DALY, Charles Joseph "Chuck""

DALY, Charles Joseph Chuck (b. July 20, 1930, Kane, PA), college and professional player, coach, and sportscaster, has enjoyed a basketball career characterized by his hard drive and skillful use of people. Daly, born to traveling salesman Earl Daly and Geraldine Daly in a western Pennsylvania coal mining town during the Great Depression, captured the sports fever of that region. He soon developed an aggressive defensive style, the eventual hallmark of all his teams.

Daly's scrappy high school hoop performance won a basketball scholarship to St. Bonaventure University in New York. The six-foot two-inch, 180-pounder, however, left that powerhouse program after one year, realizing that he stood little chance of playing regularly.

In 1949, Daly transferred to Bloomsburg StateCollege in Pennsylvania. During his two collegiate basketball seasons as a forward, he scored 418 points in 32 games for a 13.1-point average in the 1950-1951 and 1951-1952 campaigns.

Despite his undistinguished playing career, Daly made basketball coaching his life's work.

Like most ambitious, successful coaches, he continually sought better positions. After a two-year military hitch, Daly began his coaching career at Punxsutawney (Pennsylvania) High School in 1955.

After becoming frustrated at hislow pay and anonymity, he wrote a letter to Duke University basketball coach Vic Bubas*asking for a job. Daly surprisingly was offered a spot as an assistant basketball coach at Duke University (ACC) from 1963 to 1969 before advancing to the head coaching job at Boston Colllege from 1969 to 1971.

His teams, laboring inthe shadow of the previous coach, NBA legend Bob Cousy*, finished 26-24 over two seasons. When the University of Pennsylvania (IvL) head coaching job became available, he accepted that assignment. 

From 1971 to 1977,Daly led the Quakers to a .767 winning percentage and four IvL titles and NCAA berths,more than any other coach in the Quakers' history. His star performers included Kevin McDonald, Bob Morse, Corky Calhoun, Phil Hankinson, Ron Haigler, and Edward Stefanski.

He also earned a Master's degree in educational administration at Pennsylvania State University in 1958. Daly, who chafed under IvL recruiting restrictions, jumped from the collegiate ranks in1978 to become an assistant coach of thePhiladelphia 76ers (NBA). Working under Billy Cunningham*, he helped the 76ers win two Atlantic Division titles and place second twice during his four-year-tenure there. Philadelphia made the playoffs each of his seasons there.

Daly, nonetheless, yearned for an NBA headcoaching job and earned a chance in 1981 with the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA). Unfortunately, his team won only nine of its first 41games, resulting in his midyear dismissal. Dalyfinally got his break, when he moved to the equally inept Detroit Pistons (NBA) the nextseason. The Pistons featured a talented back-court in Isiah Thomas* and Joe Dumars* and anaggressive frontcourt of "Bad Boys" includingBill Laimbeer*, Dennis Rodman*, and RickMahorn. Daly never experienced a losing recordin the Motor City and was known as a "players'coach." 

His Pistons won three Central Division titles and three Eastern Conference titles, registered five consecutive 50-plus win seasons, and garnered NBA championships in 1989 and 1990, only the third time in NBA history that the same team won consecutive titles. Red Auerbach's* Boston Celtics and Pat Riley's* Los Angeles Lakers also accomplished the feat. Daly's winning percentage with the Pistons reached .633, as the Pistons made the playoffs all his nine years there. 

Having conquered the NBA and grownweary of team infighting, Daly resigned from the Pistons in 1992. He then assumed the challenge of coaching the U.S. Olympic basketball team in the 1992 Barcelona, Spain Summer Olympic Games. With NBA players being permitted for the first time, his team marked perhaps the greatest ever assembled in any venue. 

Michael Jordan*, Magic Johnson*, Larry Bird*,and their teammates predictably decimated their international competition by the greatest margins in Olympic basketball history, capturing agold medal for the United States.Daly's desire to continue NBA coaching ledhim to decline a lucrative television analyst'sposition and accept the helm of the New JerseyNets (NBA). 

In 1992-1993, the Nets, led by Derrick Coleman*, Drazen Petrovic, and Kenny Dampier, Louie Lou Little Louie Anderson, compiled a 43-39 record for third place in the Atlantic Division. 

Despite the tragic death of Petrovic, New Jersey repeated in third place in 1993-1994 with a 45-37 mark; Daly resigned after the season. 

In 1994, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall ofFame. 

He worked for the Turner Network as a basketball analyst from 1994 through the1996-1997 season. 

Daly was named one of the Top Ten Coaches in NBA History in 1996. 

He coached the Orlando Magic (NBA) in1997-1998 and 1998-1999, garnering a 33-17mark the latter lockout-shortened campaign. Heachieved an overall NBA coaching record of638-437 for a .593 winning percentage and a75-51 playoff mark.Daly joined the Vancouver Grizzlies (NBA)as a special consultant to the president in May 2000. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis for the2001-2002 season. 

Daly, an avid golfer, enjoys fine clothes, crooners Frank Sinatra and Bobby Short, and mystery novels. He and his wife, Terry, have one daughter, Cydney.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Chuck Daly, letter to Bruce Dierenfield, March 1994; "Chuck Daly,"  CB (1991 pp. 172-175; 

Chuck Daly file, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield, MA; JerryGreen, The Detroit Pistons (Chicago, IL, 1991);

Jack McCallum, "A Perfect Fit," SI 71 (December 18, 1989), pp. 52-58; 

New Jersey Nets press release, 1994; 

Cameron Stauth, The Franchise (New York, 1990); 

TSN Official NBA Register, 2004-2005 (Louis, MO, 2004).

Bruce J. Dierenfield