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Before there was Temple, John Chaney had Cheyney State. And the relationship was just as made-for-each-other as it would later become on North Broad Street. Only on a different level.
But success is success. The main reason he's in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame are the 516 wins and five Final Eights his teams accumulated in 24 seasons with the Owls. Yet in a decade at Division II, Chaney's Wolves went 225-59, including an NCAA title in 1978.
It's all part of the resume. And, in many ways, the most satisfying part.
"I think, in my humble beginning, I enjoyed that more," Chaney recalled yesterday. "I was teaching [Health and Physical Education] classes during that time. I think the biggest distinction was, there was a closeness that was there. Now you come to a big school, where there's 35,000 [students]. They all knew my name, but I didn't know theirs. At Cheyney, I could yell all the kids' names out, that weren't basketball players, that I knew. They hung around, boys and girls. Even the president would come to practice. Of course, Peter [Liacouras] did that at Temple, too.
"I'd always have a lecture, every morning, just like I'd do with my team. You would reach its highest peak of interest, then cut it off. Somebody said, 'Why'd you leave them hanging?' But when you [do that], the next time you introduce it they're like, 'Yeahhhhh!' Try that with kids. It works. Take that lollipop out of their mouth. I'm going give it back, when you do this or do that."

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Tags: chaney, john