Saturday, 21 December 2024

Red Holzman

Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Coaches 2024
Embed from Getty Images
Sport(s): Basketball
Statistics: 2 NBA Championship (1970 & 1973)
1 Coach of the Year Award (1970)
696-603 NBA Record
Member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame
“Number” retired by the New York Knicks

*1 NBA Championship (1951)
*1 NBL Championship (1946)
*2 First Team NBL Selections (1946 & 1948)

*As a player
Red Holzman was a decade-plus professional player who won an NBL and NBA Title with the Rochester Royals. As his playing career neared its end, he joined the Milwaukee Hawks as a player/coach for a year before transitioning as a full-time coach. Holzman couldn't bring the Hawks to a title, and he was fired during the 1956-57 season, but his days on the unemployment line only last a few months.

Holzman joined the New York Knicks as an assistant coach and occasional scout while also coaching Leones de Ponce to three Puerto Rican league titles. In 1967, a decade after he was last a head coach, he returned in that capacity for New York, and it was under Holzman that the Knicks had the most successful run of their existence.

In 1970, Holzman coached New York to a then-record 18-game winning streak and an NBA championship. Holzman won the NBA Coach of the Year, and the Knick continued their winning ways with two more trips to the finals (1972 and 1973) and a second title in 1973. Holzman continued to run the Knicks on the baseline until 1982.

In 1990, the Knicks “retired” the number 612 in honor of the 612 wins he had as their head coach.

We are proud to nominate Red Holzman for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.

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