Biography
Gene Pingatore, also credited as Eugene Pingatore, was an American basketball coach and the head boys' basketball coach at St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, for 50 seasons from 1969 until his death. He appeared as himself in the 1994 documentary film Hoop Dreams, which followed two players on his team.
Pingatore compiled a record of 1,035 wins and 383 losses, the highest win total for any Illinois high school boys' basketball coach. His teams won two Illinois state championships, in 1999 and 2015. He coached future Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas in the late 1970s and was also featured in an episode of the ESPN series SportsCentury in 2001.
Born in Cicero, Illinois, Pingatore played college basketball at Loyola University of Los Angeles before beginning his coaching career at St. Joseph.
