NBA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : McCloskey Was Born to Compete : Winning Is More Than a Goal for the Man Who Built Pistons

Jack McCloskey has never come across as a man who stays in the background.

He didn’t as the skipper of an LST in the Pacific during World War II when he was 19; or as a prep coach, when he tried to strangle a referee in the shower after a particularly frustrating basketball game; or as a college coach when he kicked the scorer’s table at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament so hard that he put his foot through it--and he doesn’t these days when he plays tennis.

But here McCloskey sits, an hour before tipoff of a recent playoff game, declining to take credit for the Detroit Pistons having reached the National Basketball Assn. Finals for the second consecutive season. The spotlight belongs to the on-court personnel, he says.

Others aren’t so sure.

“Everyone knows about Chuck Daly and all the players,” said Laker General Manager Jerry West, a former co-worker. “But believe me, Jack has had a big or bigger impact.”

In his 10 years as general manager, McCloskey has built the Pistons from a 30-52 team in 1978-79.

Daly has been coach for the last five seasons, during which time Detroit has never won fewer than 46 games.

McCloskey has traded for Vinnie Johnson, giving up Greg Kelser; Bill Laimbeer, for Phil Hubbard, Paul Mokeski and two 1982 draft picks; and Rick Mahorn, for Dan Roundfield. He had a hand in drafting Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman, John Salley and Joe Dumars. His imprint is clear on the team that is a victory away from sweeping the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

But then, McCloskey has left an imprint everywhere he has been.

He grew up in Mahanoy City, Pa., the son and grandson of coal miners. His father, who died of black-lung disease in 1974, sought to ensure that Jack would not work in the shafts.

“He took me down into the mines once,” McCloskey said. “He showed me how bad he had it. He said he didn’t ever want to see me down there again.”

He never did. Jack’s future was in sports.

Back then, it was baseball. Although 14, he played in a men’s league against 30- and 35-year-olds, and after the war the Philadelphia Athletics signed him as a right-handed pitcher. McCloskey spent about 10 days in the majors, never getting in a game, before being sent to the minors.

He pitched so often in the Carolina League, however, that he hurt his shoulder. He never really recovered and his career as a pitcher was over 2 1/2 years later.

Still, there were other opportunities.

At 23, McCloskey was coaching basketball at Collingswood High School in New Jersey, where he was known for his love of the game--and his temper, which he has since learned to control.

After a game against Atlantic City, McCloskey was so upset by some calls during the game that he tried to strangle a referee--a fully clothed coach standing under the shower and choking the naked man. People heard the struggle and intervened before things went too far.

“I wanted him bad,” McCloskey said.

Everyone who knows McCloskey speaks of his intensity. Perhaps it’s not the temper he demonstrated when he was 23, but an extreme distaste for losing. Competitive spirit, they call it.

“I wouldn’t dare play tennis with him,” said West, a longtime friend. “He would kill me to win.”

Too emotional about sports?

“I’ve been accused of that,” said McCloskey, who plays tennis three or four times a week and frequently plays in over-60 tournaments. “But a lot of people look at competitiveness as someone who is a degenerate as far as winning goes. If I lose--either in coaching or tennis or whatever--I don’t bang my head against the wall and worry about it for weeks. I analyze why I lost and what I can do better next time.”

It’s just that sitting there, in his jacket and tie, none of that comes across. He smiles a lot and speaks softly.

McCloskey likes to say that if he had been born a couple of centuries ago, he would have been an explorer. It’s a romantic notion, and, at 63, he is still full of those. Some have gotten him into a bit of trouble.

He once said that World War II was fun. He isn’t sorry he said it, but he is sorry that people took it the wrong way. It wasn’t really fun , but it was adventure, it was action, it was camaraderie.

“I liked the service,” he said. “Did I like the war? No. But, damn it, it was exciting. You become very mature very fast under those circumstances.

“I said to our coaches when we were standing around the locker room in Boston before one of our first games this year, ‘This is the same feeling.’ Everyone was quiet, some people were pacing the floor, and it hit me. What this is like is war. This is like waiting for the invasion to start. Obviously, it’s not as important as a real invasion, but it’s that same feeling.”

McCloskey was 17 when he joined the Navy. By 19 he was a lieutenant and skipper of a landing craft for tanks, which probably made him the youngest man in the Navy at the time to command a ship.

By 26, he was coaching baseball, basketball and football at the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater. After 10 seasons there, McCloskey spent six years coaching basketball at Wake Forest.

The next step was the NBA. After three seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, he joined the Lakers in 1976 and spent three years as West’s assistant.

And after basketball?

“Someday, I’m going to be the best senior tennis player in the world,” said McCloskey. “Even if I have to outlive everyone else to do it.”