John “Jack” Donohue for the Bronx Basketball Hall of Fame

 John “Jack” Donohue for the Bronx Basketball Hall of Fame 


     A basketball coaching legend that few New Yorkers or Americans even remember. During his coaching time at two New York City High Schools, Coach Donohue won 250 games in less than 300 games. Later he coached successfully at the College of the Holy Cross, as well as both the Men and Women National Basketball teams of Canadian. 


  Donohue Photo - Holy Cross Athletics


Bronx Highlights


  • Assistant Student Coach for Fordham Rams

  • Graduate of Fordham Rose Hill; 

  • Head basketball coach at St. Nicholas of Tolentine High School.


St. Nicholas of Tolentine High School was a four-year, coeducational Catholic high school located in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx, New York.[2] A parochial school operated by the parish of the same name, St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church, it opened in 1927 and closed in 1991. 


Notable Basketball Alumni

Former basketball stars from Tolentine include National Basketball Association players Gary Voce[6] and Malik Sealy as well as college basketball coaches Brian Reese and Adrian Autry.

Donohue was born in 1931 in New York City. He received his Bachelor of Science, from Fordham College at Rose Hill, in The Bronx, with a degree in Economics His career, as an assistant coach, began while still a student at Fordham when he was only twenty years old. After obtaining his degree, in 1952, he attended NYU-then still in The Bronx-earning a Master's Degree. He then spent two years in the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict. When he returned to the U.S., in 1954, he started coaching at St. Nicholas of Tolentine High School in The Bronx.  


Five years later he moved to Power Memorial Academy, located in Manhattan, just across the street from the yet to be constructed Fordham University Lincoln Center campus. It was there he coached Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) where they won three straight New York City Catholic High School championships. 

 Alcindor scoring while Power compiled a 71–game winning streak. 


This success would assist him in obtaining the head coaching job at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.  


Was the College of Holy Cross job viewed as a Package Deal? 


It was long rumored that Donohue was offered the Holy Cross job with the understanding that he would bring the 7’-2” phenom along when he graduated in 1965? If the New York Post article of May 4th 2020 is correct, “...there was little chance Alcindor was going to pick Worcester, Mass. over New York or Los Angeles.”  Lew had other plans and decided on UCLA, where his teams would win three NCAA basketball championships (1967-1969). 

Donohue went on to work as the head coach of the College of the Holy Cross, from 1965 to 1972. At Holy Cross, he compiled a record of 106–66.  Later he coached the Canadian team at three Summer Olympic Games (in 1976, 1984, and 1988). He was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame. 


A BRONX GUY IN MANY HALLS OF FAME 


  • Inducted into the Canadian Olympic Sports Hall of Fame-Inducted in 1991  

  • Inducted into the New York, Canadian and Basketball Hall of Fames-Inducted in 1992 

  • Inducted into the New York City Coaches’ Hall of Fame in 2002.  

  • In 2000 Donohue was indicted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame. (https://hoopshallny.org/inductee/jack-donohue/)


nybasketballhalloffame.com


  • The Toronto Raptors Basketball Club Honored Coach Donohue by naming him the recipient of the Coach Mac Award for his commitment to Canadian basketball in 2003. 

  • Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame-Inducted in 2004 

  • Posthumously inducted in to the International Basketball Federation in 2013. (F.I.B.A. known by its French acronym Fédération Internationale de Basketball) inducted him posthumously in 2013.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nurrxy4opOI&t=3) 


Canadian Disability Hall of Fame 


He was inducted in to the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame, which recognizes "outstanding Canadians who have made extraordinary contributions to enriching the quality of life for people with physical disabilities", also in the year of his death (2003). 


For his coaching and teaching abilities and achievements, Donohue received many honors including the King Clancy Award (Canadian) for his work with the disabled.












 

                                                                                                                                                    







       Ontario Hall of Fame 2000



He died on April 16th, 2003, from pancreatic cancer, in Ottawa, Canada. 


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