John Quinn

Category
2000
About This Inductee

John Quinn, the son of Eleanor Flaherty Quinn and the late John F. Quinn, has been a lifelong resident of Wilkes-Barre Township. John’s father taught and coached basketball, football and baseball at Wilkes-Bane Township for decades. John graduated from Wilkes-Barre Township High School in 1966, where he captained the basketball and baseball teams. He was also senior class valedictorian. He went on to earn his BS and Master’s Degrees at Bloomsburg State University. John was the last head baseball and basketball coach at Wilkes-Barre Township High School. His 1972 basketball team went to the first round of the PIAA inter-districts. John also coached junior high basketball at Wilkes-Barre Township and G.A.R. High School for one year. He coached junior high baseball at Wilkes-Barre Township for four years and coached J.V. baseball at Coughlin High School for 14 years. He has been varsity head coach of baseball at Coughlin High for 2 years. John is the founder charter member and current president of the Wyoming Valley Boys Basketball Coaches Association. John is also a charter member and functions as secretary for the PA Interscholastic Coaches Association. John is also a cofounder (1999) charter member and first vice president of the PA Association of Basketball Coaches. During his basketball career, John has coached his teams to more than 350 wins. He has taken them six times to PIAA interdistricts (once at Wilkes-Barre Township and five times at Coughlin High). His 1998 Coughlin High School team became the Wyoming Valley Conference champs (Coughlin’s first WVC championship in school history). Sixteen times he has taken his teams to District II PIAA playoffs and was twice voted Coach of the Year (1983 and 1998). John has run many sports camps in the area over the past 26 years. During the Keystone State Games, he functioned as regional tryout coordinator and was twice head Pocono coach. John founded the Coughlin High School Sports Hall of Fame. He is also a noted local historian, writing the history of Coughlin High School at the 200 year history of Wilkes-Bane Township. John is married to Betty Hillard of Plymouth. They are the parents of three children – Colleen Wood, who teaches in the Wilkes-Barre Area Schools and coaches field hockey at Coughlin High School, John H., a senior at Alvernia College in Reading; and Jennifer, a local accountant. They are also grandparents to Caitlin and Brigid Wood, who are the seventh generation of Quinns still residing in the Georgetown section of Wilkes-Barre Township.