one day, somehow the conversation led to Coach Dooley.  She said, "Mr Dooley was the best teacher I ever had!"

He was always know for this "saddle shoes."

But, he is better known as not only a very good teacher, but with 700 plus wins one of the all time great coaches in Pennsylvania basketball history.  But, he was one of the best people in the game- very competitive, very hard working, but he was above all else a coach who played by the book, high ethical values, strong religious convictions.  He is a man the game can be proud of- basketball is better for his lifetime contributions

goodbye Coach

your friend --Bill Gaffey

-See Pennsylvania Coaching Records
-A great article from the York Daily Record, 11/1/13
-From the  Shippensburg News-Chronicle
-From the York Dispatch
-James Dooley Obituary- , the Delone Catholic Squires Basketball team will serve as Coach Dooley's Pallbearers.  HERE

Coach Dooley always loved the students and took every opportunity to interact with them.

As one coach said on a television interview,
"Coach Dooley was called because God
 needed him to coach in Heaven!"

Coach Dooley is added to
the list of those basketball personalities
who preceded him
Obituaries Basketball

All photos courtesy of pahoops