'Dream Team' Coach Dies Aged 78
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Monday 11th May, 2009 Kingswood ‘Dream Team’ coach dies aged 78 expose Chuck Daly’s striking appearance - his finely tailored suits and his meticu- St. Joseph’s lously combed hair - sometimes over- by Rukshan Razak shadowed his skills as a basketball coach. Defending champions Kingswood But Daly showed time and again as a College, Kandy ran riot over St. Joseph’s head coach at every level - in college at College as they annihilated last year’s ‘B’ Division champions in their inter- Penn, in the NBA with the Detroit school under-20 rugby league match by a Pistons, and internationally with the massive 51 points to 8 at Royal College original U.S. Olympic Dream Team - his Sports Complex at Reid Avenue yester- talent as a keen basketball strategist day. able to mesh players with dissimilar per- The proceedings during the first half sonalities into a successful team. were largely quiet as the Randle Hills Daly, who won four Ivy League cham- boys took an 11-0 lead, but what followed pionships with Penn and two NBA titles after the break was mayhem. with the Detroit Pistons, and coached Pre-match predications were that the Dream Team to an Olympic gold this encounter would turn out to be a medal in 1992, died on Saturday morning thriller after St. Joseph’s registered a sensational win against Trinity College, of pancreatic cancer at his home in but it turned out to be an anticlimax as Jupiter, Fla. He was 78. the Joes display of rugby was nothing Daly won 638 games in 14 seasons as better than that of the minnows. an NBA head coach with Cleveland, In contrast, the huge score card does Detroit, New Jersey, and Orlando, and not reflect the true picture of the led his team into the playoffs 12 times. Kingswoodians too since they missed His nine seasons with the Pistons out a number of good moves that could included NBA titles in 1989 and 1990. have been transformed into points in He resigned from the Pistons after spite of the fact that they reached the 1991-92 season, saying that his play- almost a cricketing score of a half a cen- ers “needed to hear another voice.” That tury. The lads from Rnadle Hills did not summer, however, he led a team that live up to expectations particularly in ball handling and it seemed that they included Michael Jordan, Magic could not execute their game plan quite Johnson, Charles Barkley, and Larry well. Had they been smarter in that Bird to the gold medal, the first time the department they could have reached a United States had gone with an Olympic record breaking score this season to team of NBA players. replace their previous best of 81-10 Daly was inducted into the against Mahanama last week. Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994. The The Joes on the other hand were on NBA Coaches Association had dedicated In this July 27, 1992, file photo, U.S. men’s basketball coach Chuck Daly talks with the team during a preliminary-round bas- the attack during the first 15 minutes of ketball game with Croatia at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Daly, who coached the Dream Team to the Olympic play but the stiff defence of Kingswood gold medal in 1992 after winning back-to-back NBA championships, died Saturday, May 9, 2009, in Jupiter, Fla. (AP) left no room for the Joes to budge. Thus, the 2009 playoffs to him, and all coaches even CYO, and he wanted Chuck on the Blazers. their attack eventually died a natural death. Lack of a proper game plan and “Chuck was a are wearing “CD” pins on the sidelines staff,” Williams recalled. “I met Chuck “He was always so positive,” being disjointed to a great extent caused great leader,” in his honour. after a practice and asked if he’d rather Massimino said. “He changed the struc- their downfall in this encounter, while Born Charles Jerome Daly on July 20, be an NBA assistant than a college head ture of NBA coaching with his style. He the aggressive play that they displayed Michael Jordan 1930, in St. Mary’s, Pa., he graduated coach. He said he wanted to be in the knew how to handle all his players. You in Pallekele last week against Trinity said. “I only wish I from Kane Area High School and attend- NBA. Penn’s administrators gave me the mention Dennis Rodman - Dennis loved was hardly witnessed in yesterday’s ed St. Bonaventure before transferring green light, and I paid him $35,000. him like a father. Dennis used to go to his game. could have played to Bloomsburg State (now Bloomsburg “Any time I saw Chuck after that, he’d house on Christmas and bring him gifts. The winners collected their points University), where he averaged 13.0 always say, ‘You stole me. You got me on That’s the way Chuck was.” off five goals, two tries and two penalties for him outside of points in two seasons. the cheap.’ “ Daly’s ability to relate to players while Joes shot back with a solitary try the Dream Team,” After two years in the military,he got helped him as he entered the pressure and adding to that were two penalties. his first head coaching job at Winning with ‘Bad Boys’ cooker of coaching NBA players in the It was almost a shared effort in respect to try scoring for the boys of he added. “In 1992, Punxsutawney High School, where he Daly learned early on that the NBA 1992 Barcelona Olympics. With the world Randle Hills and doing the honours spent eight years before moving up to was a players’ league, and he found a way watching, he found ways to keep all his he handled that were wing-three-quarter Indunil the college ranks in 1963 as an assistant to get disparate personalities to play as a superstars happy and productive while Bandara, scrum-half Mohamed Afzal, team and its talent at Duke. His first college head coaching team. He managed to unite the “Bad using a different lineup in each game. centre Sanjaya Weerasekara, wing- experience was at Boston College, where Boys,” Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn, Two of those players remembered three-quarter Prabath Jayalath, full- as well as anybody he succeeded Bob Cousy and went 26-24 with the unpredictable Dennis Rodman him yesterday. back Rajitha Sansoni, flanker Jananath for two seasons. and Hall of Fame guards Joe Dumars “Chuck was a great leader,” Michael Dharmawardana and skipper cum fly- could,” Larry Bird Daly took over as Penn’s head coach and Thomas. Jordan said. “I only wish I could have half Roshan Weeraratne. They all con- said. “He treated us in 1971 and compiled a 125-38 record in “Part of my philosophy,” Daly said played for him outside of the Dream tributed with a try apiece while skipper six seasons, including a 20-5 mark in Big during that time, “is that everybody gets Team.” Weeraratne as usual had his boots tight all with respect and Five games. One of his players during their slice of the pie along the way if “In 1992, he handled that team and its this day too and managed to put through five conversions bang on target in addi- that time was Ed Stefanski, now presi- they’re willing to hang in there. If you talent as well as anybody could,” Larry had us all vying for tion to two penalties that he fired across. dent and general manager of the Sixers. have the ability, you’ll get the chance.” Bird said. “He treated us all with respect For St. Joseph’s, it was second row S. the same goal. For Daly was ready to begin a seventh While basketball purists grumbled and had us all vying for the same goal. Dambadeniya who scored the solitary season with the Quakers when the 76ers, over the Pistons’ rough style of play, For me, it was an honor to play for him.” try and taking the kicks was their num- me, it was an honor and new head coach Billy Cunningham, Detroit found success, defeating the Los Daly is survived by his wife, Terry; ber eight Malintha Soysa who succeed- to play for him.” came calling to offer him a job as assis- Angeles Lakers for the 1989 champi- his daughter, Cydney, and grandchildren ed in putting over two penalties to tant coach. onship and doing the same the next sea- Sebrina and Connor. reduce the gap. “Billy hadn’t coached at any level, not son by beating the Portland Trail Telegraph Dilroy Fernando refereed. Button wins Spanish Grand Prix BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Jenson Button won his BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld was seventh, while with Button opening up some dis- fourth Formula One race of the season on Sunday by Nico Rosberg of Williams picked up the final point in tance before his second pit with 19 taking the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of Brawn GP eighth place. laps left. teammate Rubens Barrichello. Button leads with 41 points, Barrichello has 27 and Button was in front for good Button’s two-stop strategy proved decisive as he Vettel 23. with 16 laps remaining when Brawn GP became the ninth straight winner from pole position at Button is off to the most dominating start to a season Barrichello, who was No. 2 to driver Jenson the Circuit de Catalunya, even after Barrichello over- since Michael Schumacher won the last of his seven Schumacher at Ferrari for many Button of took him out of the start.