Former Chowan basketball coach Bob Burke, called a ‘coach’s coach,’ dies
Former Wake Forest basketball coach Dave Odom once described Bob Burke as “the epitome of a coach’s coach,” saying Burke was a “basketball lifer.”
Burke, who built the Chowan University basketball program into a powerhouse and made Murfreesboro a stopping-off point for major-college coaches, died Saturday. His son, Rob Burke, posted the news of his father’s passing on his Facebook page.
Burke’s death came a few days after Rob Burke, who served as interim basketball coach at UNC-Wilmington this past season, had put up a post saying his father had dealt with health issues for 13 years — suffering a heart attack in 2007 — and had reached the decision to spend his final days at home with his family in Wilson.
Rob Burke posted Saturday that his father, who was born in 1946, passed away surrounded by his family, adding, “We appreciate all of the love and support during this time and we look forward to celebrating the life of Coach Bob Burke after this difficult time.”
Bob Burke, who played college basketball at Campbell, first went to Chowan in 1980 when it was a two-year junior college. Named the head coach, he won 419 games in 22 years — including 12 consecutive 20-win seasons — as the Hertford County school transitioned to a four-year university and moved to NCAA Division III in 1993.
In January 2016, the Helms Center court at Chowan was named the “Bob Burke Court” as many of his former players returned to help honor the man and the coach. Among the coaches offering congratulations to Burke in a video tribute was Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski.
“There were ups and downs in being a junior college, of going to Division III and not being associated with a conference,” Burke said in a 2016 interview with the News & Observer. “It was frustrating at times. But at a junior college you could explore and experiment more and if you had good players you were going to win.”
Burke had good players. Forty-two of his players later competed at Division I schools and seven played in the ACC. Twenty-five would later coach in high school or college.
Two of Burke’s best players were from Raleigh: Nate McMillan and Gary Mattison. Burke first spotted McMillan at Enloe High and recruited him to Chowan, which reached the 1984 National Junior College Athletic Association Championship in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Former Wolfpack coach Jim Valvano soon started making the trip to Murfreesboro, and McMillan would help the Pack to an NCAA regional final in 1986. Later, as an NBA coach, McMillan hired Burke as an assistant on his Portland Trail Blazers staff. McMillan, now head coach of the Indiana Pacers, stayed in close contact with Burke through the years.
Mattison, who played at Broughton High, became Chowan’s all-time leading scorer from 1986 to 1988 as Chowan again reached the NJCAA Championship. He later played at St. Augustine’s in Raleigh, leading Division II in scoring as a senior.
Burke had many coaching friends, some offering him advice and some taking the advice he offered them. While working as an instructor at the Campbell Basketball School, Burke first met John Wooden of UCLA. While he was too fiery to emulate Wooden’s calm demeanor on the Bruins bench during games, Burke did employ many of Wooden’s offensive principles.
Burke could be brusque. Staten Island-bred, he believed in showing tough love to his players.
Rob Burke began sitting on the Chowan bench at age 4. In the 2016 N&O interview, he said of his father, “People outside his circle probably thought of him as some crazy, wild, obnoxious coach, but the players understood that he cared about them and wanted them to be successful.”
Rob Burke played at Chowan and went into coaching, and was head coach for six years at Spartanburg Methodist. At UNCW he was director of basketball operations, then an assistant coach before being named interim head coach Jan. 13 when head coach C.B. McGrath was fired — the Seahawks named N.C. State assistant Takayo Siddle as head coach on March 13.
Bob Burke’s daughter, Ashlyn, once coached the Brunswick Community College women’s basketball team while serving as athletic director. Bob Burke served as a volunteer assistant coach for his daughter’s team.
Of his father, Rob Burke said in 2016: “He still tells me he’s forgotten more about basketball than I know.”
