Edwin Louis Jucker (July 8, 1916 – February 2, 2002) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head basketball coach at the

United States Merchant Marine Academy The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA or Kings Point) is a United States service academy in Kings Point, New York. It trains its midshipmen (as students at the academy are called) to serve as officers in the United States Merchant ...

from 1945 to 1948,

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

(RPI) from 1948 to 1953, the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

from 1960 to 1965, and

Rollins College Rollins College is a private college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several graduate programs. It is Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institution. History Rollins Colle ...

from 1972 to 1977, compiling a career

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coaching record of 270–122. He led the

Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball The Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball program represents the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. The school's team competes in NCAA Division I as part of the American Athletic Conference though they will move to the Big 12 conferen ...

program to consecutive national titles, winning the NCAA basketball tournament in 1961 and 1962. Jucker was also the head coach of the

Cincinnati Bearcats baseball The Cincinnati Bearcats baseball team represents The University of Cincinnati in NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's baseball competition. The Bearcats currently compete in The American Athletic Conference The University of Cincinnati bega ...

team from 1954 to 1960 while serving as an assistant coach for the basketball team. He spent two seasons coaching in the professional ranks, leading the

Cincinnati Royals The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) from 1967 to 1969. Jucker served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at Rollins College from 1981 to 1983.

Biography

Jucker was born in

Norwood, Ohio Norwood is the third most populous city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and an enclave of the larger city of Cincinnati. The population was 19,207 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Originally settled as an early suburb of ...

. He attended the

as an undergraduate student and played on the school's basketball teams during the 1938, 1939, and 1940 seasons. He was the captain of the 1940 team. Also, while an undergraduate, Jucker became a member of the

Alpha Tau Omega Alpha Tau Omega (), commonly known as ATO, is an American social fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The fraternity has around 250 active and inactive chapters and colonies in the United Stat ...

fraternity. Jucker was a professional

prospect until he decided to start coaching instead of trying to make it into

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. His coaching career began at Batavia High in

Clermont County, Ohio Clermont County, popularly called Clermont ( ), is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 208,601. Ordinanced in 1800 as part of the Virginia Military District, Clermont is Ohio's eighth oldest county, the ...

, east of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. Following service in the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he joined the college coaching ranks as assistant basketball coach at the

in 1946. Two years later, he became head basketball coach at

. Jucker returned to the University of Cincinnati in 1953 as assistant basketball coach and baseball mentor. He directed the UC freshmen to a 67–21 record in six years, while his baseball teams were 87–38 over seven seasons. In 1954, Jucker recruited

Sandy Koufax Sanford Koufax (; born Sanford Braun; December 30, 1935) is an American former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played his entire career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. He has been hailed as one of t ...

at Cincinnati. After watching Koufax in his first practice, Jucker got him a work-study scholarship. Under Jucker's coaching direction in the early 60s, Cincinnati won back-to-back NCAA basketball tournament, in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

and

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

, defeating

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, who had the great

Jerry Lucas Jerry Ray Lucas (born March 30, 1940) is an American former basketball player. He was a nationally awarded high school player, national college star at Ohio State, and 1960 gold medal Olympian and international player before later starring as a p ...

John Havlicek John Joseph Havlicek ( ; April 8, 1940 – April 25, 2019) was an American professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Boston Celtics, winning List of NBA players with most championships, eight NBA championships, four of ...

and

Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...

, both years. His 1963 team reached the championship game of the NCAA tournament, where the Bearcats were upended 60–58 in overtime by Loyola of Chicago and All-American

Jerry Harkness Jerald B. Harkness (May 7, 1940 – August 24, 2021) was an American professional basketball player. He played for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Indiana Pacers of the American Basketball Association (ABA ...

. Jucker holds the record for the highest winning percentage (.917) in NCAA tournament play. In his five seasons coaching the Bearcats, Jucker's team posted a record of 113–28, a .801 winning percentage. Jucker left coaching at UC after the 1965 season. In 1966 he remained at the university as the Intramural Director and spent the summer in Spain coaching their national team. He agreed to coach the Spain national team from 1967 but changed his mind when he received offers from the

(NBA). In 1967, he became the head coach of the

of the National Basketball Association, a position he held for two seasons. Jucker then went to

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was fo ...

where he built the school's basketball program into a national contender in

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

. In 1978, he was inducted into the University of Cincinnati Athletics Hall of Fame. Also, the court that the University of Cincinnati plays on is named after Jucker. The number he wore as Cincinnati baseball coach is one of only two numbers retired by the school's baseball team. Jucker died of prostate cancer on Callawassie Island, South Carolina in 2002 at age 85. He was survived by his wife, Joanne. In 2014, he was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame.

Head coaching record

NBA

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College basketball

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jucker, Ed 1916 births 2002 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players United States Navy personnel of World War II Basketball coaches from Ohio Basketball players from Ohio Cincinnati Bearcats baseball coaches Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball coaches Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball players Cincinnati Royals head coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Deaths from cancer in South Carolina Deaths from pancreatic cancer Merchant Marine Mariners men's basketball coaches People from Norwood, Ohio RPI Engineers athletic directors RPI Engineers men's basketball coaches Rollins Tars athletic directors Rollins Tars men's basketball coaches United States Merchant Marine Academy alumni Woodward High School (Cincinnati, Ohio) alumni

Biography

Head coaching record

NBA

College basketball

See also

References

External links