Gordon Ridings (c. 1907 – November 16, 1958) was an American

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 ...

player and coach. He served as head basketball coach at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

from 1946 until 1950, when he suffered a heart attack and handed over coaching duties to

Lou Rossini Lucio "Lou" Rossini (April 24, 1921 – October 21, 2005) was an American college basketball coach. He compiled a 357–256 record in almost 20 years of coaching, most notably with New York University (NYU). In Rossini's first year as head coach ...

. Ridings graduated of

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

in 1929, where he was a two-time All-

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including a ...

Northern Division selection (1928, 1929). Ridings was remembered as one of the first great teachers of defensive basketball. Story has it that

Red Auerbach Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (September 20, 1917 – October 28, 2006) was an American professional basketball coach and executive. He served as a head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), most notably with the Boston Celtics. ...

of the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

often came to Morningside Heights to learn how to coach defense. Ridings died of a heart attack, on November 16, 1958, at the age of 51.

Head coaching record

References

Date of birth missing 1900s births 1958 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Oregon Basketball players from Oregon Guards (basketball) Columbia Lions men's basketball coaches Oregon Ducks baseball players Oregon Ducks men's basketball players People from Clackamas County, Oregon Sportspeople from the Portland metropolitan area {{US-basketball-coach-stub