B’klyn coach legend Tim Leary dies at 73

Legendary St. Francis Prep boys basketball coach Tim Leary died Tuesday after a more than year-long battle with gallbladder cancer. He was 73. Leary died at Mount Sinai Hospital in Brooklyn, according to the school.

The Brooklyn native spent 43 seasons as the Terriers’ head coach and won 646 games, according to the New York Sportswriters Association, before retiring after last season.

He won the New York Catholic League’s Class A Championship in 1992 and reached the AA final in 1997, losing to Metta World Peace (then Ron Artest) and La Salle Academy. Leary is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame.

“You can talk about legendary coaches — there are a lot of them — but he definitely has to be on the top of the list in terms of the best high school coaches around,” St. Francis Prep athletic director Sal Fischetti said.

Leary has the seventh most wins in New York State history and is second all-time in the city’s Catholic League behind Jack Curran of Archbishop Molloy. Former Xaverian coach and close friend Jack Alesi said he considers Leary to be on the Mount Rushmore of CHSAA coaches.

“He was a better teacher of the game than anybody I’ve ever seen,” Alesi said.

Leary spent 10 seasons as the varsity baseball coach at St. Francis Prep, winning five borough titles and a city championship.

He also led St. Francis Prep’s basketball team to the city title game as a player, losing to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) and Power Memorial in 1963. Leary went on to play baseball and basketball at Manhattan College.