Archbishop Molloy legend Jack Curran died Thursday, somewhat unexpectedly.
Photo courtesy of Archbishop Molloy School
America's premier two-sport high school coach, Jack Curran, died today at age 82,
according to the New York Daily News.
MaxPreps had talked to the ageless legend on March 2 while he was undergoing therapy for a broken kneecap from a fall on ice. The longtime coach at
Archbishop Molloy (Queens, N.Y.) had missed four basketball games, but was hopeful he would be back for another year at the baseball helm.
Jack Curran, Archbishop Molloy
Photo courtesy of Archbishop Molloy School
Curran won more games than any other coach in two sports - more than 900 in basketball and more than 1,100 in baseball - during his 55-year tenure at Molloy.
Molloy officials were shocked, even though Curran also had been battling cancer and undergoing dialysis.
Joe Summo, Molloy's alumni communications coordinator, told the Daily News, "He had been doing well. We heard good things. So, that's why it came as a shock today, to hear the news, because we expected to see him back next week, if not the week after. I guess based on that trauma, and he had been undergoing dialysis for quite a while, all these things contributed to his body finally just giving out."
Curran, who played minor league baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies, was named Catholic High School Athletic Association Coach of the Year 25 times in baseball and 22 times in basketball and won New York City titles in three different decades. His most famous product probably was Kenny Anderson, who was named USA Today National Basketball Player of the Year and played in the NBA.
Anderson tweeted (
@chibbs_1), "I truly loved and always will my high school coach Jack Curran,taught me how to be a leader at 15 years old ,my guy!!!!!"
