Harold "Chief" Litwack (September 20, 1907 – August 7, 1999) 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 ...

coach. He served as head basketball coach at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

from 1952 to 1973, compiling a record of 373–193. He was inducted into the

Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and prese ...

in 1973.

Coaching career

Litwack was born in Galicia, Austria but raised in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. He graduated from Temple in 1930. He began his coaching career at

Simon Gratz High School Simon Gratz High School Mastery Charter, formerly Simon Gratz High School is a secondary school in Philadelphia, named after Simon Gratz (1840-1925), a member of the Philadelphia Board of Education. Originally a public high school operated by the ...

(1930–31), then he became head coach of the freshman team at Temple. Meanwhile, he was playing pro basketball with

Eddie Gottlieb Edward Gottlieb (born Isadore Gottlieb; September 15, 1898 – December 7, 1979) was a Jewish-Ukrainian professional basketball coach and executive. Nicknamed "Mr. Basketball" and "The Mogul", he was the first coach and manager of the Philadelph ...

's all-Jewish

Philadelphia Sphas The Philadelphia Sphas, also stylized SPHAs or SPHAS, were an American basketball franchise that existed in professional, semi-professional, and exhibition forms. They played their home games in the ballroom of Philadelphia's Broadwood Hotel. The ...

, from 1930 to 1936. Before he became head coach at

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

in 1952, he also served briefly as assistant coach for the Philadelphia Warriors (1948–51). He died at the age of 91 in 1999. He coached Team USA's gold-medal winning team at the 1957 Maccabiah Games in Israel, and its silver medal-winning team at the 1973 Maccabiah Games.

Head coaching record

References

1907 births 1999 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players American people of Polish-Jewish descent Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania Basketball players from Philadelphia High school basketball coaches in the United States Jewish American sportspeople Jewish men's basketball players Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Philadelphia Sphas players Philadelphia Warriors coaches South Philadelphia High School alumni Temple Owls men's basketball coaches Temple Owls men's basketball players 20th-century American Jews {{1900s-US-basketball-bio-stub

Coaching career

Head coaching record

See also

References