Peter Francis Newell (August 31, 1915 – November 17, 2008) was an American college men's basketball coach and basketball instructional coach. He coached for 15 years at the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The ...

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, compiling an overall record of 234 wins and 123 losses. He led

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

to the NCAA title in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

, and a year later coached the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

, a team that would be inducted as a unit to the

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 ...

in 2010. After his coaching career ended, he ran a world-famous instructional basketball camp and served as a consultant and scout for several

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, 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 i ...

(NBA) teams.Pete Newell was also the first college basketball coach to achieve the Triple Crown in coaching – NIT Champs (USF, 1949), NCAA Champs (Cal, 1959) – Olympic Gold Medal (1960
The Godfather
espn.com, accessed October 9, 2010.
, scout.com, accessed October 9, 2010.

Early life

Born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

, Newell grew up in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. Encouraged by his mother, he had small roles in several movies before he turned ten.Weber, Bruce
Basketball innovator wielded lasting influence on NBA players, obituary
''The New York Times'', November 25, 2008, accessed October 9, 2010. It is even said that Charlie Chaplin considered him for the title role in his film '' The Kid'' (1921), which was later played by

Jackie Coogan John Leslie Coogan (October 26, 1914 – March 1, 1984) was an American actor and comedian who began his film career as a child actor in silent films. Charlie Chaplin's film classic '' The Kid'' (1921) made him one of the first child stars in t ...

. Newell graduated from St. Agnes High School and was a classmate of

Phil Woolpert Philipp D. Woolpert (December 15, 1915 – May 5, 1987) was an American basketball coach, best known as the head coach of the University of San Francisco Dons in the 1950s. He led them to consecutive national championships in 1955 Biography Born ...

at Loyola University of Los Angeles (now

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit and Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near P ...

), and played on its

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

teams.

Coaching career

After serving in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

from 1942 to 1946, Newell was appointed head men's basketball coach at the

in 1946. During his four-year tenure at USF, Newell compiled a 70–37 record and coached the Dons to the 1949 National Invitation Tournament championship. In 1950 he accepted an appointment as head coach at Michigan State University, where he stayed until 1954. Newell returned to the West Coast in 1954 when he was hired as head coach at the University of California, Berkeley. Newell was very successful at Cal, compiling a record, winning four consecutive PCC/ AAWU titles from 1957 to 1960, and leading the Golden Bears to two straight appearances in the NCAA tournament championship game—which they won in 1959. Newell himself earned national Coach of the Year honors in 1960. At Berkeley, he became a faculty initiate of the Nu chapter of

Phi Kappa Tau Phi Kappa Tau (), commonly known as Phi Tau (), is a collegiate fraternity located in the United States. The fraternity was founded in 1906. As of November 2022, the fraternity has 161 chartered chapters, 79 active chapters, 6 Associate chapte ...

fraternity where player Darrall Imhoff was a member. Newell also coached the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team to a gold medal in the

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, leading a talented squad that featured future National Basketball Association (NBA) stars and Hall of Famers

Walt Bellamy Walter Jones Bellamy (July 24, 1939 – November 2, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. A four-time NBA All-Star, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. College career Bellamy chose to play baske ...

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

Jerry West Jerome Alan West (born May 28, 1938) is an American basketball executive and former player. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames included "Mr. Clutch", for his ability ...

, and

Jerry Lucas Jerry Ray Lucas (born March 30, 1940) is an American former basketball player. He was a nationally awarded high school player, national college star at Ohio State, and 1960 gold medal Olympian and international player before later starring as a p ...

. His win in the Olympics made him one of only three coaches to win the "Triple Crown" of NIT, NCAA, and Olympic championships. Newell is also known to have introduced the reverse-action offense in the late 1950s. After being advised by doctors to give up coaching because of stress, he served as the

Athletic Director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and university, universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of c ...

at Cal from 1960 to 1968. Among his various achievements includes having a slight winning record against UCLA head coach

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the Wizard of Westwood, Los Angeles, Westwood, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basket ...

, their head-to-head record was in Newell's favor; he is considered by some to be the greatest coach in college basketball history.

NBA work

After retiring from coaching, Newell served as team executive or scout for several

(NBA) teams. He served as general manager of the San Diego Rockets from 1968 to 1971, until the team was sold to Houston in June, 1971. After a short stint in Houston, to assist with the transfer, Pete returned to the west coast and later joined the Los Angeles Lakers. As general manager of the Lakers, he was instrumental in trading for star center

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim ...

from the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

. He served as the Director of Player Development for the NBA. He retired from his job as Lakers general manager in 1976 to spend more time with his ailing wife.

Basketball camps

Considered "America's Basketball Guru", Newell conducted an annual training camp for centers and forwards known simply as "Big Man Camp", which has since been informally dubbed "Pete Newell's Big Man Camp". The camp originated when word spread that Newell was working with Kermit Washington. After Washington's game rapidly improved, more and more big men started to work with Newell, and he later opened the camp. The camp's impressive participants list features over 200 current and former NBA players.Pete Newell Big Man Camp
, petenewellbigmancamp.com, accessed October 9, 2010. Newell attracted this list of players due to his reputation of teaching footwork, being what one publication described as "The Footwork Master". Former attendees include

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program '' Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the great ...

Hakeem Olajuwon Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon (; ; born January 21, 1963), nicknamed "the Dream", is a Nigerian-American former professional basketball player. From 1984 to 2002, he played center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Houston Rockets a ...

Bill Walton William Theodore Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is an American television sportscaster and former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for coach John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins, winning three consecutive nation ...

, and many others. The camp was almost seen as standard for players coming out of college into the NBA; according to ESPN's Ric Bucher, " r the past 24 years, every big man of any significance has spent at least one summer week trying to get close enough to Pete." From the time Newell opened the camp in 1976 until his death, he never accepted any money for his services, stating that "I owe it to the game. I can never repay what the game has given me." The camp has taken place in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...

and most recently

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

. In 2001 Newell opened his version of the Big Man Camp for women and dubbed it "Pete Newell's Tall Women's Basketball Camp" with the following simple sentence serving as a summary of its intentions: "The Pete Newell Tall Women's Basketball Camp goal is to continue to do what Pete Newell has done his whole life-to teach the fundamentals and footwork of the game of basketball to young players."

Personal life

Newell's wife, Florence, died in 1984. His four sons have all been involved with basketball. His son, Pete Newell Jr., coached the

Santa Cruz High School Santa Cruz High School is a comprehensive public school in Santa Cruz, California which originally opened in 1897 and now serves an enrollment of about 1,040 students in grades nine through twelve. It is part of the Santa Cruz City School Distr ...

boys' basketball team to the California state championship in 2005. Greg Newell was a longtime executive at Converse. Another son, Tom Newell, is a longtime NBA scout and assistant coach who has recently worked on international basketball projects in China and Russia. Tom currently is a Fox Sports studio commentator in the network's Northwest region. His 3rd son, Roger, was the first person to bring computer software and analytics to the NBA in 1982 thru 2000 with the Newell Productivity System. This same computer software system was used throughout Jim Harrick's tenure at UCLA including their NCAA Championship season. Roger was also a consultant at Hollywood Park racetrack from 1990 to 1999 before the track was sold to Churchill Downs.

Death

Newell died at

Rancho Santa Fe, California Rancho Santa Fe is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California, United States, within the San Diego metropolitan area. The population was 3,156 at the 2020 census. The CDP is primarily residential with a few shopping blocks ...

on November 17, 2008, at age 93.Chapin, Dwight &Kroichick, Ron
Pete Newell: Basketball coach and teacher
''San Francisco Chronicle'', November 18, 2008, accessed October 9, 2010.

Legacy

In 1979 Newell was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor, and in 2010 the 1960 Olympic team he coached was inducted into the Hall as a unit. An annual college basketball tournament was held in his honor in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, and frequent participants in the Pete Newell Challenge included USF and Cal—the very schools where Newell coached. In addition in 1987 Cal dedicated the court in

Harmon Gym The Walter A. Haas Jr. Pavilion is an indoor arena in the western United States, on the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, California. It is the home venue of the Golden Bears men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, a ...

as "Pete Newell Court". In 1999, author Bruce Jenkins published a

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

of Newell entitled ''A Good Man''. Since 2000, 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 ...

has annually presented the

Pete Newell Big Man Award The Pete Newell Big Man Award has been awarded by the National Association of Basketball Coaches since 2000. It is presented to the top low-post player each season. The award is named after Pete Newell, the coach who ran the Pete Newell Big Man C ...

to the top frontcourt player in the nation. In an interview with

Mike Greenberg Michael Robinette Greenberg (born August 6, 1967) is a television anchor, television show host, radio show host for ESPN and ABC, and novelist. At ESPN, he hosted the weekday evening, most often Monday, ''SportsCenter'' and previously ESPN Radi ...

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's '' Mike and Mike in the Morning'' on January 2, 2007,

Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...

singled Newell out as one of the greatest coaches in

men's 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 ...

history. Knight stated that although he had not won as many championships as some other coaches he felt "he was as good as anybody who's ever coached this game." Newell's influence on basketball is often stated in what would seem to be almost exaggerated terms by many Hall of Fame coaches and players. However, his contributions to the game of basketball have been so great that according to many Newell has perhaps had as much or more influence on the game of basketball as any person in the modern era.

Head coaching record

Basketball

Source:

Selected bibliography

*''Basketball Methods'' (1962) with John Benington *''Basketball: The Sports Playbook'' (1976) *''Basketball Post Play'' (1995) *''Pete Newell's Defensive Basketball: Winning Techniques and Strategies (Art & Science of Coaching)'' (2001)

References

Sources

*Chin, Oliver Clyde. ''The Tao of Yao: Insights from Basketball's Brightest Big Man'', California: Frog, LTD. 2003 *Mandelbaum, Michael. ''The Meaning Of Sports: why americans watch baseball, football and basketball and what they see when they do'', New York: Public Affairs 2004 * Ramsay, Jack and Halberstam, David. ''Dr. Jack's Leadership Lessons Learned From a Lifetime in Basketball'', New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. 2004

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Newell, Pete 1915 births 2008 deaths American men's basketball players American Olympic coaches Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from Vancouver California Golden Bears athletic directors California Golden Bears men's basketball coaches Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball coaches Canadian men's basketball players Canadian sportswriters FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Houston Rockets general managers Los Angeles Lakers executives Loyola Marymount Lions men's basketball players Michigan State Spartans men's basketball coaches Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees San Francisco Dons baseball coaches San Francisco Dons men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Los Angeles United States men's national basketball team coaches United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy sailors Writers from Los Angeles Writers from Vancouver Basketball players from Los Angeles