By Scott Barrett, Staff Writer, Newport Daily News
March 4, 2019, 6:28pm
Photo from ceremony which took place on March 16 at the Ryan Center on the University of Rhode Island campus
The Rhode Island Interscholastic League will recognize Jim Psaras as a “RIIL Basketball Legend” during a ceremony on March 16 at the Ryan Center on the University of Rhode Island campus.
Psaras, the longtime coach of the Rogers High School boys basketball team, is set to be celebrated alongside the other honorees: Bill McCaughey of Warwick Veterans High School, Jim Dickinson of Lincoln High School and former Rogers standout Ernie DeWitt.
The goal of the “RIIL Basketball Legends” program, now in its eighth year, “is to recognize outstanding basketball players, coaches and officials from our past.” The quartet will be recognized at halftime of the second state semifinal boys basketball game, which starts at 6 p.m. The opening game begins at 4 p.m.
Psaras was head coach of the Vikings for 26 years before stepping down in 2014. He posted a career record of 421-245 (.632 winning percentage) and won state championships in 1990, ’91 and ’93. Thirteen times he was named a Coach of the Year.
“He was the dean of Rhode Island high school basketball,” former Psaras assistant and current Middletown head coach Kevin Lendrum told The Daily News when Psaras stepped down five years ago. “It’s like Mike Krzyzewski leaving Duke.”
DeWitt, a 1977 graduate of Rogers, was the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,545 points until that mark was broken last month by Izzy Booth.
