Deep 76ed

Jack Ramsey, the basketball genius who sent Wilt Chamberlain out of Philadelphia, has died of cancer at the age of 89. Dr. Jack, so named after getting a doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania, started out coaching St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, making 10 postseason appearances in 11 seasons, highlighted by a 1961 Final Four appearance. Moving on to become the GM of the Philadelphia 76ers, Ramsey led the team to the then-best record in NBA history and the NBA title in 1966-67, his first season, and made 4 more playoff appearances as a head coach. A stint in Buffalo and more playoff appearances followed, then he took his basketball prowess and sartorial splendor national with his first coaching championship, in 1977 with the Portland Trail Blazers. All told, in 20 NBA seasons as head coach, he made the playoffs 16 times, earning induction into the Hall of Fame in 1992, then spent 30 years trying to convince people that a game consisting of grown men running around in their underwear and not playing defense was a sport worth watching.

Starr-Crossed

Sally Starr, who appeared in the Three Stooges last movie (The Outlaws Is Coming) and made an album with Bill Haley and the Comets, making her far more unique than some mayor’s wife, has died at the age of 90. The Philadelphia TV pioneer rode in wearing a white cowboy hat and a fringed and starred cowgirl outfit and boots that would have embarrassed Liberace, astride a palomino with a silver saddle and hosted Popeye Theater, one of the city’s longest-running kiddie programs, with more than 1.5 million viewers a day at her peak, besting even Chief Halftown and Captain Kangeroo. She had been on TV in Philadelphia since the 1940s, appearing on Hayloft Hoedown, the first network TV show to originate from Philadelphia, with her husband Jesse Rogers, a country-western singer she first met while trying to get an autograph and married when she was 15. Despite a range of personal setbacks, Our Gal Sal continued making personal appearances and signing autographs for her adopted Delaware Valley family into her 80s, and hosted a South Jersey country music show until April 2011 when she retired for health reasons.