NJCAA Men's Basketball Coaches Association Announces 2008 Hall of Fame Class

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Feb. 8, 2008) - The 2008 class of the NJCAA Men's Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame has been announced by the NJCAA. This year's inductees include four well-respected and deserving coaches in Bill Carlyle, Francis Flax, Joe O'Brien and Paige Rowden, as well as a former two-time All-American Ned Duncan.

Since its inception in 1984, a total of 114 coaches, players and special contributors have been inducted into the hall. Carlyle, Duncan, O'Brien and Rowden will be honored at the 2008 NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament in Hutchinson, Kan., on March 18, while Flax will be recognized at the 2008 NJCAA Division II Men's Tournament in Danville, Ill., on March 19.

Ned Duncan
One of the best pure shooters in Kilgore College basketball history, Duncan led the Rangers to back-to-back Longhorn Conference and Region 14 titles as well as the school's first NJCAA Championship.

In his first season with Kilgore (1954-55), Duncan scored 575 points and averaged 22.1 points per game. He was an All-Longhorn Conference selection as was voted a Second-Team NJCAA All-American.

Duncan's sophomore season (1955-56) was a memorable one as he amassed 704 points on the season and averaged 22 points per game. He led Kilgore to the NJCAA title and scored 23 points in their championship victory over Hannibal-LaGrange College (68-65). Duncan was named to the All-Tournament Team and one fan was quoted in the Hutchinson News-Herald that "Gene Poston (Player of the Tournament from Pueblo Junior College, Colo. ) might have been the most 'outstanding' player, but Ned Duncan was the `most valuable.'"

He was voted a First-Team NJCAA All-American as well as earning All-Longhorn Conference honors in 1956.

Duncan continued his career at Southern Methodist University where he helped lead the Mustangs his junior season to the 1957 NCAA Sweet Sixteen. He and his teammates fell in the semi-finals to Wilt Chamberlain's Kansas Jayhawks. That season the Mustangs won the Southwest Conference and Duncan averaged 9.0 points and 4.2 rebounds a game, while leading the league in assists.

He and one other senior returned in 1958 to tie for the Southwest Conference title with Arkansas. The Razorbacks then defeated the Mustangs in a playoff 61-55 to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Duncan averaged 8.1 points and 3.2 rebounds a game his senior season.

After graduating from SMU, Duncan moved to Tyler, Texas, and began working for Massey & Brown Sporting Goods where he sold sporting goods to Texas high schools. He worked with Massey & Brown for over 40 years until he retired in 2000.

Bill Carlyle
One of the best NJCAA Region 7 basketball coaches in history, Carlyle has been a leader on and off the basketball court for more than 40 years. He is currently in his 31st season as head coach at Walters State Community College (Tenn.). Heading into this season, Carlyle's record of 628-272 ranks eighth in wins among active NJCAA coaches and 25th all-time in career NJCAA wins.

His teams have been nothing but consistent over the last 20 years, winning at least 20 games in each season. Carlyle's teams have won 13 Tennessee Junior & Community College Athletic Association (TJCAAA) East Division championships, seven TJCCAA and three Region 7 titles. The 2001-02 season saw Carlyle advance his team to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kan., where they placed eighth. He also led Walters State to back-to-back tournament berths in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons.

Carlyle has been selected TJCCAA Coach of the Year 14 times and NJCAA District 7 Coach of the Year three times. More than 100 of his players have signed with four-year colleges and universities.

Before his tenure at Walters State, Carlyle coached high school basketball, baseball and football. He led the women's basketball team at Maury High School (Tenn.) to a state title in 1966. He also had coaching stints at Sacramento High School (Ky.) and Bulls Gap High School (Tenn.)

He then moved to the college ranks, working as an assistant at East Tennessee State University and Oklahoma State University. He also served as head coach at Parsons College (Iowa) where his team was ranked in the Top 20 in NCAA Division II two years in a row.

With a career coaching record of 869-359 (.707), Carlyle has also been inducted into three other halls of fame. In 1999 he was inducted into the Cumberland College Athletic Hall of Fame as well as the TJCCAA Hall of Fame. Then, in 2000 he was inducted into the Morristown High School Alumni Hall of Fame.

Carlyle has also served the NJCAA as the men's Assistant Region 7 Director for the past 10 years.

Francis Flax
Known by many in NJCAA basketball circles, Flax represents the very best of two-year college athletics. He is currently in his 16th season as athletic director and men's basketball coach at Brown Mackie College (Kan.) where he was instrumental in starting their athletic program in 1990 and thus fielding its first men's basketball team in 1992.

During his tenure at Brown Mackie, Flax has seen his program go from non-existing to NJCAA Division II National Championships in 1999 and 2005. Flax has amassed a 302-190 record at Brown Mackie while leading his Lion teams to six Region 6 titles and four appearances at the Division II National Tournament, including two titles and two fourth place finishes.

He has coached 39 All-Region 6 players and seven NJCAA All-Americans. More importantly, 80 players under his guidance have received scholarships to four-year colleges and universities.

Flax has been named NJCAA District Coach of the Year four times (1997, 98, 99, 2005) and NJCAA Division II Coach of the Year twice (1999, 2005). He has also earned Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year honors twice (1999, 2005).

Flax is very active in the NJCAA Basketball Coaches Association and has twice served as the keynote speaker at their annual meeting in Las Vegas, Nev.

Prior to Brown Mackie, Flax served as athletic director and men's basketball coach at Highland Community College (Kan.) from 1979-1988. Combined with his record at Brown Mackie, he has a career NJCAA record of 477-370 in 25 years.

Since 2000, Flax has also been head coach of the Kansas Cagerz of the United States Basketball League (USBL), a professional summer league, and recently led them to the 2007 USBL Championship.

Joe O'Brien
Prior to his current success at Idaho State University, O'Brien coached 13 seasons at two NJCAA institutions compiling a record of 313-119 and three Division I National Championships.

He led Southeastern Community College (Iowa) to unprecedented success from 1996-2004. O'Brien led the Black Hawks to three NJCAA titles (2000, 03, 04), including back-to-back crowns in 2003 and 2004. In his eight seasons with Southeastern, the Black Hawks went 213-64. With his third national championship in 2004, O'Brien joined Ronnie Arrow and Allen Bradfield as the only coaches with three national titles in the NJCAA. Overall, he is one of only 11 coaches to have three national championships either at the NJCAA or NCAA level.

During his tenure at Southeastern, O'Brien had eight winning seasons, including four 20-win, and three 30-win campaigns.

For his efforts, O'Brien was named NABC Junior College Coach of the Year and NJCAA Division I Coach of the Year in 2000, 03 and 04.

His first collegiate head coaching job was at Lincoln College (Ill.), where he led the Lynx to four-consecutive 20-win seasons and a 100-53 record from 1991-96.

O'Brien is currently in his second season as head coach at Idaho State. The Bengals saw immediate success in his first season, going 8-8 in Big Sky Conference play and earning their first conference tournament berth since 2004.

A veteran of 22 seasons of collegiate basketball, O'Brien owns an overall coaching record of 326-136.

Paige Rowden
The late Paige Rowden will be remembered not only as a great basketball coach, but also as the ambassador for NJCAA basketball in the New England area. Rowden coached men's basketball at Leicester Junior College, Mass. (now Becker College - NCAA Division III), for 28 seasons from 1951 to 1979. In his first season as head coach (1951-52), Rowden was still a student at Worcester State College.

At Leicester, he amassed a career record of 493-157 (.758), which ranks 22nd all-time in the NJCAA for winning percentage, and coached 28-consecutive winning seasons. Rowden's most significant impact was leading the way in the creation of the New England Junior and Small College Invitational, which Leicester won four times. He later would pioneer the formation of the first New England Junior College Conference at the age of 21.

At that time over 60 schools in the Northeast United States competed in NJCAA Region 3. Yet by 1964 Rowden had built Leicester into a NJCAA Region 3 power, winning the league title that year and becoming the first New England team to advance to the national tournament in Hutchinson, Kan., where they placed fifth. Two years later in 1966, Rowden again led Leicester to the Region 3 title and a berth in the national tournament, going 1-2 for a 12th place finish. He was named Region 3 Coach of the Year both in 1964 and 1966. He also earned New England Junior College Conference Coach of the Year honors in 1968 and 1970.

When Region 21 was formed, Rowden was named Region 21 Coach of the Year in both 1973 and 1974. His 1974 team was runner-up in the league.

Rowden also served as athletic director at Leicester from 1951-75. During that time he instituted men's tennis, ice hockey, wrestling, men's soccer and cross country. He was also responsible for the introduction of women's varsity athletics at the college, including basketball, softball and tennis.

Including his 11-year record as head basketball coach at Leicester High School (178-38), Rowden coached over 800 games and compiled a record of 671-195 (.774).

His dedication to basketball in the New England area did not go unnoticed. In 1980 he received the Paul Johnson Award from his New England coaching peers. In 2003 he was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame housed at the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island. He also was voted a lifetime membership to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.

Rowden is also a member of the Becker College Hall of Fame, Worchester State College Hall of Fame and the Leicester High School Hall of Fame.

He also has received three official citations by the Massachusetts House of Representatives for his contributions to basketball (1958, 1964, 1966).

Rowden passed away on January 14, 2006, at his home in Leicester. Latter that year, Becker College created The Paige Rowden Scholarship, which is awarded to an outstanding young man or woman each year that is in good academic standing, active in campus activities and vibrant in community service throughout their high school career.