Edward J. Burke (December 4, 1945 – March 23, 2009) was an American
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 ...
coach who led the
Drexel Dragons men's basketball
The Drexel Dragons men's basketball program represents intercollegiate men's basketball at Drexel University. The team currently competes in the Colonial Athletic Association in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ...
program from 1977 to 1991.
Early life and high school
Burke was born in 1945, the fourth of five children. He liked to remark that he was the only one of his siblings that did not enter the religious life. He attended
St. Joseph's Prep, where he played
point guard on their high school basketball team. With NBA player
Matt Guokas
Matthew George Guokas Jr. (; born February 25, 1944) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. His father, Matt Sr. and uncle, Al, have also played in the NBA.
Guokas and his father, Matt Sr., were the first father-son ...
, Burke was a part of the 1962
Philadelphia Catholic League The Philadelphia Catholic League is a high school sports league composed (as of the 2012-13 year) of 18 Catholic High Schools in Philadelphia and the surrounding Pennsylvania suburbs. The league itself was founded in the summer of 1920 on the steps ...
championship team as a junior. The team lost to
West Philadelphia High School 61–52 in the city title game. As a senior, Burke led the entire Catholic League in scoring.
College
Burke played for
La Salle University from 1963 to 1967. A large knee injury ended his playing career in his senior season.
Early coaching career
After Burke graduated from La Salle, he earned a job as freshman coach at his
alma mater, St. Joseph's Prep. He was soon promoted to head coach, and won the 1971 Catholic League Championship.
Phil Martelli, current coach of
St. Joseph's, was a member of that team, and said that Burke "made coaching personal. It was about you as a person. He used a lot of humor. He made you want to practice, and he made you want to play."
The following year, Burke coached St. Thomas More High School to a Catholic League title and to the 1972 City Championship. Burke won the Catholic League Coach of the Year honors for the second straight season. He is the only coach to accomplish this feat at two different high schools. St. Thomas More closed in 1975, and Burke came to
Bishop McDevitt and
West Catholic for one year each.
Drexel
Drexel hired Burke as their new head coach in 1977. His top assistants for a few years in the 1980s were Villanova coach
Jay Wright and former Bucknell coach
Pat Flannery.
His best season was in 1985–86, when his Dragons, led by
Michael Anderson, won 19 games and defeated
Hofstra
Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of New ...
in the
East Coast Conference
The East Coast Conference (ECC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of C ...
title game to earn a bid to the school's first
NCAA Tournament.
Drexel received a 15 seed, and lost to eventual national champion
Louisville
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
...
93–73 in the first round.
Following the season, he was named East Coast Conference Coach of the Year and Michael Anderson became the first Drexel player to make the NBA.
In 1987, he coached the Dragons to an upset over the
David Robinson
David Maurice Robinson (born August 6, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1989 to 2003, and minority owner of the Spurs. Nicknamed ...
-led
Navy Midshipmen at the
Palestra
The Palestra, often called the Cathedral of College Basketball, is a historic arena and the home gym of the Penn Quakers men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big 5 basketball. Located at 235 South ...
.
Burke was released by Drexel on March 8, 1991, after finishing the year 12–16, the third consecutive losing season. According to Richard E. Woodring, the Drexel vice president for student life, Drexel wanted to head in a "new direction" as the school moved to the
North Atlantic Conference
The North Atlantic Conference (NAC) is an athletic conference, affiliated with the NCAA ’s Division III, consisting primarily of small liberal arts colleges in the Northern New England states of Maine and Vermont, as well as New York.
The con ...
in 1991–92. He was replaced by George Washington assistant
Bill Herrion.
In Burke's 14 seasons, he compiled a record of 205–189. His 205 victories are the second most of any Drexel coach.
Later life
After his stint at Drexel, Burke returned to coaching St. Joseph's Prep, where he coached from 1992 to 1999. In 1999, he became the school's director of alumni relations and held the post until 2004. Upon retiring, he began to redo his family's restaurant, Burke's Inn, in
Havertown, Pennsylvania
Havertown is a residential suburban unincorporated community in Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located approximately 9 miles west of the center of Philadelphia. Havertown's ZIP Code is 19083 and "Havertown" is a posta ...
. He added to the menu and turned the tavern into a sports bar.
Death
In 2009, Burke was diagnosed with
lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
. He was about to receive treatment when he died on March 23 in Havertown at the age of 63. He was survived by his wife, Bette Ann; his children, Melissa, Maureen, and Brendan; and
five grandchildren.
Burke was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in
Yeadon.
Career coaching record
The career coaching record of Edward J. Burke is as follows:
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Edward
1945 births
2009 deaths
American men's basketball players
Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania
Basketball players from Philadelphia
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Drexel Dragons men's basketball coaches
High school basketball coaches in Pennsylvania
La Salle Explorers men's basketball players
Point guards