Peter J. Carril Biography

Peter J. Carril grew up on the south side of Bethlehem, Pa where his father worked in the steel mills. His parents were Spanish immigrants; his father was from Spain and his mother was from Argentina. The Bethlehem Boys Club and older sister Anita, helped the young Carril stay on track as he became a promising basketball player at Liberty High School. Carril was best friends with Rocco Calvo, also a basketball player; both graduated from Liberty in 1948 and remained lifelong friends. After high school, Carril went to nearby Lafayette College. He graduated in 1952 with a BA in Spanish and it is at Lafayette where he began his lifelong basketball friendship with the late Butch vanBredaKolff.

Carril went on to coach at Easton Area High School for three years while earning his M.A. degree from Lehigh University. He married Dolores L. Halteman of Butztown, also a Liberty graduate (1946.) From 1958 to 1966 he coached at Reading High School where he had many winning seasons and trips to the state finals. After Reading, he made the move into college coaching, going back to Lehigh for one year (1966 to 1967) where he completed the season with an 11-12 record, a significant accomplishment at a school where wrestling was the premiere sport. In 1967 vanBredaKolff was leaving Princeton and recommended his protégé Carril for the job of Head Basketball Coach. Carril accepted the job and stayed at Princeton, building a basketball dynasty with numerous accomplishments that would also earn him many honors. Carril spent 29 years at Princeton, racking up 514 wins. His teams won 13 Ivy League titles, and one NIT Championship (1975), and made 11 NCAA tournament appearances. Carril made a name for himself by perfecting the Princeton offense and relying on his famous “backdoor play”. After Princeton, Carril spent time as an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings, from 1996 to 2006. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 1997.

In the words of Jerry Price, Senior Communications Advisor/Historian for Princeton Athletics, Carril was “a very simple man, and the more the world around him grew complex, the simpler he became. Make shots. Guard your guy. Be honest with people. And above all, work hard. No shortcuts.”

Coach Peter J. Carril passed away peacefully at The University of Pennsylvania Hospital, on August 15, 2022, where he was recuperating from a stroke. He was 92 years old.

Written by Lisa D. Carril (Lafayette, ‘76, Lehigh, ‘90), daughter.