Professional Basketball Player, Coach. For eight seasons (1952 to 1960), he played at the guard position in the National Basketball Association with the Rochester Royals and St. Louis Hawks. Born John Joseph McMahon, he attended St. Michael's High School in Brooklyn and played collegiate basketball at St. John's University. While with the Redmen under legendary coach Frank McGuire, he became identifiable with his accurate two-handed set shot and was a key contributor to St. John's reaching of the NCAA Finals contest in 1952. Selected by Rochester during the 1952 NBA Draft, he played in 524 regular season games, compiling 4,237 points. He established himself a durable player as he appeared in 72 games three consecutive seasons (1956 to 1959). He experienced a world championship as a member of the 1957-1958 NBA Champion St. Louis Hawks' squad and joined a bevy of Hall of Fame players including Cliff Hagan, Bob Pettit, Slater Martin and Ed Macauley. After retiring as a player, McMahon launched a lengthy coaching career beginning with the Chicago Zephyrs (1962 to 1962), and moved onto Cincinnati where he guided the Royals to four consecutive playoff berths including a 55 win 25 loss season (1963 to 1964). In addition, he had coaching stints with the San Diego Rockets (1967 to 1970) and the Pittsburgh Condors of the ABA (1970 To 1972). He settled in Philadelphia where he served as a scout and assistant with the 76ers under Gene Shue and later Billy Cunningham. McMahon became known as a brilliant talent evaluator and had a hand in drafting such star players as Doug Collins, Darryl Dawkins, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney and Charles Barkley. His final NBA assignment was a front office position with the Golden State Warriors.