Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410120063
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: COLUMBIA, S.C. LENGTH: Long
Frank McGuire, who coached two schools to the NCAA championship game and helped bring big-time basketball to the South, died Tuesday after a long illness. He was 80.
McGuire died at his West Columbia home shortly after 1:30 p.m., said Wanda McNair, a deputy Lexington County coroner. She said McGuire suffered from complications from a stroke he had about two years ago.
She said McGuire's wife and other family members were at his side when he died.
Bob Fulton, South Carolina's longtime announcer, said McGuire fought to stay alive through the weekend until his sister could arrive from New York on Monday.
``His family agreed that it was a godsend,'' Fulton said. ``He was in so much pain the last few weeks.''
McGuire received a pacemaker for an irregular heartbeat in 1991. It was discovered when he was taken to the hospital after falling and injuring his back.
McGuire led North Carolina to its first national basketball championship and was the winningest coach in South Carolina history.
A dapper dresser who wore a pair of alligator coaching shoes, McGuire won 724 games - 549 at the college level - during a 41-year career that ended in 1980 when he was eased out as South Carolina's coach. He was named to the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 1977.
``The coach was a person who always had time for the little people,'' said Lou Carnesecca, former coach at St.John's, where McGuire began his college coaching career. ``He never thought he was bigger than the game.''
Carnesecca, who knew McGuire for 50 years, said it was ``a bad, bad loss'' for basketball. McGuire showed that he could win on all levels by stressing the fundamentals of the game, Carnesecca said.
In 1952, McGuire led St.John's to the NCAA championship game, which the Redmen lost to Kansas 80-63.
Five years later, McGuire led North Carolina to the title in possibly the most exciting NCAA championship game. The Tar Heels beat Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain 54-53 in triple overtime to complete a 32-0 season.
McGuire was 283-142 in 16 seasons at South Carolina, leading the Gamecocks to four straight NCAA tournaments beginning with the school's first NCAA appearance in 1971.
McGuire was born Nov.8, 1913, the son of a New York police officer. He began his head coaching career at his alma mater, St.John's, in 1948 after serving in the Navy during World War II.
In five seasons under McGuire, the Redmen won 20 games three times and were 102-36 overall.
He was then lured to North Carolina to take on North Carolina State, which was becoming a powerhouse under Everett Case. McGuire continued to recruit in New York, and the strategy paid off.
He turned around the Tar Heel program, going 164-58 with the help of Dean Smith, a young assistant who has since become one of the best college coaches in history.
McGuire left North Carolina in 1961 for the NBA's Philadelphia Warriors. In his first and only NBA season, McGuire was on the bench as Chamberlain averaged a record 50.4 points a game.
Some felt McGuire and Chamberlain would not get along. But McGuire said Chamberlain was ``the best problem I ever had.''
The next season, the Warriors left for San Francisco without McGuire, who for the first time in 15 years was out of coaching. He spent the next two years working in public relations in New York.
In 1964, McGuire accepted a job at South Carolina, which had managed just two winning seasons in 12 years. The Gamecocks finished 6-17 and 11-13 in McGuire's first two seasons.
After that he never had another losing season. The Gamecocks won fewer than 14 games only once while surpassing the 20-win mark six straight seasons beginning in 1969.
During his tenure, the playing area of the Carolina Coliseum was named Frank McGuire Arena. Some called the 12,401-seat facility the ``House That Frank Built.''
But it came tumbling down after the 1979-80 season. The Gamecocks finished 16-11, and McGuire was forced out.
The school later paid McGuire a $400,000 settlement, but he remained unhappy with how the university handled his leaving. For several years, he stayed away from the coliseum. But when one of his ex-players, George Felton, was hired in 1986, McGuire returned and was a regular at all home games.
In 1987, less than two weeks before Christmas, a fire destroyed his Columbia home and hundreds of mementos McGuire had accumulated, including a picture of his 1957 North Carolina team, a baseball signed by Babe Ruth and autographed pictures of Frank Sinatra and Vince Lombardi.
McGuire's son, Frank Jr., was born with cerebral palsy. His first wife, Patricia, died of cancer in 1967. Six years later, he married again and his wife, Margaret, known as Jane, survives him as do two daughters, Patricia Jeanne and Carol Ann.
Funeral services for McGuire are scheduled for Thursday at 11 a.m. at St.Peter's Catholic Church in Columbia.
by CNB