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Naismith Memorial 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 pres ...
honors players who have shown exceptional skill at
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 ...
, all-time great coaches, referees, and other major contributors to the sport. Located in
Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
, the Basketball Hall of Fame is named after
James Naismith James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United States, he wrote ...
, who invented the sport in 1891; he was inducted into the Hall as a contributor in 1959. The Coach category has existed since the beginning of the Hall of Fame. For a person to be inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach, they must either be "fully retired for five years" or, if they are still active, "have coached as either a fulltime assistant or
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 ...
on the high school and/or college and/or professional level" for 25 years. As part of the inaugural class of 1959, three coaches were inducted ( Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, Henry Clifford Carlson and Walter E. Meanwell); in total, 100 individuals have been inducted into the Hall of Fame as coaches. Six coaching inductees were associated with teams that were inducted to the Hall of Fame as units.
Don Haskins Donald Lee Haskins (March 14, 1930 – September 7, 2008), nicknamed "The Bear", was an American basketball player and coach. He played college basketball for three years under coach Henry Iba at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University). He w ...
, inducted in 1997, was the coach of the 1966 Texas Western basketball team, which was inducted in 2007.
Dutch Lonborg Arthur C. "Dutch" Lonborg (March 16, 1898 – January 31, 1985) was a basketball, American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. Basketball The Gardner, Illinois native coached for 23 years at McPherson Colleg ...
, inducted in 1973, was manager of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team that was inducted in 2010. Three coaching inductees were members of the staff for the 1992 U.S. Olympic team that was also inducted in 2010—head coach Chuck Daly (1994) and assistants
Lenny Wilkens Leonard Randolph Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is an American former basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as ...
(1998) and
Mike Krzyzewski Michael William Krzyzewski ( ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980 to 2022, during which he led the Blue Devils to five natio ...
(2001).
Cathy Rush Cathy Rush (born Cathy Cowan; April 7, 1947) was the head women's basketball coach at Immaculata from 1972 to 1977. She led Immaculata to three consecutive AIAW national titles from 1972–1974. She led the Mighty Macs to six consecutive fin ...
(2008) was the head coach of the Immaculata College women's team of 1972–1974 that was inducted in 2014. Ten of the inducted coaches were born outside the United States:
Cesare Rubini Cesare, the Italian version of the given name Caesar, may refer to: Given name * Cesare, Marquis of Beccaria (1738–1794), an Italian philosopher and politician * Cesare Airaghi (1840–1896), Italian colonel * Cesare Arzelà (1847–1912), I ...
, Aleksandr J. Gomelsky,
Antonio Díaz-Miguel Antonio Díaz-Miguel Sanz (July 6, 1933 – February 21, 2000) was a Spanish professional basketball player and coach. He studied in Madrid, and graduated from the University of Bilbao. A pioneer in the worldwide promotion of basketball, he w ...
, Aleksandar "Aza" Nikolić,
Geno Auriemma Luigi "Geno" Auriemma (born March 23, 1954) is an Italian-born American college basketball coach and, since 1985, the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. , he has led UConn to 17 undefeated conference sea ...
, Alessandro "Sandro" Gamba,
Mirko Novosel Mirko Novosel (born 30 June 1938) is a Croatian former professional basketball coach and player. Novosel coached some of the greatest players in former Yugoslavia and Croatia, such as Croatian Hall of Fame players Krešimir Ćosić and Dražen Pe ...
,
Pedro Ferrándiz Pedro Ferrándiz González (20 November 1928 – 7 July 2022) was a Spanish basketball coach. He is most famous for coaching Real Madrid basketball club in the 1960s and 1970s. The International Olympic Committee awarded him the Olympic Order ...
, Lidia Alexeeva, and
Lindsay Gaze Lindsay John Casson Gaze (born 16 August 1936) is an Australian former basketball player and coach. He played for Australia in three Summer Olympics qualification tournaments, between 1960 and 1968, and was the head coach of the senior Austr ...
. Ten of the inducted coaches are women: L. Margaret Wade,
Jody Conradt Addie Jo "Jody" Conradt (born May 13, 1941) is a retired women's basketball coach. She was the head coach for the women's team at University of Texas at Austin (UT). Her coaching career spanned 38 years, with the last 31 years at UT from 1976 to ...
, Pat Head Summitt, Sandra Kay Yow, Sue Gunter, Rush,
C. Vivian Stringer Charlaine Vivian Stringer (born March 16, 1948) is an American former basketball coach. She holds one of the best coaching records in the history of women's basketball. She was the head coach of the Rutgers University women's basketball team from ...
,
Tara VanDerveer Tara Ann VanDerveer (born June 26, 1953) is an American basketball coach who has been the head women's basketball coach at Stanford University since 1985. Designated the Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women's Basketball, VanDerveer led the Stanf ...
, Alexeeva, and Sylvia Hatchell. Four coaches have also been inducted as players:
John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the Wizard of Westwood, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as head ...
,
Bill Sharman William Walton Sharman (May 25, 1926 – October 25, 2013) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He is mostly known for his time with the Boston Celtics in the 1950s, partnering with Bob Cousy in what was then considered ...
, Wilkens, and
Tom Heinsohn Thomas William Heinsohn (August 26, 1934 – November 9, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. He was associated with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for six decades as a player, coach and broadcast ...
. One of the more recent inductees in this category was
John McLendon John B. McLendon Jr. (April 5, 1915 – October 8, 1999) was an American basketball coach who is recognized as the first African American basketball coach at a predominantly white university and the first African American head coach in any professi ...
, who was inducted as a head coach in 2016. McLendon had also been inducted as a contributor in 1979, making him the first individual ever to be inducted as both a coach and contributor. Unlike recent years (such as 2015), in which individuals directly elected by special Hall committees were announced separately from the rest of the class, all 2016 inductees were announced at the same event. Specifically, the announcement of the class of 2016 was made on April 4 during the festivities surrounding the 2016 NCAA Men's Final Four in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
.


Coaches


Notes

* According to individuals' pages on th
official website


References

General – Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame inductees * * General – Other groups of coaches *10 Greatest Euroleague Coaches – *Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductees – Specific {{featured list Nais Nais