NBA NEWS - McIntyre to Receive Halligan-McGuire Good Guy Award

Brian McIntyre directed the NBA Communications Department and Basketball Communications Department for 30 years - NBA photo

Remembering the Beloved Dick McGuire and John Halligan? RANGERS STANLEY CUP CHAMPION COACH MIKE KEENAN, NEW YORK TIMES PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING SPORTS COLUMNIST DAVE ANDERSON, LONGTIME NBA PUBLIC RELATIONS EXECUTIVE BRIAN MCINTYRE; AND WILLIAM J. BURKE, MANAGING DIRECTOR-INVESTMENTS, WELLS FARGO ADVISORS, TO RECEIVE HALLIGAN-MCGUIRE IRISH-AMERICAN GOOD GUY AWARDS

NEW YORK, NY USA - (NBA)

Monday March 21, 2011

THE GOOD GUYS

Mike Keenan, Head Coach of the New York Rangers fabled 1994 Stanley Cup champions who is now an analyst for MSG Network; venerable Pulitzer prize-winning New York Times sports columnist Dave Anderson; highly-acclaimed National Basketball Association public relations executive Brian McIntyre; and William J. Burke, Managing Director-Investments, Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, and a distinguished Fordham alumnus, will be honored at the second annual Halligan-McGuire Irish American Good Guy Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, March 22, at Gallagher's Steak House in New York City. The fundraiser remembers two beloved New York and Madison Square Garden sports legends, former Knicks and St. John's star and basketball Hall of Famer Dick McGuire and ex-Rangers and NHL publicist, hockey historian, and author John Halligan, and will benefit the John Halligan Memorial Scholarship at Fordham University.

Tickets are priced at $83.50, and include a three course luncheon menu and a donation. Tables of 12 are priced at $1,000. The luncheon gets underway at 12:00 noon. For information and tickets call Cirillo World at 212-972-5337 or email johnnycigarpr@aol.com. Gallagher's Steak House is located at 228 West 52nd Street (between Broadway and Eighth Avenue) in New York City (212-245-5336). Net proceeds will go to the Halligan Scholarship, which will be awarded to a worthy undergraduate student at Fordham.

Gallagher's will serve such traditional Irish classics as "Halligan" Corned Beef and Cabbage; "McGuire" Irish Lamb Stew; "Keenan" Beef Tenderloin and Asparagus Salad with Irish Pan Roasted Potatoes, Smoked Bacon and Mustard Vinaigrette; and "Anderson" Grilled Salmon Filet with Saut?ed Baby Spinach and Roasted Potatoes.

The John Halligan Memorial Scholarship was established at Fordham in lasting memory of the revered Rangers and NHL public relations executive who graduated from Fordham in 1963. Halligan passed away in January, 2010. "Friends of John Halligan" will raise the funds annually for the scholarship which will be awarded each year to provide financial assistance to a junior or senior undergraduate enrolled at Fordham majoring in communication/media studies at Rose Hill in the Bronx. A committee has been established to select the recipient.

Last year's inaugural honorees were Teri McGuire, Dick's loving wife of 54 years; John Flaherty, former Yankee and YES Network analyst; Janet Halligan, John's loving wife of 41 years; and Dave Maloney, the MSG Network-1050 ESPN Radio analyst and former Ranger.

About Dick McGuire - Born in the Bronx, a product of the Rockaways and a long time Dix Hills, Long Island resident, McGuire was a part of the Knicks organization for 53 seasons as a player, coach and scout. The St. John's University star was one of the most selfless players in NBA history. The deft-passing McGuire was a five-time all star and led the Knicks to three straight NBA Finals in the fifties. His number 15 was retired to the Madison Square Garden rafters in 1992, and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame the following year.

About John Halligan - A native of Bergenfield, N.J., and a longtime resident of Franklin Lakes, Halligan began his career in the Rangers publicity office in 1963, upon graduation from Fordham University. Over the next 20 years his role expanded to include vice president of communications and business manager. Halligan left the Rangers for a public relations position with the NHL in 1983, before returning to the Rangers in 1986. He went back to the NHL in 1990 before retiring in 2006. He wrote several books, including "100 Ranger Greats: Superstars, Unsung Heroes and Colorful Characters" and "Game of My Life: New York Rangers."

About Mike Keenan - Mike Keenan, coach of the 1994 Stanley Cup winning New York Rangers, joined MSG's telecast team in 2009 as a guest analyst for pregame, intermission and postgame reports on the network. Keenan led the Blueshirts to the team's first championship in 54 years. The Rangers went 52-24-8 (.667) under Keenan in 1993-94, and won a thrilling seven-game Stanley Cup Final over the Vancouver Canucks, finishing 16-7 (.695) in the playoffs that year Keenan has coached eight teams in the NHL, most recently the Calgary Flames in 2008. Prior to the Flames, he coached the Flyers, Blackhawks, Rangers, Blues, Canucks, Bruins, Panthers and Flames, and amassed 672 regular season and 96 playoff wins. Four of Keenan's teams played in the Stanley Cup Finals: Philadelphia (1984 & 1987), Chicago (1992), and won the Cup coaching the Rangers in 1994. Currently, he is fourth all-time in NHL wins and his teams never missed the playoffs until 1998. From 1969 to 1972, Keenan played college hockey for St. Lawrence University and finished his final year at the University of Toronto. He then went on to play a season with the Roanoke-Valley Rebels, a minor league hockey franchise in the ECHL. As head coach of the Calgary Flames, Keenan would go on to pass Patrick Quinn for 4th on the all-time NHL coach win list (648 wins) on February 12, 2009.

About Dave Anderson - Dave Anderson has been a sports columnist at The New York Times since November 1971, after having been a general assignment sports reporter since joining the newspaper in 1966. Anderson is a Pulitzer Prize winner, capturing the 1981 award for distinguished commentary for his sports column. Prior to joining The Times, Anderson was a member of the sports staff of the now defunct New York Journal-American for 11 years. Before that, he was a sports writer with the Brooklyn Eagle, which folded in 1955. Born in Troy, N.Y. on May 6, 1929,

Anderson, received a B.A. degree in English Literature from Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass. in 1951. He is the author of 21 books and has written more than 350 magazine articles. His writing appears in several anthologies including: "The Realm of Sport," "The Grantland Rice Prize Sports Stories," "Assignment America," "The Baseball Reader," "The Golf Book," "Sports Classics" and "Great Golf Stories."

Anderson is a 1994 winner of the Associated Press Sports Editors Red Smith Award for distinguished sports column writing. He was inducted into the National Sports Writers and Sportscasters Hall of Fame in Salisbury, N.C. in 1990, joining three other former "Sports of The Times," columnists -- Red Smith, Arthur Daley and John Kieran. In 1974, he won the Nat Fleischer Award for excellence in boxing journalism. In 1972, he won the E.P. Dutton Award for the best sports feature story of the year, the return of the heavyweight champion Joe Frazier to his Beaufort, S.C. hometown, (he won a Page One Award for the same story.) In 1965, he won the E.P. Dutton Award for the best magazine sports story for "The Longest Day of Sugar Ray," which appeared in True magazine.

About Brian McIntyre - Brian McIntyre directed the NBA Communications Department and Basketball Communications Department for 30 years from 1981 through 2010, and now serves as Senior Communications Advisor to Commissioner David Stern. The 32-year NBA veteran joined the NBA office under then-Commissioner Larry O'Brien and is the longest-serving league office executive hired by Stern. McIntyre was hired by the NBA in November 1981 as Director of Public Relations after three and a half years as Director of Marketing and Media Information for the Chicago Bulls. He was promoted to Vice President, Public Relations in March 1989.

Under McIntyre, the Public Relations Department expanded to become the Communications Group, and he was named Senior Vice President in November 1997.He has overseen public relations activities for every major NBA event since 1982, including The Finals, NBA All-Star, the NBA Draft Lottery, the McDonald's Open and other events. He was involved in the launch of both the WNBA and the NBA D-League. In conjunction with USA Basketball, McIntyre has been actively involved in public relations planning, activities and onsite execution of the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics and the 1994, 2002 and 2006 World Championships of Basketball.

A graduate of Loyola University of Chicago, McIntyre has served as a member of the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) News Council and the USA Basketball Media Advisory Committee. He was inducted into the Loyola (IL) Academy Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999 and was honored with a Merit Award by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in 2009. The Professional Basketball Writers Association (PBWA) honored McIntyre in 2010 when the organization named its annual team media relations tribute the Brian McIntyre Media Relations Award. McIntyre serves on the Board of Advisors for Loyola University's School of Communications.Brian resides in New Rochelle, New York with his wife, Betty.

About Bill Burke - William J. Burke is Managing Director-Investments, Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC. A staunch supporter of Fordham athletics, Mr. Burke is a graduate of FCRH, '65, and Fordham Law, '68, and a former Sports Information Director at the university. Burke was born in Hell's Kitchen, grew up in Astoria and Whitestone, Queens, and attended Holy Cross High School. His son, Bill III, and daughter, Erin, are both Fordham graduates. Bill and his wife Theresa live in Manasquan, New Jersey. Bill's father, Bill, and mother, Mary, were both Irish immigrants from County Sligo and County Roscommon, respectively. Mr. Burke is a member of the Fordham ROTC Hall of Fame, and the Holy Cross High School Hall of Fame.