Paul Douglas Westphal was an American basketball player, head coach, and commentator.
Charles Grice "Lefty" Driesell is a retired American college basketball coach. He was the first coach to win more than 100 games at four different NCAA Division I schools, Driesell led the programs of Davidson College, the University of Maryland, James Madison University, and Georgia State University. He earned a reputation as "the greatest program builder in the history of basketball." At the time of his retirement in 2003, he was the fourth-winningest NCAA Division I men's basketball college coach, with 21 seasons of 20 or more wins, and 21 conference or conference tournament titles. Driesell played college basketball at Duke University.
The Buffalo Braves were an American professional basketball franchise based in Buffalo, New York. The Braves competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division from 1970 until 1978. In 1978, Braves owner John Y. Brown Jr. swapped franchises with then-Boston Celtics owner Irv Levin, who then moved the team to San Diego, where it was renamed the San Diego Clippers. The franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1984, and is now known as the Los Angeles Clippers.
Lowell Gibbs "Cotton" Fitzsimmons was an American college and NBA basketball coach. A native of Bowling Green, Missouri, he attended and played basketball at Hannibal-LaGrange Junior College in Hannibal, Missouri and Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. He coached the Phoenix Suns three times, was named the NBA Coach of the Year twice, and is often credited as the architect of the Suns' success of the late 1980s and early to middle 1990s. Fitzsimmons won 1,089 games in his coaching career: 223 games at the junior college level, 34 at the Division I college level and 832 in the NBA.
Kevin Michael Loughery is an American former professional basketball player and coach.
Brian Alfred Hill is an American former professional basketball coach.
John Travilla Ramsay was an American basketball coach, commonly known as "Dr. Jack". He was best known for leading the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA championship, and for his broadcasting work with the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat, and for ESPN TV and ESPN Radio. Ramsay was among the most respected coaches in NBA history and a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the winner of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award for the 2009–10 NBA season.
William Carey Foster was an American college basketball coach who won over 500 games during a career that spanned 30 years. Foster, a native of Palatka, Florida, compiled an overall record of 532–325 in 30 seasons. He succeeded Tates Locke at Clemson University on April 9, 1975. Foster died of Parkinson's disease in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 27, 2015.
Brendan Thomas Malone was an American professional basketball coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the father of current Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone.
Jeffrey George Ruland is an American former professional basketball player and coach, best known for his tenure as a player in the NBA which saw him selected to two All-Star games. After playing college basketball for Iona, he started his professional career with FC Barcelona in the Liga ACB.
James R. Molinari is an American basketball coach and lawyer. Molinari is currently an assistant coach at Boston College. Prior to his stint at Boston College Molinari was most recently an assistant coach at Oklahoma from 2019 to 2021. He formerly served as an assistant coach at Nebraska and as former head coach of the Western Illinois University Leathernecks, where he served from 2008 to 2014. Prior to being named coach at WIU, Molinari was as assistant coach at Ball State University after serving as the interim head coach at the University of Minnesota, replacing Dan Monson on November 30, 2006 and being succeeded by Tubby Smith on March 22, 2007. Previously, he served as head men's basketball coach at Northern Illinois University and Bradley University. He also was a scout for the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat.
Oliver Gordon Purnell Jr. is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Radford University from 1988 to 1991, Old Dominion University from 1991 to 1994, the University of Dayton from 1994 to 2003, Clemson University from 2003 to 2010, and DePaul University from 2010 to 2015, compiling a career record of 448–386.
Roy Danforth, Jr., a native of Summitville, Indiana, was the head basketball coach at Syracuse from 1968 to 1976. During his tenure, he compiled a 148–71 (.676) record. In his final four years as a coach, his teams went to the NCAA tournament, including an appearance in the Final Four in 1975. He was credited with rebuilding the Syracuse program, and gave the Orange a terrific home-court advantage. He played college basketball at Southern Mississippi where he scored over 1,000 points and was a 75% career free-throw shooter.
The 1981 Clemson Tigers football team represented Clemson University in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Tigers were led by head coach Danny Ford and played their home games in Memorial Stadium. Clemson finished their undefeated 1981 season with a 22–15 victory over the #4 Nebraska Cornhuskers in the 1982 Orange Bowl, and were voted #1 in the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI) polls.
The 1976–77 NBA season was the Braves seventh season in the NBA. The Braves were purchased by John Y. Brown, Jr., the former owner of the Kentucky Colonels in the now defunct American Basketball Association for $6.2 million. As part of an agreement with the Braves' former owner, Paul Snyder, Brown would give Snyder money received in player deals to reduce the purchase price. The sell-off began shortly after the season, as the Braves sold newly acquired Moses Malone. Malone was acquired in a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers after the ABA dispersal draft. Malone was now off to the Houston Rockets. The selling of players continued into the season as Bob McAdoo was sold to the New York Knicks. While the deals helped Brown pay virtually nothing for the franchise, it turned a promising franchise into a rebuilding one. Attendance fell off as the Braves finished in 4th place with a 30–52 record. The only spotlight was rookie Adrian Dantley, who captured Rookie of the Year honors with 20.3 points per game. However Dantley himself was traded following the season to the Indiana Pacers for Billy Knight.
Michael Malone is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He had also been the head coach of the Sacramento Kings in 2013–2014. Malone previously served as an assistant coach of the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, New Orleans Hornets, and Golden State Warriors.
Bobby Roberts was an American college basketball coach for Clemson University from 1962 to 1970.
Monroe Parker "Tink" Gillam was a college football, baseball, and basketball coach. Born in Dadeville, Alabama, Gillam attended Birmingham College, where he played baseball, basketball, and was a halfback on the football team. After graduating in 1919, Gillam was athletic director at Southern Military Academy in Greensboro, Alabama, from 1920–1921 and assistant athletic director at Mississippi College from 1921–1923.
Thomas O. Schneider was an American basketball coach and player. From 1983 to 1993, he was a men's basketball head coach at NCAA Division I Mid-Atlantic mid-majors Lehigh, Penn and Loyola, with the first two each making a national tournament appearance.
