WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Jan. 23) – Legendary former Waynesburg men's basketball coach Rudy Marisa was recently inducted into the Pittsburgh Basketball Club's Hall of Fame on Saturday, Jan. 21. Marisa earned the accolade after spending 34 years as the head of the Yellow Jackets program and making it a national powerhouse in the 1980's
After taking over as the team's head coach in 1969, Marisa guided the Yellow Jackets to 565 wins, which ranks him 10th amongst all Division III head men's basketball coaches that served at least 10 seasons. However, his greatest achievements on the court came during Waynesburg's run as an NAIA powerhouse in the 1980's.
During the decade, Marisa-led teams sported the second-best winning percentage of all NAIA teams, as the Jackets finished the decade winning 82 percent of their games. The Jackets spent 15-straight seasons in the District 18 playoffs and had six consecutive berths in the NAIA tournament as district champs from 1983 to 1989. His first trip to the NAIA tournament came in 1981, giving him seven berths for his career. The standard of excellence maintained by Marisa had the Jackets winning 70 of 71 home games leading up to 1988, and a five-year record of 131-21 from 1983-1988.
The program reached its peak in the 1987-88 campaign. After losing the season opener, the Yellow Jackets won 32 games in a row on their way to the NAIA Final Four.
During the same decade that his hoops teams were thriving, Marisa also became the Waynesburg Director of Athletics. Seven years after his hiring, he helped lead the athletic programs into a new era of their existence as Waynesburg joined the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), an NCAA Division III conference, in 1990.
Marisa continued to coach the Jackets until his retirement following the 2002-03 season. Before he hung up his coaching whistle, he was honored as a two-time PAC Coach of the Year, a five-time NAIA District 18 Coach of the Year and garnered a slew of coaching accolades from various organizations and publications.
"First and foremost, I have to give all credit for this prestigious honor to the players, assistant coaches and administrators that I shared my time with at Waynesburg. Without them, the program would have never had an opportunity to achieve the level of prolonged success that it enjoyed for more than 30 years," Marisa said. "I am proud to accept this award from the Pittsburgh Basketball Club on their behalf."
All of this year's inductees going into the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Hall of Fame were acknowledged during an awards brunch that was held on Saturday at the Airport Crowne Plaza Hotel.