Herbert William "Buck" Read (February 8, 1880 - August 15, 1970) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach. He was the head coach for the

Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball The Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball team represents Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The school's team competes in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and are coached by Dwayne Stephens. The team last played in the NCAA ...

team from 1922 through 1949. He was also president of the

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, head men's basketball coach at the University o ...

(NABC) from 1948 to 1949 and the chairman of its rules committee in 1937, 1938, and 1944.

Early years

Read was born in

Saxmundham Saxmundham ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England, set in the valley of the River Fromus about north-east of Ipswich and west of the coast at Sizewell. The town is bypassed by the main A12 road between London and Lowestoft. The town is serv ...

, England, in February 1880. He immigrated to the United States in April 1880 at age two months. Read was the athletic director at Kalamazoo High School until he resigned in 1908.

Western Michigan

Read worked for many years on the coaching staff of Western State Normal School in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

. He became the school's second head basketball coach in 1922, replacing

William H. Spaulding William H. Spaulding (May 4, 1880 – October 12, 1966) was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. Spaulding coached at UCLA from 1925 to 1938. He had a successful tenure, compiling a 72–51–8 () record. H ...

who served as basketball coach from 1913 to 1922. Read remained as the head basketball coach at Western State until 1949. Read has been credited with introducing the

fast break Fast break is an offensive strategy in basketball and handball. In a fast break, a team attempts to move the ball up court and into scoring position as quickly as possible, so that the defense is outnumbered and does not have time to set up. The ...

to basketball during the 1929-1930 season. (Others credit

Frank Keaney Frank William "Menty" Keaney (June 5, 1886 – October 10, 1967) was an American football, basketball, and baseball coach and college athletics administrator. As a college men's basketball coach, he was known as the architect of modern "run-and-sh ...

with the innovation.) He later recalled that the slow pace of the game made it difficult to attract fans when he learned of the popularity of the fast-paced game of hockey in Detroit. "I made revisions in drills for faster ball handling and footwork. Then I changed from the zone defense to an advancing, interchanging, intercepting pattern of playing all over the floor. It was hard for the players to switch, but the new style was effective and popular from the start." In the team's first year using the fast break approach, Read's team compiled a perfect 17-0 record. Read also served for many years as an official of the

(NABC). He was elected president in March 1948 and serve in that position until March 1949. He previously served for many years as a member of the NABC rules committee. He was chairman of the rules committee in 1937, 1938, and 1944, chairman of the research committee in 1943, and at other times secretary-treasurer and vice president. Read retired in 1949 with a 353–157 record () in 28 seasons as head basketball coach at Western Michigan. He received numerous honors for his contributions to the sport of basketball and athletics at Western Michigan. These include the following: * In June 1963, he was inducted into the Helms Athletic Foundation's basketball hall of fame. * In September 1963, the fieldhouse at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

was named Read Fieldhouse in his honor. Read was honored at a dedication ceremony in December 1963. * In 1980, he was inducted into the Western Michigan Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980.

Family and death

Read and his wife, Gertrude, had a daughter, Mary, born in 1926. Read died in 1970 at age 90 in

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...

. He was buried at Pacific View Memorial Park in

Corona del Mar, California Corona del Mar (Spanish for "Crown of the Sea") is a seaside neighborhood in the city of Newport Beach, California. It generally consists of all the land on the seaward face of the San Joaquin Hills south of Avocado Avenue to the city limits, as ...

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Buck 1880 births 1970 deaths People from Saxmundham Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball coaches British emigrants to the United States