Red Holzman

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox basketball biography William "Red" Holzman (August 10, 1920 – November 13, 1998) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He is best known as the head coach of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1967 to 1977, and again from 1978 to 1982. Holzman helped lead the Knicks to two NBA championships in 1970 and 1973, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1986.

In 1996, Holzman was named one of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History.<ref name="50th">Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life

William "Red" Holzman was born on August 10, 1920, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref Name="NYT">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia.com">Template:Cite web</ref> to Jewish immigrant parents, as the son of a Romanian mother and Russian father.<ref name="bookref1">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He grew up in Brooklyn's Ocean Hill–Brownsville neighborhood<ref Name="NYT"/> and played basketball for Franklin K. Lane High School in the mid-1930s.

College career

Holzman attended the University of Baltimore and later the City College of New York, where he played for two years until graduation in 1942. Holzman joined the United States Navy in the same year, and played on the Norfolk, Virginia Naval Base team till he was discharged from the Navy in 1945.<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>

Professional career

Rochester Royals (1945–1953)

File:Red Holzman, Rochester Royals, 1950.jpg

Holzman in 1950 with the Rochester Royals

After the Navy, Holzman joined the NBL Rochester Royals, which won the NBL championship in Holzman's first season, and he was named Rookie of the Year in 1944–45.<ref name=dimitry>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1945–46 and 1947–48 he was on the NBL's first All League team; in the interim year he was on its second team.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Holzman stayed with the team through their move to the NBA and subsequent NBA championship in 1951.

Milwaukee Hawks (1953–1954)

In 1953, Holzman left the Royals and joined the Milwaukee Hawks as a player-coach, eventually retiring as a player in 1954 but continuing as the team's head coach.<ref Name="NYT"/><ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>

Coaching career

Milwaukee / St. Louis Hawks (1953–1957)

During the 1956–1957 season, the Hawks (then in St. Louis, Missouri) lost 19 of their first 33 games, and Holzman was fired.<ref Name="NYT"/><ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>

Leones de Ponce (1963–1967)

Holzman coached Leones de Ponce from 1963 to 1967, winning three consecutive championships from 1964 to 1966.

New York Knicks (1967–1977, 1978–1982)

After being fired by the Hawks, Holzman then became a scout for the New York Knicks for the next ten years, till 1967, whereupon he became the team's head coach for the most part until 1982.<ref name="NYT"/> Holzman's former player, Willis Reed, replaced him as Knicks head coach in 1977, but Holzman returned near the start of the 1978–1979 season. During this 15-year span as Knicks' coach, Holzman won a total of 613 games, including two NBA championships in 1970 and 1973.<ref Name="NYT"/>

In 1969, Holzman coached the Knicks to a then single-season NBA record 18-game win streak, breaking the 17-game record first set back in 1946. For his efforts leading up to the Knicks' 1970 championship win, Holzman was named the NBA Coach of the Year for that year. He won his second NBA championship as the Knicks won the 1973 NBA Finals against the Lakers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was one of very few individuals to have won an NBA championship as both player and coach. As a coach, his final record was 696 wins and 604 losses. At the time of his retirement in 1982, he had the second most career victories as a head coach in NBA history.<ref name="jewishsports.net">Template:Cite web</ref>

Post-playing career

In 1985, Holzman was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The New York Knicks have retired the number 613 in his honor, equaling the number of wins he accumulated as their head coach.<ref Name="NYT"/> He is also a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame<ref name="jewishsports.net"/> and the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Holzman lived with his wife in a home they bought in Cedarhurst, New York in the 1950s. Following his lengthy NBA coaching career, Holzman was diagnosed with leukemia and died at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York in 1998.<ref Name="NYT"/> In 2000, a clock tower was erected in his honor at the intersection of Central Avenue and Cedarhurst Avenue in Cedarhurst as part of “Operation Downtown,” a project started by Nassau County presiding officer Bruce Blakeman and mayor Andy Parise.

Career statistics

BAA/NBA

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	PPG
1948–49	Rochester	60	–	.326	.611	–	2.5	9.1
Template:Nbay	Rochester	68	–	.330	.686	–	2.9	8.2
Template:Nbay†	Rochester	68	–	.326	.726	2.2	2.2	7.3
Template:Nbay	Rochester	65	16.4	.280	.718	1.6	1.8	4.1
Template:Nbay	Rochester	46	8.5	.255	.711	.9	.8	2.2
Template:Nbay	Milwaukee	51	12.7	.330	.658	.9	1.5	3.8
Career		358	13.0	.317	.682	1.5	2.0	6.1

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	PPG
1949	Rochester	4	–	.450	.833	–	3.3	10.3
1950	Rochester	2	–	.333	.500	–	.0	3.5
1951†	Rochester	14	–	.408	.676	1.4	1.4	6.1
1952	Rochester	6	10.8	.200	.167	1.0	.3	1.2
1953	Rochester	2	7.0	.200	.250	.5	.5	1.5
Career		28	9.9	.386	.596	1.2	1.3	5.1

• Source: Basketball Reference

College

Year	Team	GP	PPG
1940–41	CCNY	21	10.9
1941–42	CCNY	18	12.5
Career		39	11.6

• Source: Basketball-Reference.com

Head coaching record

Template:NBA coach statistics legend Template:NBA coach statistics start |- | style="text-align:left;"|Milwaukee Hawks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |26||10||16||.385|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Western||—||—||—||— | style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|Milwaukee Hawks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |72||26||46||.361|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Western||—||—||—||— | style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|St. Louis Hawks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |72||33||39||.458|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Western||8||4||4||.500 | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Western Division finals |- | style="text-align:left;"|St. Louis Hawks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |33||14||19||.424|| style="text-align:center;"|—||—||—||—||— | style="text-align:center;"|— |- | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |45||28||17||.622|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Eastern||6||2||4||.333 | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Eastern Division semifinals |- | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |82||54||28||.659|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Eastern||10||6||4||.600 | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Eastern Division finals |- ! style="background:#FDE910;" | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |82||60||22||.732|| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Eastern||19||12||7||.632 | style="text-align:center;"|Won NBA Championship |- | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |82||52||30||.634|| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Eastern||12||7||5||.583 | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Conference semifinals |- | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |82||48||34||.585|| style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Eastern||16||9||7||.563 | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in NBA Finals |- ! style="background:#FDE910;" | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |82||57||25||.695|| style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Eastern||17||12||5||.706 | style="text-align:center;"|Won NBA Championship |- | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |82||49||33||.598|| style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Eastern||12||5||7||.417 | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Conference finals |- | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |82||40||42||.488|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Eastern||3||1||2||.333 | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First round |- | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |82||38||44||.463|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Eastern||—||—||—||— | style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |82||40||42||.488|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Eastern||—||—||—||— | style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |68||25||43||.368|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Eastern||—||—||—||— | style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |82||39||43||.476|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Eastern||—||—||—||— | style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |82||50||32||.610|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Eastern||2||0||2||.000 | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First round |- | style="text-align:left;"|New York Knicks | style="text-align:left;"|Template:Nbay |82||33||49||.402|| style="text-align:center;"|5th in Eastern||—||—||—||— | style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:left;"|Career | ||1300||696||604||.535|| ||105||58||47||.552 Template:S-end

• Source: Basketball Reference

Publications

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See also

• List of select Jewish basketball players

Further reading

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External links

• Template:Basketballhof
• Biography of Red Holzman
• The NBA at 50: Red Holzman
• NBA statistics as player
• NBA statistics as coach
• Template:Find a Grave