April 8, 2019

THE 2019 AWARD

MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Temple’s Fran Dunphy is the recipient of the 2019 Gene Bartow award, which recognizes outstanding achievement and contributions to the game.

Dunphy just completed his 13th and final season at Temple. He was one of 25 active coaches with 500 or more wins and is just the fifth coach to win 200 games at two different schools.  The 1970 La Salle graduate is also the all-time winningest coach in Philadelphia Big 5 history will be inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame this month.

The Philadelphia native began his college experience as a player at La Salle in 1967 and would later serve as an assistant coach at his alma mater.  His coaching career began at West Point in 1971. He would go on to coach at his high school, Malvern Prep before joining the La Salle staff in 1979.

Dunphy would go on to spend five seasons as an assistant at the University of Maryland before a second stint at La Salle. After three seasons with the Explorers he left to become an assistant at Penn and one year later he was named as the Quakers head coach.

He spent 17 seasons at Penn winning 310 games, an unprecedented 48 straight Ivy League games and four league titles from 1992 through 1996.  He won a total of ten Ivy League titles.

In his 13 seasons at Temple, Dunphy has won five conference titles and led the Owls to eight NCAA Tournament appearances.

One of the most respected coaches in the nation, Dunphy coached eight Conference Players of the Year, three Conference Rookies of the Year, five perfect Conference seasons and 56 All-Conference honorees. 

The Gene Bartow award recognizes outstanding achievement and contributions to the game.

Bartow spent 36 years as a head coach, posting a 647-353 record.  He led Memphis State to the 1973 NCAA championship game, losing to UCLA in St. Louis, the last in the Bruinsí streak of seven straight titles. After leaving Memphis to coach at the University of Illinois, Bartow succeeded legendary UCLA coach John Wooden at UCLA in 1975. In two seasons at UCLA, Bartowís Bruins had a 52-9 won-lost record and reached the 1976 NCAA Final Four.

Then, following the 1976-77 season, Bartow departed UCLA to start a basketball program at the University of Alabama Birmingham as both head coach and director of athletics. He served at UAB for 18 years, leading the Blazers to the National Invitation Tournament in the program's second year of existence. Overall, he guided UAB to seven straight NCAA tournament berths, reaching the Sweet 16 in 1981 and the Elite Eight in 1982.

While at UAB, Bartow became the winningest coach in Sun Belt Conference history with 111 career Sun Belt wins.  In 2005 Bartow was honored as the all-time Sun Belt Menís Basketball Coach during the leagueís celebration of its 30th anniversary.

In 1996, Bartow retired from coaching and UAB honored him by naming its basketball facility Bartow Arena the following year. Most recently, the 81-year old Bartow was the president of Hoops LP, the parent company of the NBAís Memphis Grizzlies and the FedEx Forum.