| Overall UK Wins: 4 | Overall UK Losses: 1 | Win % 80 |
Date of Birth: November 13, 1905
Date of Death: March 2, 1986
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Alma Mater: Saint Josephs [1927]

For a generalized listing of officials, please consult this page.

Obituary - Philadelphia Daily News (March 5, 1986)

Sports Figure 'Jocko" Collins, 80; Coach, Baseball 'Super Scout'

by Jim Nicholson

John P. "Jocko" Collins, a legendary sports figure who was a coach, NBA referee supervisor and a major league baseball "super scout," died Sunday. He was 80 and lived in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia.

Collins' list of major league finds included players who made their marks on the game over four decades, including several who went on to executive positions with major league clubs. Some of the prospects he scouted and got signed included Del Ennis, Tommy Lasorda, Dallas Green, Chris Short, Bobby Bailor and Harry Anderson.

His last jobs were as scout for the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia 76'ers. He retired in 1982.

Raised in the Port Richmond section of the city, Collins was a 1923 graduate of St. Joseph's Prep, where he played basketball, baseball and football and captained the baseball and basketball teams. He also captained the baseball and basketball teams at St. Joseph's College, graduating in 1927.

He had been a basketball coach at North Catholic High School, St. Thomas More High School, St. Joe's Prep and a high school in Delaware.

In 1962, Collins recalled for a reporter how he got into scouting by accident in the late 1930s:

"I wasn't even a scout - I was working in the Post Office - when Frank Hoerst, who had pitched for me, came to me for advice. He said Bill Terry had been after him for the Giants and Jimmie Dykes wanted him for the White Sox and the Phillies had made him an offer, too.

"I thought he'd be better off with the Phillies. So I took him to see Gerry Nugent and he signed him. Then Gerry said to me, 'Would you like to be a scout?' I said I'd love it, and I've been with the club ever since and I still love it."

Collins worked for a number of years as a scout for the 76'ers and was a supervisor of NBA officials for 12 years. He also scouted for the Baltimore Orioles and the San Francisco Giants.

Collins' son, Terence P. Collins, said his father's success as a scout sprang from his innate honest about people.

"He was a very honest person," said his son. "He could separate everything and do the right thing. If he thought a kid didn't quite have it, he would tell him to go get an education or learn a trade."

Like most successful people, Collins never forgot or completely forgave his own mistakes. For a scout, it was the ones that got away.

"The two boys he regretted never signing were Bobby Shantz and Al Downing,""Shantz lived just a block away but he [Jocko] thought he was too small."

In later years, Lasorda and Ennis and others stayed in touch with the man who scouted them in their youth. When he finally retired, said his son, Jocko "missed it terribly."

Collins was a member of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame and St. Joseph's University Basketball Hall of Fame.

He was a member of St. Matthew's Church.

In addition to his son, he his survived by his wife, the former Lillian A. Conn; a brother, Charles Collins; and four grandchildren.

Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. Matthew's Church, Cottman Avenue and Hawthorne Street. Burial will be in St. Dominic's Cemetery, 8504 Frankford Ave.

Friends may call from 7 to 10 tonight at the John F. Fluehr and Sons Funeral Home, 3301-15 Cottman Ave.

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