In Tribute to Lester “Buster” Sheary, one of the greatest college basketball coaches in history
By Marvin Pave
The Boston Globe’s front sports page on March 14, 1954, offered readers much to choose from.
— Brockton High’s Class A Tech Tournament basketball championship victory over Archbishop Williams before 12,208 fans at Boston Garden.
— Milwaukee Braves outfielder Bobby Thompson sidelined for three months with a broken ankle.
— Goals from Cal Gardner and Fleming Mackell sparking the Bruins’ 2–1 win at Toronto.
— The visiting Celtics’ 97–85 win over the Baltimore Bullets with Bob Cousy contributing 19 points and 14 assists.
But the most prominent headline was reserved for head coach Buster Sheary’s Holy Cross basketball team.
The Crusaders upset Duquesne,71–62, in the finals of the prestigious National Invitation Tournament, witnessed by a sellout crowd of 18,496 at Madison Square Garden.
``Lester (Buster) Sheary had done a tremendous job with his club,’’ wrote the Globe’s Clif Keane,``moving players in at opportune times, calling time out when the club was faltering and exhorting his team to dig in and battle against what looked like impossible odds.
``The Dukes looked like a professional outfit,’’ he noted,’’ but the Crusaders at times staggered them.’’
That victory, highlighted by 20 points apiece from Tommy Heinsohn and Togo Palazzi, earned the Crusaders another invitation — an appearance on the nationally televised ``Toast of the Town’’ show hosted by Ed Sullivan.
Sullivan, who introduced the players, coaches, and managers, called Holy Cross ``the team that wouldn’t be beaten,’’ and shook hands with Sheary before the team left the stage.
Sheary, who grew up playing basketball at what was then the Worcester Boys Club, coached just one more season at Holy Cross and left after what was termed ``a salary dispute’’ by the media.
It was, more specifically, a matter of pride and economics for him. A part-time coach with a young family, Sheary was also assistant athletic director for the Worcester Public Schools.
He returned his unsigned contract to the college’s athletic department because reportedly, he was denied the raise he was requesting.
Sheary told reporters that day he regretted leaving Holy Cross ``because of the types of boys I had and friendships I formed. My philosophy has been to make them gentlemen as well as basketball players.’’
During his seven seasons on the bench, Holy Cross went an astounding 155–36 (an .812 winning percentage). The Crusaders played in three National Invitation Tournaments and two NCAA Tournaments.
Often, Holy Cross drew huge crowds for their games at Boston Arena and Boston Garden.
Lester Howard Sheary got his nickname as a youngster while living near the fire station in the Main South section of Worcester.
``He used to go over there to talk to the firefighters and they told him `no kid should grow up with the name Lester,’ ’’ Sheary’’s daughter, Joan Sheary, recalled. ``So they called him Buster and that’s what stayed with him the rest of his life.’’
Sheary, who died in 2001 at age 93, is an inductee to the Holy Cross, Worcester Boys & Girls Club, St. John’s High of Shrewsbury, St. Peter’s High of Worcester, Catholic University of Washington, D.C., and New England Basketball Halls of Fame.
Twenty-two years after his passing, he is fondly remembered by his players, his daughters, and the multitude of students he set on the right path as assistant AD with the school system for 41 years.
Father Earle Markey, captain of the 1952–53 Holy Cross team called Sheary ``a man of great integrity, of great emotion, and a competitor beyond measure.’’ And most of all, recalled Markey, a former dean of students and former vice president of student affairs at Holy Cross, ``he was a good man who cared for others.’’
Markey described Sheary’s rebounding drill.
``He’d be pushing you under the basket and someone would shoot. You’d have to get three or four rebounds, or you’d be subjected to some more heavy bumping.’’
If that felt like getting popped by a linebacker, it was, because Buster was a punishing runner, blocker and tackler on his college football team.
Ken Kaufman the highly successful basketball coach at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1975–2001), said Sheary was a ``godfather’’ to young athletes in the City of Worcester.’’
``He would call you into his office at the Worcester schools’ athletic department and want to know what your plans were for college,’’ said Kaufman, former president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and an all-city guard at Worcester’s Classical High. ``He’d do his best to place you at a school that could provide financial aid.’’
His Boys & Girls Club Hall of Fame bio noted that Sheary, as assistant AD, spearheaded the effort that culminated in the construction of Foley Stadium, and a field house at South High.
``Buster was built like a fireplug and was tough as anyone I have ever known,’’ said Cousy, who played for him his junior and senior seasons. ``But he was also kind and compassionate and I respected him as much as anyone in my life.’’
In his autobiography, Basketball is My Life, Cousy noted Sheary had ``China-blue eyes that could see right through you. He was a born leader. He could talk to you for two minutes and you’d be fired up for the rest of the game. He coached like he was battling for every point. He hated like the devil to lose.’’
At practices, Sheary would dive on the court to smother the basketball in his arms as an example to his players of never giving it up. Cousy recalled a time when emphatically making a point, Sheary smashed his fist against the wall until his hand bled.
``He was fair,’’ Cousy said, ``he never played favorites and felt that every player was a cog in a machine.’’
One of those players was Ron Perry, Sr., the exceptional point guard on the ’54 NIT champs who went on to coach powerhouse Catholic Memorial High in West Roxbury before becoming the Holy Cross athletic director.
``As a senior, I ran the offense and my job was to feed Togo and Tommy at the expense of not shooting as much as in the past,’’ said Perry. ``Buster thanked me for being an unselfish player and that we would not have won the NIT without me.
``I learned from Buster that you can win occasionally on emotion but it’s more likely to happen with consistent effort, putting out more than the other team,’’ he added, and I brought that approach to Catholic Memorial.
``In my opinion, Buster should be considered for induction to the College Basketball Hall of Fame,’’ Perry said.
When he left Catholic Memorial in 1972, Perry, who had starred on the court at Somerville High, was honored at a testimonial dinner in the Boston area at which Sheary spoke about their relationship.
``I told Ronnie he’d have to sacrifice in order to run the team,’’ Sheary recalled that evening, ``but when the newspaper people back then asked what I was doing to Perry, I told them it was none of their damned business.’’
When Cousy was coaching in the NBA with the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, he was asked to coach a U.S. squad of college stars in a six-game series against a touring Russian team. Some of the Russians played on their 1972 Olympic team that shocked the Americans in the controversial Gold Medal game.
For the tour, Cousy chose Sheary as one of his two assistants. And with the series tied at one game apiece, he called on his former coach at just the right moment to give the pre-game locker room talk.
``I stood in the doorway listening to him,’’ Cousy said, ``and I teared up. It was all about mom, apple pie, the flag and the big, bad Russians. The kids were mesmerized and we got up 20 points in the first ten minutes and won, and we won the remaining games on the tour.’’
Sports Illustrated also described that moment in Albuquerque: ``Sheary got down on his 64-year-old knees and gave one of his emotional speeches, freely invoking references to God and country.’’
Bobby Jones, the University of North Carolina star forward, Cousy said, ``sat next to me on the bus afterwards and said, `coach, that was cool tonight. Who will you bring for the next game, Knute Rockne? ‘ ‘’.
Jones, named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team eight consecutive seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, recalled in a recent interview that Sheary ``not only fired us up that night, but motivated us in a positive way.’’
In 1975, at Worcester Auditorium, Sheary returned to the bench to coach a team comprised of several of his former players at Holy Cross. The opponent was an Assumption College alumni team. Proceeds benefited the family of a slain Shrewsbury police officer.
``Sheary is a casting director’s idea of a coach, a Dublin-faced tactician with a gift for both basketball and a nicely turned phrase,’’ wrote the Globe’s Ray Fitzgerald, who heard Buster tell his team before the tipoff that ``This is all in fun…(pause)…but if you lose God help you.’’
The Crusader alums won on a George Blaney shot at the buzzer sending coach home a happy man.
Sheary’s father, Martin, was a custodian for the Worcester Public Schools. His mother, Mary, passed away when he was very young. The former Worcester Boys Club became his second home.
After graduating from Commerce High and spending a PG year at St. Peter’s High, both in Worcester, he starred in basketball and football at Catholic University. On the gridiron, in addition to playing fullback and linebacker, Sheary punted and kicked extra points, and won the team’s inaugural Most Valuable Player Award in 1930. He was captain of the 1932 team.
On the basketball court, Sheary, who played guard and forward, helped the 1932–33 Catholic U. team post the program’s first winning season in five years.
The team finished 10–4 and in its final home game, Sheary led all scorers with 15 points in a 38–27 victory over Wake Forest.
``Sheary not only played a great role in the offensive end of the game,’’ the student newspaper noted, ``but also was outstanding in defensive tactics, repeatedly taking the ball away from the opposing team.”
After graduation, he came home and was a high school coach for ten years, including a stint at his alma mater, St. Peter’s, where he coached the 1936 basketball team to the New England championship.
Sheary became associated with Holy Cross College during World War II, while serving as a specialist in the Naval ROTC.
Crusaders head basketball coach Alvin (Doggie) Julian, whose 1946–47 team won the NCAA championship, was hired as head coach by the Celtics in 1948.
The college hoped to initiate a national search for his successor. The players had a different idea.
``We formed a committee and went to the athletic director,’’ Cousy recalled, ``and told him we wanted Buster, who, when Doggie was busy in the fall as an assistant football coach, directed early-season basketball practices.
``He also scouted for Doggie and not only evaluated our opponents,’’ Cousy said, ``but also watched out for potential recruits.’’
Legendary sports announcer Marty Glickman said one of the greatest compliments he ever received was at a press luncheon prior to the quarterfinals of the 1954 NIT.
Sheary was asked by a reporter how he was going to prepare for St. Francis College of Brooklyn, and he replied he got everything he needed to know because he had listened intently to Glickman’s radio broadcast of St. Francis’ first round upset of Louisville.
After leaving Holy Cross, Sheary, according to friends and family, had offers from the Minneapolis Lakers and Detroit Pistons to be their head coach. He turned them down because he did not want to uproot his family from Worcester.
In 1999, legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden talked about his early challenges in building his team into a national power. At the event, knowing there were people from the East present, he mentioned his respect for Sheary.
``But I never understood why Buster stepped away, especially with Heinsohn coming back,’’ said Wooden. When told that Buster was a part-time coach seeking a pay raise, Wooden said that made Sheary’s coaching success even more remarkable.
Winning games was a passion, but for Sheary, who also coached at Cousy’s summer basketball camps, family was his top priority — even when juggling two jobs.
``He set a very high standard,’’ his daughter Joan recalled. ``and he wanted me and my sister to get our college degrees, which we did. He was a wonderful father who stressed responsibility, commitment, and dedication.
``Our parents taught us to be responsible, have pride in ourselves and to pass those traits on to our own children.’’
Because of his dual schedule, dinner was served at 5 p.m. by his wife, the former Mary Frances Connors, so that Sheary could conduct basketball practice later that evening.
His favorite meal was leg of lamb, which Buster glowingly described as `the nectar of the gods.’
Joan, who resides in Wellington, Fl., once performed with the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall and operated her own dance center. She formerly directed the Worcester Public Schools performing arts dance program at Burncoat Middle and High schools.
Joan’s middle name is Lester and her dog, a German Shorthaired Pointer, is named Buster.
Her sister, Mary Frances Coakley of Holden, taught first and third grades for 25 years at Worcester’s Venerini Academy.
``Whenever I had a problem and needed help, dad was always there for me,’’ said Mary, who was named after her mother. ``Once, when I was in college and had trouble with a course, we sat in my car for three hours and went through all my notes. He made me feel good about myself.’’
Palazzi, the 1954 NIT’s Most Valuable Player, was among several Crusader players who maintained a lifelong friendship with Sheary. The former Celtic, who died last August, was an assistant men’s coach at Holy Cross with Blaney, and the school’s first women’s basketball coach.
``When Togo was on a visit to Holy Cross and I was his sponsor that weekend, he was about to leave,’’ Rev. Markey recalled, ``Buster turned to Togo’s mother and said `if you send your son to Holy Cross, we will make your son a student, a gentleman, and an All-American basketball player.’
``She told Togo to `listen to Mr. Sheary.’ ’’
Sherry Levin, Class of 1984, and Holy Cross’ all-time leading women’s basketball scorer, was coached by Palazzi.
``I met Buster several times. Togo really loved him, both as a coach and a human being, and I could genuinely hear the love in his voice,’’ said Levin, the first women’s basketball player inducted into the college’s Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
``Togo told Buster how much he had impacted his life and asked how he could ever repay him,’’ Levin related, ``and Buster said `do it for somebody else’ and in my heart and mind I was one of Togo’s somebody else’s.’’
In his eulogy at Sheary’s funeral service, Markey, as reported by the Globe’s basketball Guru, Bob Ryan, reminded the gathering of a classic Buster Sheary line: ``When you win, Buster would say, you walk down Main Street. When you lose you walk the back alley.’’
In that story, Heinsohn, the great Celtics player and coach who died in 2020, recalled his ride to the cemetery with other former players.
``There was a quick way. You go down some side streets,’’ Heinsohn said. ``But we made sure they took the long way…right down the middle of Main Street.
*****
Marvin Pave is an award-winning journalist and a longtime writer for the Boston Globe. He resides in Newton and is a frequent contributor to this site.
*****
“The Basketball Bugle” offers special thanks to Mr. Pave for crafting this splendid account.
