Charley Rosen passed away yesterday. The former Albany Patroons head coach and assistant coach, as well as the author and co-author of sixteen different basketball books, was 84.
Rosen joined the team in 1983 as an assistant coach to then-newly-hired Phil Jackson in the Patroons’ first season. He stayed with the team through the 1985-86 season, and then embarked on a head coaching career of his own. The 1991-92 season saw him return to Albany as a head coach.
Rosen was an accomplished collegiate basketball player for Hunter College from 1959-62, and participated in the 1961 Maccabiah Games in Israel.
In his later years, Rosen authored several well-received basketball history and fiction books. His sixteen published volumes included profiles of former Patroons head coach Micheal Ray Richardson (Sugar), the 1950-51 CCNY college basketball team (Scandals of ’51), and noted game-fixer Jack Molinas (The Wizard of Odds). He also chronicled the history of Jewish players in basketball (the Chosen Game), the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers (Perfectly Awful), and the early days of the NBA (The First Tip-Off).
He loved the Grateful Dead. Trust me on this. The man could hear three notes of a Dead concert tape and know exactly when and where that concert took place.
He was truly an important thread in the Patroons’ long history. And he will be terribly missed by Pats fans and basketball lovers alike.
Chuck The Writer 