(WXYZ) - Chuck Daly, the longtime coach of the Detroit Pistons who won two NBA championships with the organization, has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and is currently undergoing treatment for the disease.
The cancer has also spread to his liver.
VIDEO: Watch Don Shane's reports, reaction from former players and Pistons fans in the video player at right.
We will pass on your thoughts and prayers to the Daly family if you send them via e-mail to DETROIT@WXYZ.COM After experiencing stomach pain in January, Daly visited doctors in Florida. Tests from that visit revealed the cancer.
He then went to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, accompanied by his friend, Billy Cunningham, who played and coached in the NBA.
Daly spent three days in New York.
Additional tests were administered and Sloan-Kettering doctors confirmed the original diagnosis. Daly and the medical staff devised a plan to fight the cancer.
Since returning to Florida, Daly has undergone two rounds of chemotherapy. The prognosis is not positive, and Daly is well aware this is the ultimate fight of his life.
Daly, 78, was the Pistons coach from 1983-1992. He won 467 regular season games and led the team to world titles after the 1989 and 1990 seasons. His playoff record with the Pistons was 71-42.
Daly also was the head coach of the United States Olympic men’s basketball team in 1992, the original Dream Team. That squad, led by Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson, won the gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
After the Olympics, Daly took over the head coaching duties for the New Jersey Nets, leading them to the postseason in both of his two years on the sidelines.
After three years away from the sidelines, Daly returned for one final stint in the NBA, coaching the Orlando Magic from 1997-99.
Daly was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on May 9, 1994 and the number “2” was retired by the Pistons to signify the number of championships he won with the team.
Daly has regularly contributed to WXYZ’s coverage of the NBA and the Pistons, most notably on Channel 7’s pregame and postgame shows prior to the NBA Finals in 2004 and 2005.
He last appeared with Don Shane as an analyst for WXYZ’s coverage of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Pistons and Boston Celtics on May 24, 2008.
Born July 20, 1930 in St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania, Daly attended St. Bonaventure University from 1948-49 before transferring to Bloomsburg University for his final three collegiate years.
Before his 14-year NBA coaching career, Daly was the head coach for a number of college basketball teams, including Boston College and the University of Pennsylvania.
He entered the NBA as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers in 1978, serving under head coach Billy Cunningham for three seasons before assuming the head coaching duties in Cleveland.
