Clifford Luyk Diem (born June 28, 1941) is an American-born Spanish retired professional

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 ...

player and coach, who played professionally in Spain and Europe from 1962 to 1978. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. He was drafted by the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA), but never played a regular season game in the NBA. He signed with the Spanish professional team

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, helped Real Madrid become the dominant European basketball team of the 1960s, and is remembered for his trademark, old-school hook shot. Luyk was named one of

FIBA's 50 Greatest Players FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991) is the list of the 50 greatest players in the history of FIBA international basketball, as selected in the year 1991, by FIBA Magazine. The list was created in honor of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the ...

in 1991, and was chosen as one of the 50 most influential personalities to European club basketball over the previous half-century by the EuroLeague Basketball Experts Committee in 2008.

Early years

Luyk was born in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

, to a Dutch-born father and a Swiss-born mother. He attended

Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School, commonly referred to as VVS, is a public high school in Verona, New York. Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School offers a comprehensive curriculum for grades 9-12 and is part of the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Central S ...

Verona, New York Verona (called ''Te-o-na-ta-le'', "''pine forest''" by the Haudenosaunee) is a town in southwestern Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 6,293 at the 2010 census. The town was named after Verona, Italy. Verona is located so ...

, where the 6-foot, eight-inch Luyk became the star

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for the VVS Red Devils high school basketball team. As a senior in 1957–58, he scored 488 points in 18 games for an average of 27.1 points per game.

College career

Luyk enrolled in the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach

John Mauer John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

and coach

Norm Sloan Norman Leslie Sloan Jr. (June 25, 1926 – December 9, 2003) was an American college basketball player and coach. Sloan was a native of Indiana and played college basketball and football at North Carolina State University. He began a long career a ...

's Florida Gators basketball team from 1959 to 1962.
Florida Men's Basketball 2013–14 Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Inc., Gainesville, Florida, pp. 73, 75, 76, 79, 80, 83, 84, 149, 156, 159, 160, 161, 167 (2013). Retrieved September 5, 2014. In his three-year college career, he played in 66 games, scored 904 total points, and made 806 rebounds. During his 1961–62 senior season, he shot 49.3 percent from the floor, averaged 21.3 points per game, and led the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) with 352 rebounds (15.3 per game). Memorably, Luyk scored 40 points against the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity college athletics, intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in NCAA Division I, ...

and 36 points versus the

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

. He was a second-team All-SEC selection in 1962.

Professional career

Clubs

Luyk joined

in 1962, and became a naturalized Spanish citizen three years later. He retired in 1978, having won six EuroLeague titles with Madrid's legendary club (1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1974 and 1978, despite not playing in the 1978 final). This record makes him unique: he is the only player who has won six EuroLeague titles as a player with the same team. Luyk also won 14 Spanish League championships, 10 Spanish Cups, and two

FIBA Intercontinental Cup The FIBA Intercontinental Cup, also commonly referred to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs, or the FIBA Club World Cup, is a professional basketball clubs competition that is endorsed by FIBA and the NBA. Historically, its purpose has be ...

Spanish senior national team

As a member of the Spanish national team, Luyk won a silver medal in the

EuroBasket 1973 The 1973 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1973, was the eighteenth FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. Venues Group stage Group A – Badalona Group B – Barcelona Knocko ...

with the Spanish national team. He also played at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games,

EuroBasket 1969 The 1969 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1969, was the sixteenth FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. First round Group A – Caserta Group B – Naples Knockout stage Pla ...

EuroBasket 1971 The 1971 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1971, was the seventeenth FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. Venues First round Group A – Essen Group B – Böblingen Knock ...

, the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

, the

1974 FIBA World Championship The 1974 FIBA World Championship was the 7th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. It was hosted by Puerto Rico from July 3 to 14, 1974. The tournament was won by the Soviet Union. Venues Comp ...

EuroBasket 1975 The 1975 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1975, was the nineteenth FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. Venues First round Group A – Split Group B – Karlovac Group C � ...

, and the 1975 Mediterranean Games.

Coaching career

Following his 1978 retirement as a player, Luyk became a

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

. From 1978 to 1981, he coached the Real Madrid junior team, and never lost a game. After that, he worked as a

assistant coach, under

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Lolo Sainz Manuel "Lolo" Sainz Márquez (born August 28, 1940) is a Spanish retired professional basketball player and coach. Sainz spent most of his career with Real Madrid, either as a player, or a head coach. He did however, also coach the senior Spain ...

, for six seasons, from 1983 to 1989, and for another season under head coach

George Karl George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is an American former professional basketball coach and player. After spending five years as a player for the San Antonio Spurs, Karl became an assistant with the team before getting the chance to become a ...

, from 1989 to 1990. He returned to Real Madrid as head coach, from 1991 to 1994, and won two Spanish League championships, a

FIBA Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against each other. The competition was organized by FIBA ...

and a Spanish King's Cup. Coached by Luyk, Real Madrid lost to

Limoges CSP Limoges Cercle Saint-Pierre, commonly referred to as Limoges CSP or CSP, is a French professional basketball club based in the city of Limoges. History The club was founded in 1929, but its peak was during the 1980s and 1990s, when they became t ...

in the

1993 EuroLeague Final Four The 1993 FIBA European League Final Four, or 1993 FIBA EuroLeague Final Four, was the 1992–93 season's FIBA European League Final Four tournament, organized by FIBA Europe. Limoges CSP won its first title, after defeating Benetton Treviso in ...

. He again served as Real Madrid's head coach during the 1998–99 season, and has been a technical adviser to the club since 2009. Real Madrid legend: Clifford Luyk
" Euroleague.net (April 20, 2011). Retrieved September 5, 2014.

Family

Luyk married Paquita Torres Pérez, a former

Miss Spain Miss Spain (Spanish: Miss España) is a national beauty pageant in Spain that selects Spanish representatives to compete in three of the big four major international beauty pageants: the Miss Universe, Miss World, and Miss International competi ...

(1966) and

Miss Europe Miss Europe is a beauty pageant for European women from all over Europe. It was established in February 1927 by Fanamet, the European distributor of Paramount, as a one-off event where the winner was to star in a film directed by Friedrich W ...

(1967), in 1970.Stephen Wade,
Ex-Gator Luyk reaches for his dream in Spain
" ''The Gainesville Sun'', p. 14 (February 1, 1992). Retrieved September 5, 2014. Luyk and Torres had three children, one of whom, Sergio Luyk, played

for St. John's University's Red Storm, and later played professionally for

and other Spanish top level teams. Sergio died at 36, after a hard fight against Cancer. Their daughter, Estefanía Luyk, is a professional model.

References

External links

Euroleague.net profile

leyendasbaloncestorealmadrid.es
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luyk, Clifford 1941 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Spain Basketball players at the 1968 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Syracuse, New York Centers (basketball) Florida Gators men's basketball players New York Knicks draft picks Olympic basketball players of Spain Power forwards (basketball) Real Madrid Baloncesto players Real Madrid basketball coaches Spanish men's basketball players 1974 FIBA World Championship players American men's basketball players Competitors at the 1975 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games competitors for Spain