Red Holzman

Red Holzman
	Holzman in the 1970s
Personal information
Born	August 10, 1920; New York
Died	November 13, 1998 (aged 78); New Hyde Park, New York
Listed height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Listed weight	175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High school	Franklin K. Lane; (New York City, New York)
College	Baltimore (1939–1940); CCNY (1940–1942);
Playing career	1945–1954
Position	Point guard
Number	10, 16
Coaching career	1954–1982
Career history
As player:
1945–1953	Rochester Royals
1953–1954	Milwaukee Hawks
As coach:
1953–1957	Milwaukee / St. Louis Hawks
1957–1967	New York Knicks (assistant)
1963–1967	Leones de Ponce
1967–1977,; 1978–1982	New York Knicks
Career highlights and awards
	As player: NBA champion (1951); NBL champion (1946); 2× All-NBL First Team (1946, 1948); All-NBL Second Team (1947); NBL Rookie of the Year (1946); Third-team All-American – Converse (1942); As coach: 2× NBA champion (1970, 1973); NBA Coach of the Year (1970); 2× NBA All-Star Game Coach (1970, 1971); 3× BSN champion (1964–1966); Top 10 Coaches in NBA History (1996); No. 613 retired by New York Knicks (1990);
	Basketball Hall of Fame as coach

William "Red" Holzman (August 10, 1920 – November 13, 1998) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He is probably best known as the head coach of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1967 to 1982. Holzman helped lead the Knicks to two NBA Championships in 1970 and 1973, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1986. In 1996, Holzman was named one of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History.[1]

Early career

Born in Brooklyn[2] (or according to some sources, in Lower East Side[3][4]), New York in 1920, to Jewish immigrant parents, as the son of a Romanian mother and Russian father.[5] Holzman grew up in Brooklyn's Ocean Hill–Brownsville neighborhood[3] and played basketball for Franklin K. Lane High School in the mid-1930s. He attended the University of Baltimore and later the City College of New York, where he played for two years until graduation in 1942. Holzman joined the United States Navy in the same year, and played on the Norfolk, Virginia Naval Base team for two years.

College statistics

Year	Team	GP	PPG
1940–41	CCNY	21	10.9
1941–42	CCNY	39	12.5
Career		39	11.6

Professional career

Holzman in 1950, when playing for the Rochester Royals.

Holzman was discharged from the Navy in 1945 and subsequently joined the NBL Rochester Royals, which won the NBL championship in Holzman's first season. Holzman was Rookie of the Year in 1944–45.[6] In 1945–46 and 1947–48 he was on the NBL's first All League team; in the interim year he was on its second team.[7] Holzman stayed with the team through their move to the NBA and subsequent NBA championship in 1951. In 1953, Holzman left the Royals and joined the Milwaukee Hawks as a player-coach, eventually retiring as a player in 1954 but continuing as the team's head coach.

Coaching Career

During the 1956–1957 season, Holzman led the Hawks (then in St. Louis, Missouri) to 19 losses during their first 33 games, and was subsequently fired.

In 1957, Holzman became a scout for the New York Knicks for ten years ending in 1967, whereupon he became the team's head coach for the most part until 1982.[8] (Holzman's former player, Willis Reed, replaced him as Knicks head coach in 1977, but Holzman returned near the start of the 1978–1979 season.) During this 15-year span as Knicks' coach, Holzman won a total of 613 games, including two NBA championships in 1970 and 1973.

In 1969, Holzman coached the Knicks to a then single-season NBA record 18-game win streak, breaking the 17-game record first set back in 1946. For his efforts leading up to the Knicks' 1970 championship win, Holzman was named the NBA Coach of the Year for that year. He won his second NBA championship as the Knicks won the 1973 NBA Finals against the Lakers.[9] He was one of very few individuals to have won an NBA championship as both player and coach. As a coach, his final record was 696 wins and 604 losses.

In 1985, he was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The New York Knicks have retired the number 613 in his honor, equaling the number of wins he accumulated as their head coach. He is also a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[10]

He lived with his wife in a home they bought in Cedarhurst, New York in the 1950s. Following his lengthy NBA coaching career, Holzman was diagnosed with leukemia and died at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York in 1998.[8] Just before Coach Holzman died a clock tower was erected in his honor at the intersection of Central Avenue and Cedarhurst Avenue in Cedarhurst, New York as part of “Operation Downtown” a project started by Nassau County Presiding Officer Bruce Blakeman and Cedarhurst Mayor Andy Parise.

BAA/NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high
†	Won an NBA championship

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	PPG
1948–49	Rochester	60	–	.326	.611	–	2.5	9.1
1949–50	Rochester	68	–	.330	.686	–	2.9	8.2
1950–51†	Rochester	68	–	.326	.726	2.2	2.2	7.3
1951–52	Rochester	65	16.4	.280	.718	1.6	1.8	4.1
1952–53	Rochester	46	8.5	.255	.711	.9	.8	2.2
1953–54	Milwaukee	51	12.7	.330	.658	.9	1.5	3.8
Career		358	13.0	.317	.682	1.5	2.0	6.1

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	PPG
1949	Rochester	4	–	.450	.833	–	3.3	10.3
1950	Rochester	2	–	.333	.500	–	.0	3.5
1951†	Rochester	14	–	.408	.676	1.4	1.4	6.1
1952	Rochester	6	10.8	.200	.167	1.0	.3	1.2
1953	Rochester	2	7.0	.200	.250	.5	.5	1.5
Career		28	9.9	.386	.596	1.2	1.3	5.1

Head coaching record

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win–loss %
Playoffs	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win–loss %


Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
Milwaukee Hawks	1953–54	26	10	16	.385	4th Western	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
Milwaukee Hawks	1954–55	72	26	46	.361	4th Western	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
St. Louis Hawks	1955–56	72	33	39	.458	3rd Western	8	4	4	.500	Lost in Western Division Finals
St. Louis Hawks	1956–57	33	14	19	.424	—	—	—	—	—	—
New York Knicks	1967–68	45	28	17	.622	3rd in Eastern	6	2	4	.333	Lost in Eastern Division Semifinals
New York Knicks	1968–69	82	54	28	.659	3rd in Eastern	10	6	4	.600	Lost in Eastern Division Finals
New York Knicks	1969–70	82	60	22	.732	1st in Eastern	19	12	7	.632	Won NBA Championship
New York Knicks	1970–71	82	52	30	.634	1st in Eastern	12	7	5	.583	Lost in Conference Semifinals
New York Knicks	1971–72	82	48	34	.585	2nd in Eastern	16	9	7	.563	Lost in NBA Finals
New York Knicks	1972–73	82	57	25	.695	2nd in Eastern	17	12	5	.706	Won NBA Championship
New York Knicks	1973–74	82	49	33	.598	2nd in Eastern	12	5	7	.417	Lost in Conference Finals
New York Knicks	1974–75	82	40	42	.488	3rd in Eastern	3	1	2	.333	Lost in First Round
New York Knicks	1975–76	82	38	44	.463	4th in Eastern	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
New York Knicks	1976–77	82	40	42	.488	3rd in Eastern	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
New York Knicks	1978–79	68	25	43	.368	4th in Eastern	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
New York Knicks	1979–80	82	39	43	.476	4th in Eastern	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
New York Knicks	1980–81	82	50	32	.610	3rd in Eastern	2	0	2	.000	Lost in First Round
New York Knicks	1981–82	82	33	49	.402	5th in Eastern	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
Career		1300	696	604	.535		105	58	47	.552

References

"Top 10 Coaches in NBA History". NBA.com. Retrieved March 14, 2008.
Red Holzman. Encyclopædia Britannica.
Berkow, Ira (1998-11-15). "Red Holzman, Hall of Fame Coach, Dies at 78". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
"Holzman, William | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
Othello Harris, George Kirsch; Claire Nolte (April 2000). Encyclopedia of Ethnicity and Sports in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 222. ISBN 0-313-29911-0.
Dimitry, Steve (1998). "Extinct Sports Leagues: National Basketball League (1937–1949)". Archived from the original on August 18, 2005.
"Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 18, 2005. Retrieved 2009-10-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Berkow, Ira (November 15, 1998). "Red Holzman, Hall of Fame Coach, Dies at 78". The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2008.
Dadhania, Vivek (May 10, 2019). "On This Date: Knicks win the 1973 NBA Finals". Knicks Film School. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
William “Red” Holzman

Selected publications

Holzman, Red (1987). Red on Red: The Autobiography of Red Holzman. Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-27316-8.
Holzman, Red (1980). A View from the Bench. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-33623-8.

External links

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[50th-1] "Top 10 Coaches in NBA History". NBA.com. Retrieved March 14, 2008.

[2] Red Holzman. Encyclopædia Britannica.

[:0-3] Berkow, Ira (1998-11-15). "Red Holzman, Hall of Fame Coach, Dies at 78". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-10-05.

[4] "Holzman, William | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2019-10-05.

[bookref1-5] Othello Harris, George Kirsch; Claire Nolte (April 2000). Encyclopedia of Ethnicity and Sports in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 222. ISBN 0-313-29911-0.

[dimitry-6] Dimitry, Steve (1998). "Extinct Sports Leagues: National Basketball League (1937–1949)". Archived from the original on August 18, 2005.

[7] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 18, 2005. Retrieved 2009-10-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[NYT-8] Berkow, Ira (November 15, 1998). "Red Holzman, Hall of Fame Coach, Dies at 78". The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2008.

[9] Dadhania, Vivek (May 10, 2019). "On This Date: Knicks win the 1973 NBA Finals". Knicks Film School. Retrieved December 21, 2019.

[10] William “Red” Holzman