Sport: Basketball
Born: April 19, 1943
Town: Kearny, New Jersey
William J. Raftery was born April 19, 1943 in Orange and grew up in Kearny, NJ. Bill played soccer, basketball and baseball for St. Cecilia High School and was named All-State in each sport. It was in basketball, however, that Bill truly shone. He set a prep scoring record for Hudson County that stood until 1999.
In 1959, Bill—who had sprouted to 6’4”—was hands-down the top player in the state, and possibly in the country. He and Jersey City point guard Vinnie Ernst planned to attend the same college, but Ernst wanted to spread his wings a bit (he ended up at Providence) while Bill preferred to stay closer to home.
A devout Catholic whose parents emigrated from Ireland and whose sister was a nun, Bill was recruited by several Catholic universities. He chose La Salle in Philadelphia. Freshmen were not permitted to play varsity ball at the time. Bill set a record for the Explorers’ freshman squad by scoring 370 points in 1959–60 and, a year later, led Dudey Moore’s varsity in scoring, averaging under 18 points a game.
In 1961–62, Bill teamed with senior Bob McAteer to lead La Salle to a 16-win season. In 1962–63, Bill and fellow guard Tony Abbott co-captained a squad that included Frank Corace and George Sutor. They went 16–8 and earned a bid to the National Invitational Tournament. Unfortunately, their hopes for an NIT title ended in a one-point loss to St. Louis in the opening round.
Bill didn’t project as a big star in the pros. He was drafted by the Knicks but did not survive training camp. He set his sights on a coaching career and took a job with Fairleigh Dickinson as associate athletic director, where he coached basketball and golf. In 1970, Richie Regan stepped down as basketball coach at Seton Hall and Bill, just 27, replaced him. After three losing seasons under Bill, the Pirates reeled off seven winning ones in a row, including two NIT appearances. During his 11 years at the helm, Seton Hall won 154 games and became a charter member of the Big East.
Bill turned to broadcasting in the 1980s and became one of the leading voices in college basketball. He teamed with Vern Lundquist for CBS and Sean McDonough for ESPN on TV, and has been the radio voice of the NCAA Final Four for many years. In 2015, Bill was inducted into the National Sportscaster & Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.