Joe Colone

Joseph Frank "Bells" Colone


Born:
January 23, 1924
Berwick, PA

Died:
July 1, 2009
Woodbury, NJ


Career
1940-41 Berwick High School - Pennsylvania (High School)
1941-42 Berwick High School - Pennsylvania (High School)
1942-43 Berwick (YMCA)
Bloomsburg College - Pennsylvania (College) ??
1946-47 Pittston (PSL)
1946-47 Hazleton Mountaineers (EPBL)
1947-48 Dayton Metropolitans (AABL)
1948-49 Saratoga Indians (NYSL)

1948-49 Lancaster Rockets (EPBL)
1948-49 New York Knicks (BAA)
1949-50 Wilkes-Barre Barons (ABL)
1949-50 Berwick Car-Builders (EPBL)

1950-51 Allentown Aces (ABL)

1950-51 Berwick Car-Builders (EPBL)

1951-52 Wilkes-Barre Barons (ABL)
1952-53 Wilkes-Barre Barons (ABL)
1952-53 Elmira Colonels (ABL) 

1952-53 Berwick Carbuilders (EPBL)  

1953-54 Sunbury Mercuries (EPBL)

Born to Emilio (1885-1976) and Adeline (1887-1960) Colone. Colone served in the U.S. Army during World War 2. After playing pro basketball for five seasons, he moved to New Jersey where he was a junior high school teacher and coach until 1986. He also played minor league baseball from 1946-50, pitching at the B-level for mainly the Indians and Reds farm systems.

He and his wife, Genevieve, had four sons and a daughter.

There was another Joe Colone (Joseph J, four months younger than Joseph F.) in Berwick, roughly the same age as "Bells," which made research tricky. Joseph J. was a football player who went to Penn State. Sometimes newspapers referred to them as brothers, but two brothers named Joseph is unlikely unless your father is George Foreman, and 4 months apart in age is impossible.

Minor League Baseball Stats
http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=colone001jos

Source:
NJ.com Story
Tributes.com

Stats:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/colonjo01.html
http://www.justsportsstats.com/basketballstatsindex.php?player_id=colonjo01