Butch van Breda Kolff
Encyclopedia
Willem Hendrik "Butch" van Breda Kolff (October 28, 1922 August 22, 2007) was an American basketball
player and coach.
, he played college basketball for New York University
and later spent four seasons playing for the New York Knicks
of the NBA
(1946–50). In 1967 he became head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers
, and guided them to the NBA finals in 1968 and 1969 losing both times to the Boston Celtics
. Van Breda Kolff also coached the Detroit Pistons
, Phoenix Suns
and New Orleans Jazz
, compiling an 266-253 record overall.
Born in 1922, van Breda Kolff gained an affection for the sport of basketball while growing up in Montclair, New Jersey. He later attended Princeton, where he played basketball for Franklin “Cappy” Cappon
, and then to New York University. Signed by the New York Knicks of the Basketball Association of America
just after World War II
, he turned in a relatively unimpressive tenure as a professional player. In the four years he played in the BAA and the NBA, all with New York, he shot just .305 from the field, .669 from the line, and averaged 4.7 points in 175 contests. More impressive was his hustle and tenacious spirit, which got him elected team captain.
After putting in four undistinguished years as an NBA player during the late 1940s, Butch van Breda Kolff carved out a legendary career as a college and professional coach. He is one of only four men to have coached both an NCAA Final Four
team (Princeton, 1965) and an NBA Finals
squad (the Los Angeles Lakers, 1968
and 1969
). (The others are Larry Brown
, Jack Ramsay
, and Fred Schaus
.) Van Breda Kolff compiled a professional and collegiate coaching record of 769-588.
Van Breda Kolff would also spend time running a women’s professional team and later coaching a high school team in Picayune, Mississippi
. “Coaching is coaching,” he once told a reporter. “Give me 10 players who want to work and learn the game and I’m happy. I don’t count the house.”
Within two years of leaving the NBA in 1950, van Breda Kolff took over as head coach at Lafayette College
, where he remained from 1952 to 1956. He then coached for Hofstra from 1955 to 1962, and Princeton from 1963 to 1967.
, and Wilt Chamberlain
—notched a 55-27 record and reached the Finals again. It was that championship series that left the most bitter coaching memory in van Breda Kolff’s mind. He took tremendous flak for benching Chamberlain, with whom van Breda Kolff feuded terribly, in the final minutes of Game 7 against Boston. The Lakers lost by two points, and van Breda Kolff resigned shortly afterward.
He then went on to Detroit, where he coached the Pistons for just over two seasons. In 1970–71 he guided the team to a 45-37 mark, Detroit’s first winning season in 15 years. But he left the team 10 games into the next season. He coached the Phoenix Suns for the first seven games of the 1972–73 campaign, before being fired and replaced by Jerry Colangelo
, then did a stint with Memphis of the American Basketball Association
in 1973–74. From 1974 to 1977 he coached the New Orleans Jazz, taking over in the middle of the 1974–75 season and departing with a 14-12 record partway through the 1976–77 campaign; while he was coach, he pushed for New Orleans to relinquish the rights to Moses Malone
in exchange for a #1 draft pick, and then traded that pick and two other #1s to the Lakers for Gail Goodrich
. This turned out to be one of the worst decisions in NBA history, not only because Moses became a superstar (although two other teams also traded him before he broke through with the Houston Rockets), but Goodrich suffered an Achilles' tendon injury that would end his career in 1978, and the Jazz's #1 pick in 1979 (the first overall choice) was used by the Lakers to select Magic Johnson
. While in New Orleans, he also coached a women’s professional squad. He left the professional ranks for good in 1976, taking with him a career NBA coaching record of 266-253 and a .513 winning percentage. 1976 also marked the year his son Jan entered the NBA with the New York Nets, after spending two seasons in the ABA.
Beyond the NBA, the coach known as "VBK" and "Bill" by the fans, had two tenures as the men's head basketball coach at both Lafayette College
and Hofstra University
, in the 1950s-60s and the 1980s-90s as well as a stint at Princeton University
in the 1960s. At Princeton, he coached the 1964–65 Tigers, led by Bill Bradley
, to the NCAA Final Four
, where they finished third.
after a long illness.
As long as he was in contact with basketball, van Breda Kolff was happy, for the sport was as essential to him as air or water.
“All I know is life isn’t much different than that game on the court,” he said in an article in the New York Daily News in the early 1980s. “If it’s run right—with precision, with good, honest effort—it’s a thing of beauty. I know what it looks like and that’s what keeps me going.”
}}
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player and coach.
Early life and career
Born in Glen Ridge, New JerseyGlen Ridge, New Jersey
Glen Ridge is a borough in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 7,527. In 2010, Glen Ridge was ranked as the 38th Best Place to live by New Jersey Monthly magazine....
, he played college basketball for New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and later spent four seasons playing for the New York Knicks
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
of the NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
(1946–50). In 1967 he became head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
, and guided them to the NBA finals in 1968 and 1969 losing both times to the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
. Van Breda Kolff also coached the Detroit Pistons
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...
, Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association and the only team in their division not to be based in California. Their home arena since 1992 has been the US...
and New Orleans Jazz
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz is a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are currently a part of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
, compiling an 266-253 record overall.
Born in 1922, van Breda Kolff gained an affection for the sport of basketball while growing up in Montclair, New Jersey. He later attended Princeton, where he played basketball for Franklin “Cappy” Cappon
Franklin Cappon
Franklin C. "Cappy" Cappon was a college athlete and coach. He played football and basketball at Phillips University and the University of Michigan and coached basketball and football at Luther College , the University of Kansas , the University of Michigan , and Princeton University .The son of a...
, and then to New York University. Signed by the New York Knicks of the Basketball Association of America
Basketball Association of America
The Basketball Association of America was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. The league merged with the National Basketball League in 1949, forming the National Basketball Association ...
just after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he turned in a relatively unimpressive tenure as a professional player. In the four years he played in the BAA and the NBA, all with New York, he shot just .305 from the field, .669 from the line, and averaged 4.7 points in 175 contests. More impressive was his hustle and tenacious spirit, which got him elected team captain.
After putting in four undistinguished years as an NBA player during the late 1940s, Butch van Breda Kolff carved out a legendary career as a college and professional coach. He is one of only four men to have coached both an NCAA Final Four
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
team (Princeton, 1965) and an NBA Finals
NBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association . The series was named the NBA World Championship Series until 1986....
squad (the Los Angeles Lakers, 1968
1968 NBA Finals
The 1968 NBA Finals pitted the Boston Celtics from the East, against the Los Angeles Lakers from the West, for the sixth time in ten years. The Celtics won their tenth NBA Championship in twelve seasons, by defeating the Lakers in six games...
and 1969
1969 NBA Finals
The 1969 NBA World Championship Series to determine the champion of the 1968-69 NBA season was played between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, the Lakers being heavily favored due to the presence of three formidable stars: Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, and Jerry West...
). (The others are Larry Brown
Larry Brown (basketball)
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" Brown is an American basketball coach and former player. He most recently served as head coach of the National Basketball Association's Charlotte Bobcats....
, Jack Ramsay
Jack Ramsay
Jack T. Ramsay is an American former basketball coach, commonly known as "Dr. Jack" . He is best known for coaching the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA Title, and for his broadcasting work with the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat, and for ESPN TV and ESPN Radio...
, and Fred Schaus
Fred Schaus
Frederick Appleton Schaus was an American basketball player, head coach and athletic director for the West Virginia University Mountaineers, player for the NBA's Fort Wayne Pistons and New York Knicks, general manager and head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, head coach of Purdue University...
.) Van Breda Kolff compiled a professional and collegiate coaching record of 769-588.
Van Breda Kolff would also spend time running a women’s professional team and later coaching a high school team in Picayune, Mississippi
Picayune, Mississippi
Picayune is the largest city in Pearl River County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 10,878 at the 2010 census. Located approximately from New Orleans, Hattiesburg, and Gulfport/Biloxi...
. “Coaching is coaching,” he once told a reporter. “Give me 10 players who want to work and learn the game and I’m happy. I don’t count the house.”
Within two years of leaving the NBA in 1950, van Breda Kolff took over as head coach at Lafayette College
Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private coeducational liberal arts and engineering college located in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. The school, founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter,son of General Andrew Porter of Norristown and citizens of Easton, first began holding classes in 1832...
, where he remained from 1952 to 1956. He then coached for Hofstra from 1955 to 1962, and Princeton from 1963 to 1967.
Pro coaching career
Van Breda Kolff's success in college attracted the attention of the NBA. The Lakers hired him in 1967, and in his first season guided the team to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Boston Celtics in six games. In his second campaign there, his team—with Elgin Baylor, Jerry WestJerry West
Jerry Alan West is a retired American basketball player who played his entire professional career for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . His nicknames include "Mr...
, and Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain was an American professional NBA basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; he also played for the Harlem Globetrotters prior to playing in the NBA...
—notched a 55-27 record and reached the Finals again. It was that championship series that left the most bitter coaching memory in van Breda Kolff’s mind. He took tremendous flak for benching Chamberlain, with whom van Breda Kolff feuded terribly, in the final minutes of Game 7 against Boston. The Lakers lost by two points, and van Breda Kolff resigned shortly afterward.
He then went on to Detroit, where he coached the Pistons for just over two seasons. In 1970–71 he guided the team to a 45-37 mark, Detroit’s first winning season in 15 years. But he left the team 10 games into the next season. He coached the Phoenix Suns for the first seven games of the 1972–73 campaign, before being fired and replaced by Jerry Colangelo
Jerry Colangelo
Jerry Colangelo , is an American businessman and sports executive.He formerly owned the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Sandsharks of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League and the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major...
, then did a stint with Memphis of the American Basketball Association
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
in 1973–74. From 1974 to 1977 he coached the New Orleans Jazz, taking over in the middle of the 1974–75 season and departing with a 14-12 record partway through the 1976–77 campaign; while he was coach, he pushed for New Orleans to relinquish the rights to Moses Malone
Moses Malone
Moses Eugene Malone is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who starred in both the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association...
in exchange for a #1 draft pick, and then traded that pick and two other #1s to the Lakers for Gail Goodrich
Gail Goodrich
Gail Charles Goodrich Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association . He is best-known for scoring a then record 42 points in the 1965 NCAA championship game vs. Michigan, and his part in the Los Angeles Lakers' 1971–72 season...
. This turned out to be one of the worst decisions in NBA history, not only because Moses became a superstar (although two other teams also traded him before he broke through with the Houston Rockets), but Goodrich suffered an Achilles' tendon injury that would end his career in 1978, and the Jazz's #1 pick in 1979 (the first overall choice) was used by the Lakers to select Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers...
. While in New Orleans, he also coached a women’s professional squad. He left the professional ranks for good in 1976, taking with him a career NBA coaching record of 266-253 and a .513 winning percentage. 1976 also marked the year his son Jan entered the NBA with the New York Nets, after spending two seasons in the ABA.
Beyond the NBA, the coach known as "VBK" and "Bill" by the fans, had two tenures as the men's head basketball coach at both Lafayette College
Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private coeducational liberal arts and engineering college located in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. The school, founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter,son of General Andrew Porter of Norristown and citizens of Easton, first began holding classes in 1832...
and Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
, in the 1950s-60s and the 1980s-90s as well as a stint at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in the 1960s. At Princeton, he coached the 1964–65 Tigers, led by Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley
William Warren "Bill" Bradley is an American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, and former three-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in the 2000 election.Bradley was born and raised in a suburb of St....
, to the NCAA Final Four
Final four
Final Four isa sports term that is commonly applied to the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament, most notably NCAA Division I college basketball tournaments. The term usually refers to the four teams who compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final round...
, where they finished third.
Coaching style
An uncompromising, straightforward, no-nonsense man with a big heart and a pinch of wry humor, van Breda Kolff often clashed with other strong egos. His love of the game was beyond question, though in connection to the Chamberlain Finals incident, his strong personality sometimes got the better of him. After leaving the Jazz, he remained in the Crescent City and returned to the college coaching ranks with the University of New Orleans, where he spent two years. In 1985, Lafayette, the team he had coached 30 years earlier, asked him to return to work more of his magic there. Van Breda Kolff stayed four seasons at Lafayette, before leaving to coach Hofstra once again. His second stint with the Flying Dutchmen lasted five seasons and ended after the 1993–94 season. In 28 years as a college coach, he compiled an impressive 482-272 record.Death and Legacy
Van Breda Kolff died August 22, 2007 at a nursing home in Spokane, WashingtonSpokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
after a long illness.
As long as he was in contact with basketball, van Breda Kolff was happy, for the sport was as essential to him as air or water.
“All I know is life isn’t much different than that game on the court,” he said in an article in the New York Daily News in the early 1980s. “If it’s run right—with precision, with good, honest effort—it’s a thing of beauty. I know what it looks like and that’s what keeps me going.”
External links
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