Remembering Gene Evans ’49

January 18, 2010

Two services were held in Carlisle Jan. 23 for former Dickinson College men’s basketball coach and player Gene Evans ’49, who died Jan. 8 at age 82.

Evans played basketball for Dickinson from 1946-49 and, three decades later, returned to coach the team to the Middle Atlantic Conference South Division championship and advanced to the NCAA Middle Atlantic regional championship round in 1979-80. He was named National Basketball Coaches Association coach of the year in 1980 and, in recognition of his dedication and excellence as a player and coach, was inducted in the Dickinson College Sports Hall of Fame in February 1981.

A memorial service was held in the First Evangelical Lutheran Church on 100 East High Street in Carlisle, and a tribute ceremony was held the same day in the Gene Evans Gymnasium at Carlisle High School; Evans earned the honor of having the gym dedicated in his name in 1994 after amassing a 272-110 record as coach of the Carlisle boy’s basketball team from 1951-1952 and 1969-1976.

Evans began coaching at Carlisle High School in 1950 as assistant varsity football and track coach. After his career at Carlisle, he left for Dickinson, where he served as head coach from 1978 to 1989, compiling a 143-128 record.

Evans also coached basketball at Bucknell University from 1962-1964 and was assistant football coach at the University of Pennsylvania from 1964-1967. In 1968, he was basketball coach at Hazleton High School.

While at student at Dickinson, Evans was a chemistry major and member of Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, Raven’s Claw and the Mohler Scientific Club. After graduating, he went on to two earn master’s degrees, one in education from Bucknell University and the other in mathematics from the University of Michigan. Before attending Dickinson, he served in the U.S. Navy and played basketball on the 1944 North Carolina PreFlight School team.

Memorial contributions may be made to First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 21 S. Bedford St., Carlisle Pa., 17013; or Project SHARE, 5 N. Orange St., Suite 4, Carlisle Pa., 17013.