Greg Tynes made fine mark as a player and coach

Greg Tynes with some of his campers at his summer basketball camp at West Orange High School.

ORANGE/WEST ORANGE – In the Oranges area, basketball fans always talk about such great players as Brevin Knight and Keven McDonald of Seton Hall Prep, Bob Butts of Orange and Mike Dabney of East Orange. And on the coaching front, Bob Farrell of Seton Hall Prep and Bob Lester of East Orange, and later Montclair, have always been held in high regard.

But one individual fits very well into both categories – Greg Tynes. In high school, Tynes was a star for Orange High School in his junior and senior seasons. And in college, he had a superb four-year career for Seton Hall University.

But Tynes, whose favorite player in the NBA was Earl “The Pearl” Monroe of the Bulletts and Knicks, also made his mark as a high school coach. He had some outstanding squads at Clifford Scott, and also coached at East Orange Campus, West Side and West Orange. In 31 years, Tynes racked up an impressive 577-205 record, which includes numerous conference, county and state titles.

Tynes, however, is ready for a new challenge in life. He’s now working as a supervisor for the Orange Recreation Department.

“This is a nice opportunity for me,” said Tynes, who enjoyed playing for Cliff Blake at Orange and Bill Raftery at SHU. “Heck, I’m going back to my roots.”

Tynes, who always stressed the importance of academics to his players as well as being a person of good character, remembers seeing Butts play in person in the late 1960s. That was when the Big 10 Conference was as good as any league in the state.

Tynes played briefly as a sophomore in high school, but started to make a name for himself as a junior in 1972-73. Then as a senior in 1973-74, Tynes was as good as any player in the state. Orange went 29-1 that winter, with the only loss coming to Lester’s East Orange club in the Essex County Tournament finals at SHU’s Walsh Gym before a standing-room-only crowd.

Tynes and Ed Butler starred at guard, while up front the Tornadoes had center Dickie Johnson and forwards Donald Welles and Dennis Holmes. Off the bench, Blake could bring in guard Greg Jones and forward Cutty Hammond.

In college, Tynes continued to excel. He ended his varsity career with the Pirates as the school’s second all-time scorer behind Nick Werkman, who played in the early 1960s. At SHU, Tynes averaged 18.7 points per game.

“Bill obviously has a great personality,” cracked Tynes, “but believe me, he was tough as a coach. I learned a lot about the game from Coach Blake and Coach Raftery.”

At SHU, Tynes played with Glenn Mosley, who was a major force up front. Few players could get rebounds any better than Mosley.

As the head coach at Clifford Scott for many years, Tynes developed some of the top teams in the county and state history. Two of his standouts, Mike Brown and Marquis Bragg, went to the NBA.

But Tynes says that his top player was Troy Webster, who played the first two years of his career at Valley in Orange.

“Troy could do it all on the court,” praised Tynes. “He really was a pleasure to coach.”

Tynes, who was inducted into the SHU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986, doesn’t hesitate when asked about who he considers the top coach in state history.

“Without question, it’s Bob Hurley of St. Anthony,” said Tynes. “Sure, Bob gets great players at the school, but he always knows how to get the most out of every kid on the squad. In the United States, no one has coached high school basketball any better than Bob Hurley.”

Tynes says that a player has to be good in all aspects of the game if he wants to truly be successful. Being just a pure scorer isn’t enough.

“I’ll certainly miss coaching,” remarked Tynes. “But I think it’s time to move on to something else.”

COURT NOTEBOOK – Growing up, Tynes admired such athletes as Bill Russell, Arthur Ashe and Muhammad Ali, along with legends like Jackie Robinson and Orange High grad Monte Irvin… Tynes considers Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Oscar Robinson as the best guards ever.