Ken O’Donnell, a legendary basketball coach garnering some of Neptune High School’s most iconic sports moments, has died.
He was 71 years old.
O’Donnell was a multi-sport athlete at Neptune
He was standout point guard on the basketball team, which reached the NJSIAA Group IV championship game during O’Donnell’s senior year.
He also excelled in baseball, being drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the fourth round of the 1968 Major League Baseball Draft, sparking a Minor League career.
His career lasted five seasons but never landed him in the majors.
Ken O’Donnell Becomes A Legend
O’Donnell would return to his alma mater, becoming a teacher and one of the best coaches on the Jersey Shore.
Throughout his 43 year career with Neptune he coached several sports including boys soccer, Varsity baseball, and Girls and Boys Varsity basketball.
O’Donnell is the only person in Shore Conference history to coach both a boys and girls basketball team to an NJSIAA Group championships, which O’Donnell did first with the Neptune girls in 1983-84.
He took over the boys basketball team in the 1991, a position which turned out to be a 23-year tenure as the head boys coach of the Scarlet Fliers.
As the boys basketball coach, O’Donnell led Neptune to four Shore Conference Tournament championships and two NJSIAA Group III championships, which resulted in two trips to the Tournament of Champions.
In the 2001-2002 season, O’Donnell led the team to win the NJSIAA Group III championship and became the first shore team to reach the Tournament of Champions.
He was inducted into the Neptune High School Hall of Fame as a coach and a player, as well as the New Jersey State Sports Hall of Fame.
After his retirement Ken O’Donnell went on to coach the Hillel Yeshiva Boys Varsity Basketball team where he led them to successful seasons.
He is survived by his loving wife Karen O’Donnell; sister Barbara Johnson; children Kevin O’Donnell and wife Amy, Sean O’Donnell and wife Beth and Lauren Behnke and husband Greg; his grandchildren Katherine, Matthew, Ava, Maya, Jack and Finnegan; and many other family members.
