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Celebrating the life and honoring the memory of John Chaney, as we recognize his groundbreaking accomplishments in the sport of basketball and his many contributions to our beloved City.
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WHEREAS, John Chaney was born in Jacksonville, Florida on January 21, 1932, spending his early years in a modest home in a low-lying, flood-prone area in the segregated, depression-era south; and
WHEREAS, During World War II, at a time when millions of Black families were migrating to northern cities, chasing opportunity and fleeing brutal oppression, John's stepfather moved his family to Philadelphia, where he found work in a defense plant; and
WHEREAS, John attended Philadelphia public schools and participated in their athletic programs, where he displayed an early gift for playing basketball and understanding the finer points of the game, and he was named Most Valuable Player in the public high school basketball league in 1951; and
WHEREAS, John attended Bethune-Cookman College, an HBCU, where in 1953 he was initiated into the Gamma Theta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and where his basketball performance earned him a place on the small-college all-American team. From there, after a brief stint with the Harlem Globetrotters, he joined the Eastern Professional Basketball League, playing for the Sunbury Mercuries, and later, the Williamsport Billies; and
WHEREAS, He first became Coach John Chaney in 1963, taking a position at what was then Sayre Junior High School in West Philadelphia, and in 1966, he became the coach at Simon Gratz High School. His teams had a combined record of 122 wins and 32 losses in nine seasons; and
WHEREAS, Coach Chaney's first collegiate job was at Cheyney State College, the nation's first HBCU, and a member of Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ("NCAA"), where, in his ten seasons, the Wolves won 232 games and lost 56. In 1978, they won the Division II Men's Basketball Tournament; and
WHEREAS, Ch...
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