Passages: Remembering Johnny Egan, one of PC basketball's early stars
John Egan, one of the first high-profile recruits and headlining players in Providence College men’s basketball history, has died. He was 83.
Egan’s passing was announced in a statement issued by the Friars late Thursday night. He lived in Houston after concluding his playing and coaching career, retiring after a successful stint as an insurance executive.
Egan played with six NBA teams during a career that lasted from 1961-72. He went on to coach the Houston Rockets for four seasons, from 1972-76, and called the area home for the remainder of his life.
Egan was a high school star in Hartford before joining Lenny Wilkens in a superb backcourt at Providence. The two went on to become the program’s first Associated Press All-American selections in 1958-59 and the first pair of NBA Draft selections for the Friars. Egan helped lead the program to an NIT championship in 1961, the first of its two titles in three years under coach Joe Mullaney.
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“One of the all-time Friar greats,” current Providence coach Ed Cooley said on Twitter late Thursday.
Egan was an athletic 5-foot-11 scorer who could attack the rim and survive among the big men who dominated the game during that era. His breakout at Providence came thanks to 20.9 points per game as a sophomore — still the third-most in program history for a player in his second academic year. Marvin Barnes (21.6) and Ben Bentil (21.1) are the only two who have eclipsed Egan over the last six decades.
Egan netted what was a program record 39 points in a January 1959 win at Villanova and scored 24.0% of all team points during his three years — only 10 Friars have been more prolific. His 1,434 career points place him ahead of fellow Providence greats like Wilkens, Billy Donovan, Dickey Simpkins and Kris Dunn. John Thompson (1,520 points, 79 games) is the only player who scored more points than Egan while playing in fewer than his 80 games.
The Friars went 68-17 during Egan’s three years in uniform, falling to Bradley in the 1960 NIT final before making history the following year. He teamed with Vin Ernst to score all 15 points in overtime of the 1961 semifinals, a 90-83 win over Holy Cross. Providence went on to down Saint Louis in the title round at Madison Square Garden.
Wilkens was selected sixth overall by the St. Louis Hawks in the 1960 draft — it was Egan’s turn the following year. He went 12th overall to the Detroit Pistons and left a Friars team that included Ernst, Jim Hadnot and Ray Flynn. They combined with Thompson to help lead Providence past Canisius in the 1963 NIT finals.
Egan was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1974 and was honored with a banner ceremony prior to a 2009 game against Notre Dame at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. He was the fifth player and the seventh Friars program member to earn that recognition — Wilkens, Barnes, Mullaney, Jimmy Walker, Ernie DiGregorio and Dave Gavitt preceded him.
According to the Hartford Courant, Egan is survived by his son, John Jr., his daughter, Kim, and five grandchildren. His late wife, Joan, died of ovarian cancer in 1998.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Remembering John Egan, former Providence College, NBA player and coach
