BUFFALO, N.Y. — In the 1950's John McCarthy led Canisius to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances.
McCarthy will always be remembered for, among other things, being the leade scorer on the Canisius teams that won a combined four games - over consecutive NCAA tournament appearances in 1955 and 1956. Those games include a thrilling 79-78, four-overtime victory over NC State.
McCarthy was selected by the Rochester Royals in the 1956 draft. He played in the league through 1964. He won an NBA title with the Boston Celtics in 1964. He played 28 games with Boston that year. It was one of eight straight titles won by Red Auerbach's teams.
In 1960 with the St. Louis Hawks, McCarthy was the first player to score a triple double in his first playoff game. He had 13 points, 11 rebounds and 11 asissts in the game. In 316 career NBA games McCarthy averaged 7.8 points, 3.7 assists and nearly 28 minutes of playing time.
At Canisius his 1,160 career points rank 24th in school history. "It is always dangerous territory in athletics to talk about the best, but John McCarthy was clearly one of the best, if not the best basketball players to come through Canisius College," school president John Hurley said in a statement. "He was a key part of a golden era of Canisius basketball, and he will be missed."
After retiring as a player McCarthy coached the NBA's Buffalo Braves in the 1971-72. He coached the Canisius men's basketball team for three seasons.
Canisius announced McCarthy's death Saturday. He died from natural causes in the Buffalo area.
