From Harrisburg to the Hall of Fame
— -- It was an off-day, early in the 1976-77 season. Portland coach Jack Ramsay flew to San Francisco to watch the Golden State Warriors play the Philadelphia 76ers. When he returned to his team, he was excited about what he'd learned.
If basketball outcomes were decided on talent alone, Philadelphia's lineup of Julius Erving, George McGinnis, World B. Free, Doug Collins & Co. could level anyone. But Ramsay saw some weaknesses. They were not a team, he decided. Their habit of loping back on defense often lapsed, selfishly, into one-on-one play. He thought his quintet could turn the tables on them in a running, passing game. He was right.
The next night Philadelphia arrived in Portland. Ramsay's troops carried out his battle plan and buried Philly. "I remember looking up at the scoreboard and saying 'Are we ahead by 40?'" he said. The Blazers won 146-104. After enjoying the victory with his team in the locker room, he could barely contain his high spirits. He walked outside, drinking in the crisp night air.
"I thought we could win it all," he recalled thinking.
In one night of scouting he had gained an edge that he wielded like a trump card. In six years in the NBA, Portland had never won a playoff series or even finished .500. Ramsay won a title in his first season there.
The big question in evaluating coaches is: Did he make his teams better? With Ramsay the answer was "yes" more often than not.
All told, he won 864 games in the pros and 234 in college and was inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. As part of the NBA's 50th anniversary in 1996, he was voted one of the 10 greatest coaches in league history.
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