Patrick J McCann Jr. March 06, 1933 – March 12, 2019 Share this obituary Send Flowers Sign Guestbook| Send Sympathy Card It is with great sadness we mourn the passing of legendary St Rose basketball coach Pat McCann on Tuesday March 12th. Patrick J. McCann Jr. was born in Newark NJ on March 6, 1933 to Patrick McCann Sr., County Roscommon, Ireland and Kathleen Gilmore, County Mayo. The family moved to Belmar in 1938 after living in Ireland for 2 years.
Pat attended St Rose grammar and high school and was a member of the 1949 State Champion basketball team. After graduating high school in 1951, Pat attended Notre Dame University where he was a member of the ROTC. After graduating college, Pat spent 3 years in the US Air Force rising to the rank of Captain.
When he retired from active duty the plan was for him to take over the family business, McCann’s Atlantic Hotel in Ocean Avenue in Belmar. In 1958 he was asked by Monsignor Peter Teston to temporarily take the position as head boys basketball coach for the 1958-59 season until a permanent replacement could be found. The rest is St Rose history – Pat went on to become one of the Shore’s most storied coaches winning over 400 games and state championships in 1962, 1963, 1966, and 1977.
Fiercely competitive but always the gentleman, Pat was also famous for never having a technical foul called against him even while coaching for over a decade in the Jersey Shore Summer Basketball League. Pat retired from coaching in 1986 after 28 years and as St Rose’s Athletic Director in 1995 after 37year. Pat loved golf, sodoku, the NY Yankees,Knicks, and Giants, and an occasional amaretto.
Pat is survived by his wife of 60 years, Irene, his three children: daughter Karen (Joe) Vizzi of Buffalo NY, Patrick III (Elisabeth) of Durham CT, Rod (Deniz) of Avon; and three grandchildren RJ, Rebecca, and Patrick IV. Pat is also survived by his niece Denise (Tom) Latanision and their daughters Leanna and Alyssa of Edina, MN and Nephew Kevin Purcell of Palm Harbor of Florida; his sister-in-law Betty Rokovich of Queens, NY, and niece Katie McCann and her son Michael of Interlaken, NJ. Visitation will be on Friday March 15, from 4 to 8pm at the Reilly Bonner Funeral Home, 801 D Street Belmar NJ.
A mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Saturday March 16 at 1:00 pm at St Rose RC Church in Belmar. Committal will follow at Saint Catharine’s Cemetery, Sea Girt. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to The Disabled American Veterans, the Shriners, or St. Jude’s Children’s Hospitals.
For further information or to send condolences to the family please visit, reillybonnerfuneralhime.com.
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