Remembering Ed Janka

5/17/2023 9:57:00 AM | By: Deuce Zak, Staff Writer

Ed Janka served as head coach for JCU Men's Basketball from 1973-77.

This past week, former John Carroll Head Men's Basketball Coach Ed Janka passed away. While his time at John Carroll was short, Janka's impact on basketball was massive.

Janka started his coaching career at the University of Marquette as an assistant under Hall of Fame Head Coach Al McGuire in 1967. Subsequently, he had four different coaching stops, starting in Italy, where he coached from 1969 to 1972, moving to John Carroll, where he spent four years from 1973-1977 and had a 39-43 record, then with Oberlin College in 1980 for one season, and finally as an assistant coach at Division I Fairfield college, until he was hired at Nike in 1985.

During his time with the university, he began to run basketball camps, finding great success, running camps until 2019. John Carroll Basketball players assisted with the camps and were able to meet and interact with some of the top coaches from around the country.

Perhaps Janka's most notable achievement was his work at Nike, where he worked with Sonny Vaccaro, the man who famously signed Michael Jordan to the brand. Janka was close with Jordan, being introduced to him on the tip from Vaccaro that Janka could help him start basketball camps of his own. Janka went on to direct camps and clinics both for Jordan and Nike. His work with Nike, helping Phil Knight build the mammoth brand that it is today, has cemented his legacy as a pillar of basketball history.

In 2016, Janka authored the book, "I Never Had a Bike, Tales of Basketball and Life". As Dick Vitale tweeted, "Ed Janka has been a great asset to college basketball".

Janka's hard work ethic shined through during his JCU days, when it was common to see the head coach sweeping the gym before and after games. He also served as the varsity tennis coach during his time at Carroll.

Janka was an avid supporter of the Men's Basketball Program at JCU, and he will be greatly missed as a wonderful member of the community.

A special thank you to Bryan Fritz '75 for his assistance on this article.

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