John Chaney

Enshrined 2001
Born: January 21, 1932
Jacksonville, Florida

Known as a teacher of life's lessons, John Chaney's crack-of-dawn practices at Temple University are legendary. While the time of day the workouts began was distinctive, more famous are the values the veteran coach was known for instilling in his players: discipline, teamwork, commitment, excellence, and execution. Chaney's teams, first at Cheyney State in the late 1970s, and more recently at Temple, played hard-nosed, grind-it-out basketball, reminiscent of Chaney's playing days at Bethune-Cookman. He has led his college teams to 26 postseason berths and upon revitalizing Temple's program in 1982, coached the Owls to five NCAA regional finals and seventeen NCAA tournament berths. At the time of enshrinement, Chaney had brought Temple to six Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament Championships and seven regular season titles.