Temple unveils statues of Chaney, Litwack

John Chaney's family and his friends know how much the former Temple coach dislikes receiving honors, which is why they kept rather quiet as plans were being made to pay tribute to him and fellow Hall of Fame coach Harry Litwack with statues in the lobby of the Liacouras Center.

Saturday, the statues honoring Chaney and Litwack were unveiled about two hours prior to the start of Temple's game against Villanova.

The ceremony, witnessed by dozens of Owls who played under Chaney, pleased the 82-year-old coach, but one got the feeling that he would have tried to stop it had he known about it sooner.

"I'm just completely overwhelmed by this," Chaney said. "I can't imagine that everybody knew about it and I didn't know anything. When someone called me about it, I said, 'I don't want to be honored,' and I didn't. I went everywhere trying to find out who knew what. Nobody would say anything. In this day and age of loose lips, it's unbelievable."

However, Chaney was clearly moved speaking in front of former players such as Mark Macon, Nate Blackwell, Tim Perry, Aaron McKie, Eddie Jones, Kevin Lyde, Mike Vreeswyk, and Rick Brunson, who introduced him.

"It's a special day to be a Temple Owl," Brunson said. "You have no idea how much it means to his players to celebrate this day, and to have him here so we can celebrate it with him."

Philadelphia's Dawn Staley, who was the head women's coach at Temple during Chaney's tenure, also attended before heading back to coach South Carolina's women on Sunday.

In his address, Chaney spoke of his conversations with Litwack, who died in 1999 at age 91, emphasizing one of the older coach's favorite sayings: "You enter [college] to learn and you depart to serve."

He said the two talked basketball "in many ways," and marveled at the pressing defense of legendary UCLA coach John Wooden.

He also spoke warmly of former Temple president Peter Liacouras and what he said was nearly a 10-year fight against City Hall to get the arena at Broad Street and Montgomery Avenue built.

Litwack, who won 373 games in 21 seasons as head coach and led the Owls to Final Fours in 1956 and 1958, was represented by his daughters, Lois Kieserman and Shelly Smoger.

"The statue at first glance brought tears to our eyes," Kieserman said.

The 8-foot statues were the work of a Toms River, N.J., company headed by Brian Hanlon, the official sculptor of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. They were funded entirely by private donations, the university said.