John William McCloskey (September 19, 1925 – June 1, 2017) 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, coach and executive. He served as the head coach of the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

and general manager of the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

and

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

. As general manager of the Pistons, McCloskey assembled the team that would become known as the "Bad Boys" that won

NBA championships The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

Biography

Early life

McCloskey was born in Mahanoy City,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

on September 19, 1925 to Buelah and Eddie McCloskey. After high school, he attended the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

, where he played football. He left school to serve in World War II as a lieutenant commanding a landing ship for the

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

. After the war, McCloskey attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

where he played three varsity sports.

Playing career

McCloskey played one game for the

Philadelphia Warriors The history of the Golden State Warriors began in Philadelphia in 1946. In 1962, the franchise was relocated to San Francisco, California and became known as the San Francisco Warriors until 1971, when its name was changed to the current Golden St ...

of the

NBA 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 St ...

during the 1953 season, scoring 6 points in that game. McCloskey also spent time in

Eastern Professional Basketball League The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball mi ...

(EPBL), including with the Sunbury Mercuries. He was the EPBL Most Valuable Player in 1953 and 1954, and earned four nominations to the All-EPBL First Team (1950, 1952–1954).

Coaching career

McCloskey served as head coach of the

from 1956 to 1966, and of Wake Forest from 1966 to 1972. Following that, he served as the head coach of the

from 1972 through 1974, earning a 48–116 win–loss record. He followed this stint as an assistant coach to

Jerry West Jerome Alan West (born May 28, 1938) is an American basketball executive and former player. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames included "Mr. Clutch", for his ability ...

and the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

. When West became general manager in 1979, McCloskey felt he had earned the right to become head coach, but Jack McKinney was hired instead.

Front-office career: "Trader Jack"

In 1979, McCloskey became general manager of the

. Over the next 13 years, "Trader Jack", as he was known, made over 30 trades, constantly upgrading his team to become a true challenger to the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

, one of the dominant teams in the NBA's Eastern Conference. His best-known moves were drafting future Hall-Of-Famer

Joe Dumars Joe Dumars III ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American professional basketball executive and former player who is the executive vice president and head of basketball operations of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He could play either shoo ...

outside the lottery and rebounding champ

Dennis Rodman Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best rebounding ...

in the second round of the NBA Draft, trading three players for future all-star center and dominant rebounder

Bill Laimbeer William J. Laimbeer Jr. (born May 19, 1957) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who spent the majority of his career with the Detroit Pistons. Known for his rough and violent style of play, he played a big part in the P ...

and trading superstar

Adrian Dantley Adrian Delano Dantley (born February 28, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player and coach who played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Dantley is a six-time NBA All-Star, a two-time All-NBA selection an ...

for

Mark Aguirre Mark Anthony Aguirre (born December 10, 1959) is an American former basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Aguirre was chosen as the first overall pick of the 1981 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks after playing thre ...

during the 1988–89 season, a move that helped the Pistons win the NBA championship in 1989 and 1990. After the Chicago Bulls swept the Pistons in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, "Trader Jack" made his last moves. He acquired

Darrell Walker Darrell Walker (born March 9, 1961) is an American college basketball coach and retired professional player. He is currently head men's coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. At 6'4" (1.93 m) and 180 lb (82 kg), he played as ...

Brad Sellers Bradley Donn Sellers (GOAT)(born December 17, 1962) is an American retired professional basketball player, politician, and radio host serving as the mayor of his hometown, Warrensville Heights, Ohio, as well as a postgame radio analyst for the Clev ...

, and

Orlando Woolridge Orlando Vernada Woolridge (December 16, 1959 – May 31, 2012) was an American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 to 1994. He was known for his scoring ability, especially on slam dunks ...

, and let go of

Vinnie Johnson Vincent Johnson (born September 1, 1956), is an American former professional basketball player and a key player as sixth man for the Detroit Pistons during the team's National Basketball Association (NBA) championships of 1989 and 1990. He was ni ...

and James Edwards to try to make the team younger. He drafted Doug Overton in the second round that year (the Pistons had traded their first-round pick away), who did not even play the following season. The Pistons struggled with their chemistry, as key subs like

John Salley John Thomas Salley (born May 16, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player, talk show host, and actor. He was the first player in NBA history to win championships with three franchises (since joined by Robert Horry, Danny Green ...

did not improve their performance, yet they won 48 games. They lost in five games to the New York Knicks in the first round, and McCloskey left the team. He later served in the front offices of the

(1992–1995), and the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

(2004), the latter on an interim basis.

Personal life

On March 29, 2008, McCloskey had his name honored in Auburn Hills (Home city of The Detroit Pistons at the time), with a banner raised at

The Palace of Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn Hills, commonly referred to as the Palace, was a multi-purpose arena built in 1988 and located in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It was the home of the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Detroit Shoc ...

. McCloskey had six children. His daughter is the writer Molly McCloskey, whose memoir ''Circles Around the Sun: In Search of a Lost Brother'' (2011) recounts the story of the McCloskey family with particular focus on Molly's brother (Jack McCloskey's son), Mike. The family was featured in an article in the September 1953 Ladies Home Journal, as part of a long running series "How America Lives", titled "Meet Mrs. $10,000* Executive in the Home". In May 2017, it was announced McCloskey had

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. He died on June 1, 2017.

Head coaching record

College

NBA

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Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

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References

External links

Basketball-Reference.com: Jack McCloskey (as coach)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mccloskey, Jack 1925 births 2017 deaths American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania Basketball players from Pennsylvania Deaths from dementia in Georgia (U.S. state) Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Detroit Pistons executives Lancaster Red Roses players Military personnel from Pennsylvania Minnesota Timberwolves executives Penn Quakers baseball coaches Penn Quakers men's basketball coaches Penn Quakers men's basketball players People from Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania Philadelphia Warriors players Portland Trail Blazers head coaches Pottsville Packers players Shooting guards Sunbury Mercuries players Toronto Raptors executives Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball coaches United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy officers