Lawrence J. "Jay" McCreary (February 6, 1918 – April 17, 1995) 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 ...

player and coach. He won championships as a player in both high school and college, and as a high school coach in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. McCreary also served as head coach at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

Playing career

Jay McCreary was an Indiana state All-Star as a guard at Frankfort High School, where he led the team to a

State championship New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

in 1936. Following his prep career, McCreary went to play for

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

and was a key player on the 1939–40 Indiana Hoosiers national championship team.

Coaching career

After serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

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 ...

, McCreary returned to his alma mater as an assistant to his former coach,

Branch McCracken Emmett B. "Branch" McCracken (June 9, 1908 – June 4, 1970) was an American basketball player and coach. He served as the head basketball coach at Ball State University from 1930 to 1938 and at Indiana University Bloomington from 1938 to 1943 a ...

. After two years he moved to

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...

, then to

Muncie Central High School Muncie Central High School (MCHS) in Muncie, Indiana is a public high school. As of the 2013–14 school year, it had 913 students. Opened in 1868, the school is today part of the Muncie Community Schools Corp. History Opened in 1868, Muncie High ...

, where he led the Bearcats to the 1952 state title. Two seasons later (1953–54), the Mighty Bearcats would fall to Milan High; later this loss would inspire the movie Hoosiers. From Muncie Central, McCreary was named head coach at LSU. In eight seasons (1957–1965), McCreary's teams went 82–115 (.416). He was succeeded in 1965 by

Frank Truitt Frank Wilson Truitt, Jr., (April 4, 1925 – December 21, 2014) was a multi-sport collegiate coach and a veteran of World War II. Among his noteworthy accomplishments, Truitt engineered the historic upset of Jerry Lucas's Middletown Middies bas ...

, but returned to Baton Rouge as an assistant in 1966, he served in this capacity for Truitt and

Press Maravich Petar "Press" Maravich (August 29, 1915 – April 15, 1987) was an American college and professional basketball coach. He received the nickname "Press" as a boy, when one of his jobs was selling the ''Pittsburgh Press'' on the streets of his homet ...

until Maravich's firing in 1972.

Personal life

Jay McCreary died on April 17, 1995.

References

1918 births 1995 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players United States Army personnel of World War II Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Indiana College men's basketball head coaches in the United States DePauw Tigers men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball coaches Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players LSU Tigers basketball coaches People from Clinton County, Indiana Guards (basketball) {{1910s-US-basketball-bio-stub