Ed Jucker

Who was Ed Jucker?

Edwin Louis "Ed" Jucker was an American college basketball player and coach. He was the former head basketball coach at the University of Cincinnati in the 1960s. Jucker also attended Cincinnati as an undergraduate student and played on the school's basketball teams during the 1938, 1939, and 1940 seasons. He was the captain of the 1940 team. Also, while an undergraduate Ed Jucker became a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. He was born in Norwood, Ohio.

Under Jucker's coaching direction in the early '60s, Cincinnati won back-to-back NCAA basketball championships in 1961 and 1962 and almost won a then-unprecedented third consecutive title in 1963 until the Bearcats were upended 60-58 in overtime by Loyola of Chicago and All-American Jerry Harkness. Jucker holds the record for the highest winning percentage in NCAA tournament play.

Ed Jucker was a professional baseball prospect until he decided to start coaching instead of trying to make it into Major League Baseball. His coaching career began at Batavia High in Clermont County, Ohio, east of Cincinnati. Following service in the Navy during World War II, he joined the college coaching ranks as assistant basketball coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1946. Two years later, he became head basketball coach at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.