One of the finest basketball players in New England history, Wally Halas also was one of its best coaches. In 16 years as a college head coach, the first 13 at Clark University in Worcester, MA, the next three at Columbia University, Halas' teams won 251 games and lost only 163, a percentage of .606.
At Columbia, although his squads didn't post winning records, he and his staff developed one of the Lions' all-time best guards, long-distance shooting specialist Matt Shannon, and recruited the man who would become Columbia's all-time leading scorer, Buck Jenkins. In fact, his five recruiting years at Columbia were marked by his players earning twice as many first team all-Ivy selections as Princeton, Penn and Yale. Wally was the only Ivy League coach to out-recruit Princeton's legendary Pete Carrill during this period.
At Clark, where he coached from 1974 through 1987, his teams won 233 and lost 103, going 200-49 (better than 80%) against their New England Division III opponents. He led Clark to 10 consecutive NCAA tournament berths - the Cougars won 20 or more games in eight of those seasons - resulting in five NCAA regional championships and two appearances in the Division III national championship game. He was elected New England Coach of the Year five times.
Halas starred on the hardwood at Clark. He was a four-year starter, earning All-New England and team MVP honors in each of his last three seasons. In 1972–73, his senior season, he averaged 18 points per game and received the Bob Cousy Award as New England's outstanding college basketball player under 6-feet tall. He scored 1448 points in his career.
Halas also played baseball and soccer for Clark and now lists tennis, golf and racquetball as additional hobbies. A native of Fairfield, CT, Halas hails from a noted coaching family. His granduncle was the famed former coach and president of the Chicago Bears, George "Papa Bear" Halas, while his grandfather, Walter Halas, was Knute Rockne's backfield coach at Notre Dame. Pete Halas, Wally's father, spent 25 years as a scout for the Bears. After leaving Columbia, Wally went on to another type of coaching - coaching scholar-athletes from around the world.
In his position as Commissioner of the World Scholar-Athlete Games, Halas conceptualized, organized, and administered this biennial $4.3 million event involving over 7,000 participants from 157 countries and all 50 states. The Games, administered in 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999, were created to promote understanding, acceptance and friendship among future young leaders of the world through experiences in sport, the arts and education. The Games has expanded and Halas now oversees Scholar-Athlete Games programs in Australia and Northern Ireland. Halas' 27 years of athletic and educational administration give him one of the keenest evaluation "eyes" in the United States.
He has an uncanny ability to match high school athletes with the college program at which he or she would excel. He has helped place scholar-athletes at Amherst, Bates, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Haverford, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Middlebury, Penn, Princeton, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, Williams, Yale and more.
Halas graduated from Clark University with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in political science, in 1973 and was the winner of the Ernest H. Whitman Scholarship. He returned to Clark to earn a Master of Public Administration degree, concentrating in administration of higher education and athletics.
His awards and achievements include:
Cited as most effective athletic administrator in Division III New England study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Selected to Clark University Athletic Hall of Fame, Member of inaugural class of inductees, 1993
Bob Cousy Award for best New England Basketball player under 6'
3 time all New England Team, College Division
5 time new England Division III Coach of the Year
10 consecutive NCAA Division III tournament berths in men's basketball
5 NCAA Division III regional titles
2 NCAA Division III Final Four appearances
2 NCAA Division III Championship Game appearances
* National Association of Basketball Coaches Merit Award
He has been or is a member of the National Association of College Directors of Athletics, National Association of Basketball Coaches, National Invitational Tournament Player Selection Committee, Ivy League Basketball Coaches Committee, New England Basketball Coaches Association (Treasurer), Worcester College Coaches and Sportswriters Association (President), Massachusetts Basketball Association, St. Bernard's Church Basketball Association, City of White Plains Department of Parks and Recreation, White Plains School District Superintendent's Select Committee on Secondary Education, White Plains Youth Soccer Association and Irish-American Sports Foundation.
