Curran and current Miami coach Jim Larranaga (
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undated photo of Jack Curran, coach of Archbishop High School coach. handout photo courtesy: Archbishop Molloy HS. (
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Jack Curran’s first team in 1958. (Archbishop Molloy HS)
Jack Curran died Wednesday night doing what he loved best — watching one of the two sports he had a lifetime love affair with.
Sitting in his favorite chair in his Rye home, the Big East Tournament on television, the former Archbishop Molloy basketball and baseball coach closed his eyes for the last time at the age of 82.
My first thought on hearing of his passing, crazy as this seems, was this: What basketball image was Curran focusing on? It must have been him appreciating a properly set pick, or a smart pass that led to a basket or help defense that denied a lane to the basket.
Had it been a baseball game it might have been hitting the cutoff man, advancing the runner, an astute observation from a player on the bench as to how the opposition’s defense was playing.
Because Jack Curran was never about flash and publicity. He was about helping others, serving the games he loved, making sure that every player’s role was appreciated, every person valued.
“One thing he did better than any coach I’ve ever been around is he helped more kids that didn’t play for him than did play for him,’’ said former St. John’s coach Norm Roberts, who got his start in the profession when Curran hired him to coach freshmen at Molloy.
“I’m talking about athletic scholarships, academic scholarships. You’d walk into his office and he would be on the phone with a college coach somewhere talking about a kid he had seen or a kid he had met.’’
You need some numbers here to appreciate that quote.
Curran won 972 basketball games and 1,708 baseball games, both state records. He won CHSAA Coach of the Year honors 22 times in basketball and 25 times in baseball. He is the only coach in the New York State Athletic Hall of Fame for baseball and basketball.
It’s impossible to know how many prep players were mentored, coached or steered to college by Curran. He was the concierge who never asked for a tip.
After a flock of college coaches came to see Kenny Anderson score 30 one night for Molloy, one of them received a call from Curran. Dean Smith was dejected upon learning Anderson had chosen Georgia Tech over North Carolina. Curran asked Smith about the kid on the other team — Christ the King.
That other kid was Derrick Phelps. Phelps went on to become the starting point guard on Smith’s second national championship team.
“His word was like gold if he was talking to a college coach,” Anderson told The Post.
Funny how things work out. Curran was a heckuva pitcher and an outfielder. His dream was to make it to the big show and he played in the Phillies and Dodgers organizations.
He often said he learned everything about baseball from his time with the Brooklyn franchise. He never made it to the big show, but he became the greatest show in New York City prep coaching starring at Molloy for 55 years.
“Staying at the high-school level said a lot of him wanting to have a major impact on kids’ lives from a bigger standpoint, but maybe not a bigger stage,’’ said former Molloy and NBA star Kenny Smith, now a studio analyst for Turner.
There isn’t a tombstone big enough to list all of the young men who are better off in life because of Jack Curran. Sure, he would teach the jumper and breaking ball, but Curran taught boys to become men, to look you in the eye, shake your hand firmly, treat everyone as an equal, say what you mean, mean what you say.
“He wanted his players to speak properly, he wanted them to behave properly, he wanted them to be successful,’’ said Molloy grad and University of Miami coach Jim Larranaga. “And he knew how to do that.’’
lenn.robbins@nypost.com