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Joe Mullaney (D. 2000) played college basketball at Holy Cross and with Bob Cousy was on the team that won the 1947 NCAA Championship. He played briefly for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association.

After college, Mullaney was with the FBI before returning to basketball as coach at Norwich University in Vermont.

Mullaney became head basketball coach at Providence College in 1955. He coached the Friars until 1969, returning in 1981, remaining until 1985. Mullaney went 319-164 during his 18 seasons, a winning percentage of .660. Mullaney won the 1961 and 1963 National Invitation Tournament championships at Providence. Mullaney also took the Friars to the NIT four other times and into the NCAA tournament three times. His assistant and protégé at Providence, Dave Gavitt, went on to be a successful coach of the Friars, taking them to the 1973 Final Four and eventually help founding of the Big East Conference.

Mullaney left Providence in 1969 to coach the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association, succeeding Butch van Breda Kolff who took the Lakers to the NBA Finals that year, losing 4-3 to the Boston Celtics.

In the 1969–70 season the Lakers overcame several injury problems and finished 46-36, two games behind the first-place Atlanta Hawks in the Western Division. Wilt Chamberlain was lost to injury early in the season and Elgin Baylor was also lost to injury later; both returned in time for the playoffs. En route to the NBA Finals they defeated the Phoenix Suns in the division semifinals and Atlanta in the division finals. The Lakers lost the NBA Finals 4-3 to the New York Knicks.[2]

In the 1970–71 season the Lakers finished 48-34, first in the new Pacific Division. The Lakers defeated the Chicago Bulls in the conference semifinal but lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Western Conference Finals

From there, he went on to coach in the ABA for the Kentucky Colonels, Utah Stars, Memphis Sounds, Spirits of St. Louis before returning to the NBA with the Buffalo Braves and then finishing his coaching career at Brown and Providence.

Mullaney is the only coach in Baltimore Claws history (ABA basketball team that folded before the regular season began).

Offered is a very seldom seen signed 3x5 page (this is paper, not an index card) that Mullaney filled out his college basketball info. Stamped on the back December 1978 (from an in the mail autograph request).