IHC’s Delaney to be inducted into NYS Basketball Hall of Fame in March

WATERTOWN, NY — Coach Michael Delaney is being inducted into the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame.

The induction will take place at 10 a.m. Sunday, March 24, 2019, in the Heritage Hall of Glens Falls Civic Center.

Coach Delaney has been an integral part of high school athletics dating back to his years as an athlete participating in sports at Immaculate Heart Academy from 1964-1968, to his coaching debut in 1972 as a JV football coach to his current administrative roles as athletic director and varsity boys’ basketball and baseball coach.

Coach Delaney has won numerous Frontier League Championships in both basketball and baseball. He has been awarded the Frontier League Coach of the Year multiple consecutive years. He has won multiple basketball and baseball Sectional titles. He won the Baseball State Championship in 2006 and was awarded the New York State Coach of the Year in 2006. Coach Delaney has celebrated over 500 wins in both basketball and baseball.

As one former player wrote, “The greatest accomplishments of Coach Delaney are not found in his personal sports recognitions, his win-loss record, his sectional titles or his state titles but in the life accomplishments of his athletes. Coach Delaney didn’t just prepare his athletes to step onto the field or court; he prepared them for the game of life. He challenged us to challenge ourselves and that transcended into our daily lives. His coaching philosophy is best stated by the quotation – ‘When the great Scorer comes to mark against you name, he writes not that you won or lost, but how you played the game. As a mentor, he emphasized that it was never just about the winning – it was as much about character values, sportsmanship, integrity and self-esteem, discipline and perseverance – playing and winning the right way and losing with pride and dignity. CoachDelaney felt that he had a responsibility not just to teach us to become good athletes but to teach us to become good men. He taught us how to take criticism and risk, how to set goals, how to become a team, how to endure – he prepared us for life.”

Tickets for the induction ceremony can be purchased through Sarah Delaney-Rowland @crowland3@twcny.rr.com. Cost of tickets is $30 adult (ages 12 and older), $12 child (ages 6-11), age 5 years and younger are no charge.