Jack Ramsay, the Hall of Fame coach who in 1977 took the Portland Trail Blazers to their only NBA championship and who was regarded as one of pro basketball’s keenest coaching minds, died Monday in Naples, Fla. He was 89.

The Trail Blazers confirmed his death. He had been treated for cancer for many years.

Ramsay was known in the basketball world as Dr. Jack for the doctorate in education he received from the University of Pennsylvania. But coaches and players were also paying respect to his cerebral approach. Ramsay emphasized preparation, dedication, unselfish play, a running game, tough defense and strong rebounding. He put his teams through grueling practice sessions.

“Among players, Ramsay was the ultimate coach’s coach,” David Halberstam wrote in his book “The Breaks of the Game,” a look at the pro basketball world through Ramsay’s Blazers teams. “Nothing was left to chance. His scouting and his breakdown of opponents before a game were acute, complete and prophetic. He expected certain things to happen on the court and they almost always did.”

Lionel Hollins, a guard on the Blazers championship team and later a coach of the Grizzlies, first in Vancouver and then in Memphis, described Ramsay’s approach after Hollins was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in 1980.

“Jack taught me the fundamentals,” Hollins said. “Making the right pass at the right time, defense, how to concentrate and become a more disciplined player.”

Bill Walton, the star center on the championship Portland team who had played for the legendary John Wooden on NCAA championship teams at UCLA, called Ramsay “the very best coach I played for, and I played for some great coaches.” Ramsay was famously intense, whether badgering referees or plotting strategy in timeout huddles, kneeling on a towel, a balding figure with bushy eyebrows and an intimidating glare.

His taste in clothing, particularly during his coaching years, was nothing short of gaudy — even by 1970s standards. He was also a physical fitness buff, doing daily calisthenics, jogging and swimming even into his 80s, when he had cancer.

When he was named the Trail Blazers’ coach in 1976, Ramsay took over a team that had never had a winning record in its six seasons in the NBA. But his first Portland squad, led by Walton, Hollins and Maurice Lucas at forward, captured the 1977 NBA championship by defeating the Philadelphia 76ers of Julius Erving.

Ramsay spent more than 60 years in basketball, as a player and coach at St. Joseph’s of Philadelphia, a head coach for four NBA teams and a TV and radio broadcast analyst, most recently for ESPN. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.

John T. “Jack” Ramsay was born on Feb. 21, 1925, in Philadelphia and grew up in Connecticut, where his father was in the mortgage and loan business. The family returned to Philadelphia when he was in high school, and he went on to play for St. Joseph’s. After Navy service in World War II, Ramsay graduated from St. Joseph’s in 1949. He played semipro basketball, coached in high school, then became head coach at St. Joseph’s in 1955. He coached the Hawks to 10 postseason appearances in 11 seasons, including a berth in the Final Four in 1961, and had an overall record of 234-72.

His Blazers never made it to the NBA finals after their championship season, but they reached the playoffs in all but one of Ramsay’s 10 seasons as their coach.

Ramsay was fired in May 1986, after the Blazers were ousted in the first round of the playoffs, then became the Indiana Pacers’ coach in the 1986-87 season. When he resigned in November 1988, he had won more games than any other NBA coach except for Red Auerbach. He had a career record of 864-783.

After his retirement from coaching, Ramsay gave basketball clinics around the world on behalf of the NBA, then became a TV commentator for the 76ers and the Miami Heat and an analyst for ESPN TV and radio. The St. Joseph’s University basketball center is named for him.

Ramsay was captivated by the beauty of basketball and the creative challenges it presented.

In his book “The Coach’s Art” (1978), written with John Strawn, he called basketball “a ballet, a graceful sweep and flow of patterned movement, counterpointed by daring and imaginative flights of solitary brilliance.”

He added: “It is winning; it is winning; it is winning!”