As head coach:
43-442: Lapchick is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Joe Lapchick (1900–1970), American basketball player Richard Lapchick , American academic and activist [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with the surname Lapchick . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding
86-527: A best-of-five series that went the distance to reach their first NBA Finals. They met the Rochester Royals, also making their first NBA Finals. The Knicks lost the first three games of the series, which had scores of 92–65, 99–84, and 78–71. The Knicks suddenly pulled off three straight close wins to even the series at three going into Game 7 in Rochester. They trailed by six at halftime but managed to reel in
129-400: A doubt the team's top star, got into a dispute with owner Max Rosenblum , thus leading to his contract being sold to Chicago. Cleveland also lost Vic Hanson, who had been one of the top college stars, but did not like the rough style of the pro level, and also did not care for the overall lack of playing time he was getting. The Celtics represented the borough of Brooklyn, which had been without
172-546: A few heart attacks. Lapchick was respected for his motivational coaching style, which focused less on mechanics than on eliciting peak performances from his players. Stressing a freewheeling offensive approach and smooth ballhandling, Lapchick built winners at both the college and pro levels. As a player, Lapchick had sharp passing and shooting skills that made him one of the first great pro centers and that helped his teams win several championships. Continuing to emphasize his themes of personal achievement and responsibility, Lapchick
215-547: A late 74–72 lead in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Rochester utilized a handful of free throws and jump balls (at the time, jump balls were done after a made free throw in the last three minutes of a game) to prevail 79–75. The Knicks improved by one win the following year but repeated a trip to the Finals with wins over Boston and Syracuse . The Knicks met the Minneapolis Lakers , who had won two league championships in
258-656: A part owner of the NFL's Cleveland Bulldogs , financed the Cleveland Rosenblums . Future NFL ( Washington Redskins ) owner George Preston Marshall , the owner of a chain of laundries, was owner of the Washington Palace Five . Other teams were the Boston Whirlwinds , Brooklyn Arcadians , Buffalo Bisons , Detroit Pulaski Post Five , Fort Wayne Hoosiers , and Rochester Centrals . The New York Celtics were one of
301-687: A scholar and an author. Lapchick is the Endowed Chair and Director of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at the College of Business Administration , University of Central Florida . He is also President/CEO of the National Consortium for Academics and Sport (NCAS), a school outreach program which focuses on teaching youth how to improve race relations, and develop conflict resolution skills. Joseph Lapchick graduated from
344-633: A six-foot, nine inch rookie star from Georgia Tech . However, there would never be a dynasty for Cleveland. The stock market crash took its toll on the ABL. During the 1930–31 season, Max Rosenblum shocked the world of basketball when he announced that his Cleveland team would cease operations. Rosenblum was unable to pay the contracts that his players had signed. George Halas at the end of the season, opted to fold his struggling Chicago Bruins club, and Toledo, which featured three former Celtics stars (Denhert, Lapchick, and Berry) shockingly finished in last place, with
387-526: A star center with the Original Celtics and other barnstorming teams, a college coach at St. John's , an NBA coach with the New York Knicks , and an ambassador of the sport, Lapchick cast a broad shadow across the game and its history. From star player to successful coach to popular author to respected dignitary, Lapchick played a variety of roles in his more than 50 years in the game of basketball. He
430-540: A team after the Brooklyn Arcadians dropped out of the league. The Celtics assumed Brooklyn's 0–5 start. The league also lost the team in Detroit, which dropped out after a 0–6 start. Once again, the ABL placed a team in Detroit, and once again it was a failure. Detroit was 5-13 when it opted to disband on January 3, 1927. The Washington franchise was shifted to Brooklyn on that same day. The Celtics this time represented
473-555: A two-time college Coach of the Year, to step down after the 1964–65 season at age 65. He had several heart attacks that year. The season ended with the Redmen upsetting Villanova , 55–51, in an emotional NIT Championship Game. Describing his final season at St. John's, Lapchick told the Washington, D.C.–based Evening Star : "I used to double up with chest pains. Sometimes I couldn't even talk to
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#1733094367816516-524: A uniform his mother had made for him. Like many youngsters of the era, he stopped going to school after the eighth grade. While working as a caddie and in a factory, the 15-year-old found he could make $ 5 to $ 10 per night playing for local basketball teams. At age 19 he was suiting up for four different touring teams, such as the Holyoke Reds , Brooklyn Visitations , and Troy Trojans , and pocketing up to $ 100 per game. Basketball became his life. Lapchick
559-564: The NBA . Lapchick coached the Knicks until 1957, leading them to three consecutive NBA Finals appearances (1951–1953). He returned to St. John's, coaching them until 1965. Born in Yonkers, New York to Czech immigrants , Lapchick as a boy helped his struggling family make ends meet by scrounging for coal near railroad tracks. At age 12 the youngster started playing basketball around his neighborhood, wearing
602-634: The Toledo Red Man Tobaccos . The Great Depression forced an end to the ABL in 1931 . Still a young man, Lapchick re-formed the Celtics with Dutch Dehnert , Davey Banks , Nat Hickey , Johnny Beckman , Carl Husta and him. They hit the road for five years, with Lapchick handling driving duties, and Kate Smith singing "God Bless America" at games. In 1936 Lapchick landed the coaching job at St. John's University , New York City . In 11 seasons he steered
645-481: The ABL continued business as usual. Former Celtics owner Jim Furey had just been released from prison, and put together a new version of the Celtics. However, the players were quickly becoming past their prime, and Nat Holman didn't play weekend games because he was a coach for the City College of New York . However, Cleveland still managed to win the league title, defeated Rochester and their star player, Tiny Hearn
688-675: The ABL was the first attempt to create a major professional basketball league in the United States. Joseph Carr , who was in 1925 the president of then-new National Football League , organized the ABL from nine of the best independent pro teams from the East and the Midwest. George Halas of the NFL Chicago Bears was the owner of the Chicago Bruins , and department store magnate Max Rosenblum,
731-491: The American Basketball League, or they could try and schedule games against lesser competition, thus possibly losing out on drawing bigger crowds. In the end, ownership decided that it was worth the draw to join the ABL, so they did. the team won the league title. They defeated Cleveland, which, despite still being a good team, was not the dominant force that had won the title the year before. Honey Russell , without
774-522: The Celtics, who despite being a dominant team, never drew well at home. Cleveland, through purchase and trades, ended up with nearly all of the Celtics players on their roster. Cleveland ran away with the title, defeating Fort Wayne four games to none in the playoffs. The New York Stock Market crashed on October 29, 1929. John J. O'Brien the League's president, took the viewpoint that the " Great Depression " economic / financial slump would not last long, and
817-558: The Great Depression. After more than two years, the league was reorganized in 1933, but as an East Coast league, with teams in Pennsylvania and New York City metro area. The league did take some measures to help modernize the game. One of the major issues that had plagued basketball was players jumping from team to team. To combat this, teams began signing players to contracts. Often these contracts went up to $ 1,500 per month, which
860-480: The Knicks went 47–23 for their first ever division title (sixteen years later, the Knicks would set a new mark for wins). They then beat Baltimore and Boston to reach the Finals for the third straight year. The Knicks met the Lakers again and actually pulled off a 96–88 win on the road for Game 1. However, the Lakers would win the next four games, two of which came by two points to win the series in five games. Under Lapchick,
903-417: The Knicks were the first NBA team to reach the Finals in three consecutive seasons. Coincidentally, the next team to reach the Finals three straight times and lose three in a row would be the Lakers, who reached the Finals in 1954 to set a three-peat before later losing three in a row from 1968 to 1970. The Knicks won the division again the following year but lost in the one-time Round-robin tournament used for
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#1733094367816946-494: The Redmen to a 180–55 record and two consecutive National Invitation Tournament titles, in 1943 and 1944. Overwhelmed by stress, Lapchick fainted during the second half of the 1944 final game. In 1947 he passed up a then-astronomical offer of $ 12,000 per year to stay at St. John's, opting instead to accept a job as coach of the New York Knickerbockers of the fledgling Basketball Association of America . Landing Lapchick
989-652: The USMA and took a commission in the USAF. He earned a PhD at Harvard. He was superintendent of schools in Aspen, Colorado, and later an area superintendent in Philadelphia. # denotes interim head coach # denotes interim head coach # denotes interim head coach American Basketball League (1925-1955) The American Basketball League ( ABL ) was an early professional basketball league. During six seasons from 1925–26 to 1930–31,
1032-480: The city of New York. Joe Lapchick , Nat Holman , Pete Berry , Dutch Dehnert and Davey Banks led the New York Celtics to a 40–9 record. The playoffs saw Fort Wayne defeat Cleveland 2 games to 0, and New York defeated Philadelphia 2 games to zero. New York defeated Fort Wayne 3 games to 1 in the championship series. The playoffs would be Philadelphia's last appearance in the league, as the team folded, becoming
1075-417: The end of the 1955–56 season . He left the Knicks with a 326–247 NBA coaching record. Lapchick rested for only a month before returning to St. John's, where in nine more seasons he led the Redmen to two more NIT crowns, giving them a record four titles. Lapchick wasn't just his players' basketball coach; he monitored their academic performance as well. The school's mandatory-retirement rules forced Lapchick,
1118-509: The other owners over the status of the Celtics, refused to take part in the second half of the season and dropped out of the league. Five games into the 1926–27 season, the original Celtics were fully admitted to replace the Brooklyn franchise, and won 32 of the remaining 37 games. For the 1927–28 season, the ABL had an Eastern (New York, Philadelphia, Rochester and Washington) and Western (Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and Fort Wayne) division, with
1161-400: The past three seasons under coach John Kundla and player such as George Mikan . The two teams split the first four games, which included wins for each team in overtime. Minneapolis won 102–89 to have the Knicks on the wall for Game 6, but they won 76–68 to force Game 7 on the road. In Game 7, the Lakers led by six after one quarter and never looked back in an 82–65 victory. The following year,
1204-425: The person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lapchick&oldid=826588687 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata All set index articles Monitored short pages Joe Lapchick Joseph Bohomiel Lapchick (April 12, 1900 – August 10, 1970)
1247-493: The playoffs that saw the Knicks lose four games combined to Boston and Syracuse with no wins. Lapchick's final full season came in 1954, where they went 38-34 and lost in the Division Semifinals to Boston. He did not finish out the 1955 season, which saw him leave after going 26–25 to be replaced by Vince Boryla for the final 21 games. Ultimately, Lapchick led the Knicks to eight straight winning seasons and eight trips to
1290-432: The playoffs, including three straight NBA Finals from 1951 to 1953. The 1953–54 Knicks were more than just a team of talented players; eight of them went on to coach pro or college teams, a tribute to Lapchick's leadership. Though a great motivator, Lapchick was a wild man on the sidelines, stomping on his coat, smashing chairs, and tossing various objects into the air. Stress-related health problems forced him to quit near
1333-444: The rest of the Celtics that the league insisted the team disband. The team disbanded in 1928. Lapchick and two other former Celtics then joined the Cleveland Rosenblums , a team owned by a department store magnate who had named the team after himself. With Lapchick starring at the pivot, the "Rosenblum Celtics" won two straight ABL titles . The Rosenblums folded during the 1930–31 season and Lapchick and four of his teammates signed with
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1376-475: The team during halftime." Lapchick turned to writing. In 1968 he wrote 50 Years of Basketball, a book that was both a compilation of stories from Lapchick's early days as a player and an explanation of his coaching philosophy. As one of basketball's most prominent elder statesmen, Lapchick also stayed active as a spokesman for the sport. He died of a heart attack in Monticello, New York , in 1970 at age 70. As
1419-613: The team eschewed league play, choosing instead to barnstorm throughout the Northeast and wow crowds with its razzle-dazzle style of play. Conditions were spartan. When a large cut on Lapchick's wrist became infected with uniform dye, a teammate rubbed off the scab with a towel and doused the wound with whiskey. Luckily for Lapchick, the treatment worked. The Celtics joined the American Basketball League in 1926 and won two straight titles. So dominant were Lapchick, Nat Holman , and
1462-500: The third league team to revoke their presence. During the 1927–28 season, the league divided the league into divisions, Eastern and Western. The 1928–29 season saw the format discarded. The Celtics were dominant, to the point that the league was suffering. The rally cry of "Break up the Celtics" was heeded. Players were dispersed to other teams, and this also resolved an issue for Celtics owner Jim Furey, who had issues with Madison Square Garden management. The arena's owners sought to evict
1505-454: The top teams at the time, but declined to join the ABL, instead opting to be an "at large" team. The league adopted a format with a split season that was divided into two halves, with the winner of the first half playing the winner of the second half for the championship. The 1925–26 season saw Cleveland, the second half winner, defeat Brooklyn, winner of the first half of the season, three games to none. The Boston Whirlwinds, in conflict with
1548-484: The two best teams in each division going to playoffs, and a championship between the playoff winners. Playing in Madison Square Garden , the Celtics finished with a 40–9 record in the regular season and won the championship. However, at season's end, the team was voted out of the league by the other owners. The ABL played three more seasons and then, with only five teams playing at the end of 1930–31, folded during
1591-530: Was a big boost to the league, which was in only its second year of operation. He signed Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton to the Knicks, one of the league's first African-American players. Though a slick player and an admired coach, Lapchick was perhaps best known for his obsessive worrying and anxiety during games. He lived every second of every game as though it were the last tick of the clock. Stress related health problems ended his professional coaching career and caused an occasional on-court fainting spell and even
1634-423: Was an American professional basketball player, mostly known for playing with the Original Celtics in the 1920s and 1930s. He is commonly regarded as the best center of his era, overshadowed (if anything) in his later years only by Tarzan Cooper . After ending his playing career in 1937, Lapchick became head coach at St. John's University , a position he held until 1947, when he took over the New York Knicks in
1677-423: Was an eminently influential figure who helped nurture the sport from its crude beginnings into its modern form. Lapchick married Elizabeth Sarubbi in 1931; they had one daughter and had two sons. Barbara Lapchick was one of the original Ford models and graduated from Barnard College. Dr. Richard Lapchick is a human rights activist working for racial equality, an internationally recognized expert on sports issues,
1720-447: Was considerably more than what an average laborer was making at the time ($ 15 per week). New rules that were implemented included making backboards mandatory, adding a three-second lane violation, and implementing foul outs. The ABL also eliminated the double dribble, which was done to encourage many of the game's top college stars to play in the league. One of the early stars for the league was Cleveland's Honey Russell whose 7.4 points
1763-523: Was hired by the New York Knicks for the 1947-48 season , the second in team history. He finished 2nd place in his first year and lost in the first round. The Knicks finished 2nd in the next two seasons, which saw them lose in the Division Finals each time before having it all come together in the 1950–51 season. They finished 36-30 for a third place in the Eastern Division, but they beat Syracuse in
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1806-503: Was rangy at 6-foot-5, making him a valuable commodity at a time when a jump ball was held after every basket. "I played one manager against the other," he said years later. "I bargained with the managers for every game. When there was a clash of dates, I took the best offer." In 1923 he joined the fabled Original Celtics (a team that was the second incarnation of the New York Celtics, which had disbanded during World War I ). At first
1849-420: Was the second highest average in the league. Cleveland drew well, bringing in nearly 10,000 fans a game, while Brooklyn could only draw around 2,000. The league knew they had a problem when it came to the Celtics. So the league opted to force the hands of the Celtics ownership. The teams in the league agreed prohibiting any games against the Celtics, and this left the Celtics with a dilemma. They could either join
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