Earl “Chick” Craig

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Chick Craig was an outstanding high school basketball player and later a very successful basketball coach. Chick played 4 years of varsity basketball at Phillipsburg High School in New Jersey. Chick then went on to Seton Hall Prep School and then the University of Long Island. Chick started his professional basketball career with the Allentown Jets, the Williamsport Billies, and the Lancaster Red Roses. Chick’s greatest years were with the Wilkes-Barre Barons. Chick played on the fantastic Wilkes-Barre team that lost to the National Basket-ball Association’s Minneapolis Lakers headed by Hall of Fame George Miken. They beat the Philadelphia Warriors, Baltimore Bullets and the New York Knicks. The Knicks returned to play Wilkes-Barre again that year. His teammates were Hall of Famers Cas Ostrowski and Steve Chanecka; also Milt Ticco, Bill Chanecka, Ted Hanauer, Jack Phoenix, Herk Baltimore and Red Powers. Chick played 11 years in the Eastern League helping win 5 championships. Chick served in the Navy during World War II. He played with such basketball stars as New York Knicks Charles Wolfe, Bob Lemon, Philadelphia Warrior Joe Fulks, Ray Boone, and All Pro All-American Kenny Saylors. Chick was voted to the All-Navy team during World War II. After Chick’s playing days were over, he coached in the Eastern League for 24 years, winning 11 championships. He also coached one year in the C.B.A. with the Maine Lumberjacks. The fans of the Wilkes-Barre Barons loved Chick so much that he is probably the only player/coach who had a “Chick Craig Night” as a player in 1948, and also as a coach in 1983. “Those 2 nights were two of the greatest days of my life,” Chick was quoted telling Sunday Independent Lou Rausher, sportswriter for the newspaper. Chick scouted for the Chicago Bulls of the N.B.A. Virginia Squires of the A.B.A., the Denver Nuggets and the Washington Bullets of the N.B.A. He has worked with Marty Blake for the last 18 years scouting talent. Marty Blake was inducted into the N.E. Hall of Fame in 1990. Chick and his wife, Ethel, have been married for 35 years, and Chick has a stepson, Arthur.