NEW YORK (AP) Three basketball legends with ties to the Philadelphia area will receive the Lapchick Character Award.
Herb Magee, who has won more than 1,000 games at Philadelphia University, Marianne Stanley, who played on the famed Immaculata teams of the 1970s and the late John Bach, who was the coach at Penn State among his career stops, will be honored on Nov. 18.
They will be presented the award at a luncheon in New York to celebrate the life of Joe Lapchick, a Hall of Fame coach with St. John’s and the New York Knicks, who was known for his compassion and integrity off the court.
Bach, who died in January at 91, played and coached at Fordham before leading Penn State. He was considered one of the top NBA assistants and an integral part of the Chicago Bulls’ dynasty in the 1990s.
Bach, who played professional basketball after graduation, received an important piece of advice from Lapchick. Bach had been offered the coaching job at his alma mater and was contemplating the career change.
”I spoke with the legendary St. John’s coach Joe Lapchick, and told him I didn’t think I was ready to be a coach,” Bach wrote. ”Coach Lapchick told me, `John, none of us were ready to coach.”’
Magee has been involved with the Philadelphia program for 57 years as a player and coach. He enters his 50th season with the Rams with 1,032 wins. The Rams have made 29 NCAA Tournament appearances, winning the NCAA College Division title in 1970.
Stanley won three AIAW titles as a player at Immaculata from 1972-74, playing for Lapchick winner Cathy Rush. She won another two AIAW titles as coach at Old Dominion as well as an NCAA title in 1985. She coached at Penn, USC, Stanford and California. She was the 2002 WNBA coach of the year for the Washington Mystics and currently serves as their assistant coach.
The Lapchick Award was first presented in 2008. Previous winners include Naismith Hall of Famers Mike Krzyzewski, Lou Carnesecca, Dean Smith, Pat Summitt, John Thompson Jr., Bob Hurley Sr., Pete Carril, Jody Conradt, Morgan Wootten, Pete Newell, C.M. Newton, Don Haskins and Kay Yow.
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