20 Facts About Sam Barry

Justin McCarthy "Sam" Barry was an American collegiate coach who achieved significant accomplishments in three major sports - football, baseball, and basketball.

Sam Barry remains one of only three coaches to lead teams to both the Final Four and the College World Series.

Sam Barry continued his success at Lawrence College in Appleton, later completing his degree at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Sam Barry returned to Madison High School to begin his coaching career, and then became the athletic director at Knox College in Illinois from 1918 to 1922, where he served as coach of football, basketball, baseball, and track.

In 1922, Sam Barry was named basketball coach at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and became a football assistant under Hawkeyes head coach Howard Jones, an association which would continue for 15 years at two universities.

Sam Barry followed Jones out west, and took over the USC basketball program as well as the baseball team, while resuming his duties as an assistant football coach under Jones.

Sam Barry was a valued part of the USC football teams which claimed national championships in 1931,1932, and 1939, as well as seven PCC titles and five Rose Bowl victories.

Sam Barry was Jones' top assistant on the sidelines from 1929 to 1940, serving as the team's chief scout and coach of the "Spartan" scout team.

Sam Barry was often credited by the "Headman" with devising the strategies that proved most effective in shutting down opponents.

Not only was the team mourning the loss of Jones, but Sam Barry found himself facing a schedule in which a majority of USC's opponents were coached by future Hall of Famers, including Paul Brown, Frank Leahy, and Clark Shaughnessy.

In 1942, other concerns took precedence as the 49-year-old Sam Barry entered the US Navy for service during World War II.

Sam Barry recommended Jeff Cravath to take over his duties as USC football coach, Julie Bescos as basketball coach, and Rod Dedeaux as baseball coach for the duration of the war.

Sam Barry began to restore the basketball program to a nationally competitive level, and found his greatest success yet in baseball.

Sam Barry was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.

Sam Barry's death came just as USC basketball was regaining its pre-war success, on the cusp of the West Coast's 1950s surge in the sport which included teams coached by John Wooden at UCLA, Phil Woolpert at San Francisco, and Pete Newell at California.

Sam Barry's players benefited greatly from his leadership and teaching ability.

Sam Barry was the inventor of the triangle offense, which his pupil Tex Winter refined to bring great successes to the NBA champion Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers teams.

Sam Barry was among the 2007 class of inductees to the USC Athletic Hall of Fame Sam Barry was inducted into the Pac-12 Basketball Hall of Honor during the 2012 Pac-12 Conference men's basketball tournament, March 10,2012.

Note: Currently, school records do not credit Sam Barry with coaching the team in 1942, which would reduce the streak to 38 games; however, newspaper reports indicate that Sam Barry was still actively coaching the team, both in practice and in games, until after the two 1942 UCLA victories.

Note: Sam Barry's teams won only the baseball title, while Dean's and McGuire's teams won only the basketball title; however, Dean and McGuire were not coaching both sports simultaneously in the years involved, as Sam Barry was.