Remembering John Chaney: Quincy Wadley
When Quincy Wadley first heard the news that his former head coach had passed away, his gut reaction was guilt for not having visited him more recently.
The former Temple guard, who played for John Chaney from 1997-2001, had planned to bring his sons to sit down and meet the Hall of Fame coach but delayed the visit due to concerns surrounding COVID-19. He knew their health was far more important and said they would hold off seeing him in person until the risk of the virus subsided.
Wadley never got that chance.
He was, however, one of the greatest guards Chaney had the pleasure of coaching.
Wadley was forced to sit out his freshman season under NCAA academic guidelines, otherwise known as Proposition 48, which adversely affected Black student athletes. But he proved in the three seasons that followed why Chaney fought so hard against racial and social injustices.
Wadley was part of a Temple team that made it two NCAA Elite Eights, one in 1999 and again in 2001. He’s also ranked 25th on Temple’s all-time leading scoring list with 1,452 points.
Here are some excerpts from OwlScoop.com’s exclusive interview with Wadley.
Wadley on what comes to mind when he thinks of Chaney:
“The first thing that comes to mind is just wanting to win. Please understand when I say that it’s not just from a basketball perspective, it was wanting to win in life and wanting to be successful. And wanting that for all of his players, wanting that for all of his coaches and everyone that was involved with the program. That mentality and that attitude -- it makes sense that he eventually coined the phrase “winning is an attitude.” To me, that’s one of the first things, he wanted to win. He wanted to be a winner and he wanted to be successful and he always put that energy forward.”
Wadley on Chaney’s lasting lessons:
“The impact from those lessons, we always talk about paying it forward. Paying it forward and doing our part. The things that I’ve learned from Coach throughout those years, they’ve become instilled in me. There are so many things that you continue to learn along the way. Even as you become an adult. Coming into college as a 17 year old, you’re still a young man. You still are impressionable to some degree. It doesn’t matter what kind of life you had before that. Some of those things and life lessons that I learned from Coach and through his experience, I’m able to pass on to my children. When I look at some of my other friends and some of my other teammates, I look at how they might have passed some of those same lessons onto their children. Whether I’ve experienced time around their kids or not. I can see it when I see their kids. For example, I can see Jalen [Brunson] playing on TV, and I can see certain things that resonate through him that came from his father, [Rick Brunson], that came through Coach. And the same thing with Levan [Alston’s] son, little Shizz. Or little Jake Forrester. You see those things resonate throughout generations and Coach never directly coached any of those kids. But because they were instilled in their parents, they were passed on. And that to me is really special. The same thing goes for little Lynn [Greer III]. I’m sure when they see my boys they see the same thing. They see some of those same lessons that were instilled in us and were passed along.”
Wadley on Chaney’s legacy:
“His legacy should be unparalleled in my eyes. What he stood for, what he’s done and where he came from to accomplish those things. To reach the ultimate level of success in your profession doing what you’re doing. Not just as a player because he was a very good player but to also transition into the second part of your life and become an even better coach than you were a player…. He became a great coach, a great teacher and a great mentor. To me, where he came from, what he was able to accomplish, was unparalleled. What he’s done for his players and the movement, fighting for those things, and having other great coaches try to emulate what he’s done as far as the zone and keeping track of turnovers. We even see other coaches who were never a part of his coaching tree try to adapt his philosophies and they became successful. His legacy is unmatched in my eyes.”