Ramsay was among the most respected coaches in NBA history and a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Growing up in Milford, Connecticut, Ramsay was encouraged to participate in sports in grade school by his parents, Anne and John.

Ramsay's college career was interrupted by three years of service in the US Navy during World War II.

In 1962, Ramsay obtained his master's degree and in 1963 his doctorate degree in education, both from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia[3] After graduation, Ramsay played six seasons of professional basketball in the Eastern Professional Basketball League (EPBL).

Ramsay averaged 14 points in his career playing for the Senators and in Sunbury, Pennsylvania professional team.

Ramsay got the job after accidentally meeting the college's moderator of athletics at a Philadelphia Phillies baseball game.

This first season also marked the school's first-ever postseason playoff berth, in which St Joseph placed third in the NIT after losing to the University of Dayton.

Ramsay would remain at St. Joseph's through 1966, leading the Hawks to six more Big 5 crowns, five straight seasons of first-place finishes in the Middle Atlantic Conference, ten postseason appearances, and a Final Four stint in 1961.

The 76ers led the NBA in scoring (119 points per game) as a result of Ramsay's style of aggressive pressing defense.

Ramsay signed a three‐year contract to succeed John McCarthy as the third-ever head coach of the Buffalo Braves on April 6, 1972.

That second season in Buffalo had Ramsay leading the Braves to the playoffs, where they pushed the eventual champion Celtics to six games in the conference semifinals.

Instead, owner Paul Snyder was in the process of selling the team to out-of-town interests (the economy of Western New York was unable to support both the Braves and hockey's Sabres as evidenced by the Braves' attendance figures at the time but Snyder lost interest) and Ramsay requested not to be a part of the upheaval.

When Ramsay arrived, the Blazers had not made the playoffs or compiled a winning season record in their six-year history.

Ramsay also benefited from the 1976 ABA dispersal draft, in which the Blazers obtained power forward Maurice Lucas.

After his coaching career ended, Ramsay spent nine years as a television color commentator for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Miami Heat.

Between 1996 and 2012, Ramsay called 15 NBA Finals for ESPN Radio, serving as the network's top analyst.

The Ramsays had five children, Susan, John, Sharon (who married Jim O'Brien), Chris, and Carolyn.

Ramsay continued to be highly physically fit well after his Navy training days and completed triathlons until the age of 70.

[citation needed] His two eldest children, Susan and John, have doctoral degrees and taught at the college level.

The ensuing therapy led to a successful treatment that Ramsay didn't miss a single game that season as commentator.