boutons_
08-23-2007, 03:20 PM
August 24, 2007
Butch van Breda Kolff, Basketball Coach, Is Dead
By FRANK LITSKY
Butch van Breda Kolff, a happy-go-lucky nonconformist who from 1951 through 1994 coached more than 1,300 college, professional and high school basketball games, died Wednesday in Spokane. He was 84.
His daughter Kristina van Breda Kolff announced his death today to The Associated Press. Since 1986, van Breda Kolff had been treated for an irregular heartbeat.
Van Breda Kolff used to say that except for a chosen few, coaching basketball was a vagabond profession, and he was a prime example. He held 13 different head coaching jobs, and for one season, at age 61, he coached a high school team.
“I’ve had some good jobs that I’ve left, or they fired me,” he once said. “At the time, I thought it was the right thing for me to do. Whether it turned out right later, who cares?”
He coached Bill Bradley (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/bill_bradley/index.html?inline=nyt-per) as a collegian, and Wilt Chamberlain as a pro, and was never fully satisfied with either legendary player. When Bradley played for him at Princeton, he said, “Bill is not hungry.” He said he felt the same way about Chamberlain, who played for him with the Los Angeles Lakers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangeleslakers/index.html?inline=nyt-org).
In the fourth quarter of the seventh and deciding game of the National Basketball Association’s 1969 championship series, Chamberlain benched himself with what van Breda Kolff considered a minor knee injury. When Chamberlain asked to return to the game in the final minutes, van Breda Kolff refused, and the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/bostonceltics/index.html?inline=nyt-org) by 2 points.
“We played better when he was out,” van Breda Kolff said. “I have no regrets, because in my mind at the time, I thought it was the right thing to do. The only regret I’ll have would be if I don’t have a team.”
Shortly after, van Breda Kolff resigned, but as usual he soon had another team.
His coaching style never changed. When he was 71 and coaching his final season, The New York Times described him as the “animated, nonstop-gesticulating, chair-kicking, sideline-pacing, expletive-spewing Butch of days gone by.” But his teams were well-schooled, emphasizing teamwork, a patient offense and a tough defense.
Willem Hendrik van Breda Kolff was born Oct. 28, 1922, in Montclair, N.J., and grew into a 6-foot-3-inch, 185-pound playmaking guard. He became the basketball and soccer captain at Princeton before he flunked out.
Next came four seasons of pro basketball, all with the Knicks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newyorkknicks/index.html?inline=nyt-org). He averaged 4.7 points a game. Then, in 1950, he earned a degree in education from New York University (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_york_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org).
His coaching career (always as a head coach) began at Lafayette (1951-55). He left after four years because, he said, “they wouldn’t give me a $200-a-year raise.” Then came seven years (1955-62) at Hofstra and five (1962-67) at Princeton.
Next were 10 seasons in the pros: with the Lakers (1967-69), the Detroit Pistons (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/detroitpistons/index.html?inline=nyt-org) (1969-72), the Phoenix Suns (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/phoenixsuns/index.html?inline=nyt-org) (1972-73), the Memphis Tams of the upstart American Basketball Association (1973-74), and the N.B.A.’s expansion New Orleans Jazz (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/utahjazz/index.html?inline=nyt-org) (1974-77).
He then coached the University of New Orleans men’s team (1977-79) and the New Orleans Pride of the Women’s Professional Basketball League (1979-81). When the women’s league collapsed, he became a door-to-door salesman, but, as he recalled: “Guys wanted to talk basketball. I don’t think I ever sold anything.”
Desperate to coach again after two years away from the sport, van Breda Kolff accepted a job teaching world history to 10th graders and coaching the basketball team at Picayune Memorial High School in Mississippi. He said it was “sometimes very humbling, but I’m glad I did it.”
When Lafayette called to ask for recommendations for its coaching vacancy, he nominated himself. He returned there for four seasons (1984-88) and then returned to Hofstra, his final coaching stop, for six more seasons (1988-94).
When his last team started its season with a 1-14 record, he said, “I was embarrassed to have my friends see them play.” The team then won 8 of its last 14 games and the East Coast Conference tournament title in double overtime. He retired with a 483-272 record for 28 college seasons.
“People are always asking me, if you had the chance to do it all over again, would you do anything different?” he said. “I say, not a bit. I wouldn’t change one thing. You do what you’re going to do, and make the best of it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/sports/basketball/23cnd-vanbredakollf.html?hp
Butch van Breda Kolff, Basketball Coach, Is Dead
By FRANK LITSKY
Butch van Breda Kolff, a happy-go-lucky nonconformist who from 1951 through 1994 coached more than 1,300 college, professional and high school basketball games, died Wednesday in Spokane. He was 84.
His daughter Kristina van Breda Kolff announced his death today to The Associated Press. Since 1986, van Breda Kolff had been treated for an irregular heartbeat.
Van Breda Kolff used to say that except for a chosen few, coaching basketball was a vagabond profession, and he was a prime example. He held 13 different head coaching jobs, and for one season, at age 61, he coached a high school team.
“I’ve had some good jobs that I’ve left, or they fired me,” he once said. “At the time, I thought it was the right thing for me to do. Whether it turned out right later, who cares?”
He coached Bill Bradley (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/bill_bradley/index.html?inline=nyt-per) as a collegian, and Wilt Chamberlain as a pro, and was never fully satisfied with either legendary player. When Bradley played for him at Princeton, he said, “Bill is not hungry.” He said he felt the same way about Chamberlain, who played for him with the Los Angeles Lakers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangeleslakers/index.html?inline=nyt-org).
In the fourth quarter of the seventh and deciding game of the National Basketball Association’s 1969 championship series, Chamberlain benched himself with what van Breda Kolff considered a minor knee injury. When Chamberlain asked to return to the game in the final minutes, van Breda Kolff refused, and the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/bostonceltics/index.html?inline=nyt-org) by 2 points.
“We played better when he was out,” van Breda Kolff said. “I have no regrets, because in my mind at the time, I thought it was the right thing to do. The only regret I’ll have would be if I don’t have a team.”
Shortly after, van Breda Kolff resigned, but as usual he soon had another team.
His coaching style never changed. When he was 71 and coaching his final season, The New York Times described him as the “animated, nonstop-gesticulating, chair-kicking, sideline-pacing, expletive-spewing Butch of days gone by.” But his teams were well-schooled, emphasizing teamwork, a patient offense and a tough defense.
Willem Hendrik van Breda Kolff was born Oct. 28, 1922, in Montclair, N.J., and grew into a 6-foot-3-inch, 185-pound playmaking guard. He became the basketball and soccer captain at Princeton before he flunked out.
Next came four seasons of pro basketball, all with the Knicks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newyorkknicks/index.html?inline=nyt-org). He averaged 4.7 points a game. Then, in 1950, he earned a degree in education from New York University (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_york_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org).
His coaching career (always as a head coach) began at Lafayette (1951-55). He left after four years because, he said, “they wouldn’t give me a $200-a-year raise.” Then came seven years (1955-62) at Hofstra and five (1962-67) at Princeton.
Next were 10 seasons in the pros: with the Lakers (1967-69), the Detroit Pistons (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/detroitpistons/index.html?inline=nyt-org) (1969-72), the Phoenix Suns (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/phoenixsuns/index.html?inline=nyt-org) (1972-73), the Memphis Tams of the upstart American Basketball Association (1973-74), and the N.B.A.’s expansion New Orleans Jazz (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/utahjazz/index.html?inline=nyt-org) (1974-77).
He then coached the University of New Orleans men’s team (1977-79) and the New Orleans Pride of the Women’s Professional Basketball League (1979-81). When the women’s league collapsed, he became a door-to-door salesman, but, as he recalled: “Guys wanted to talk basketball. I don’t think I ever sold anything.”
Desperate to coach again after two years away from the sport, van Breda Kolff accepted a job teaching world history to 10th graders and coaching the basketball team at Picayune Memorial High School in Mississippi. He said it was “sometimes very humbling, but I’m glad I did it.”
When Lafayette called to ask for recommendations for its coaching vacancy, he nominated himself. He returned there for four seasons (1984-88) and then returned to Hofstra, his final coaching stop, for six more seasons (1988-94).
When his last team started its season with a 1-14 record, he said, “I was embarrassed to have my friends see them play.” The team then won 8 of its last 14 games and the East Coast Conference tournament title in double overtime. He retired with a 483-272 record for 28 college seasons.
“People are always asking me, if you had the chance to do it all over again, would you do anything different?” he said. “I say, not a bit. I wouldn’t change one thing. You do what you’re going to do, and make the best of it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/sports/basketball/23cnd-vanbredakollf.html?hp