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NRH Regional Rehab at Wilkens Avenue nrhrehab.org | Len Saunders, Project ACES, Lenny Saunders, Children's Fitness,... lensaunders.com |
Leonard Randolph "Lenny" Wilkens (born October 28, 1937, in Brooklyn, New York, U.S.) is a retired American basketball player and coach in the NBA, as well as the league's career leader in coaching win–loss totals. He was inducted twice into the Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as a player and then later as a coach in 1998. On November 29, 2006 he was hired as vice chairman of the Seattle SuperSonics' ownership group,[1] and was later named the Sonics' President of Basketball Operations on April 27, 2007.[2] On July 6, 2007 Wilkens resigned from the Sonics organization. Wilkens currently is seen on Northwest FSN Studio as a College Hoops analyst and occasionally appears on Northwest College Hoops at game nights.
[edit] Early lifeWilkens grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.[3] His father was African American and his mother was Irish.[4] Wilkens was raised in the Roman Catholic faith.[4] At Boys High School, Wilkens was a basketball teammate of longtime Major League Baseball star Tommy Davis. [edit] Playing careerWilkens was a two-time All-American (1959 and 1960) at Providence College. He led the team to their first NIT appearance in 1959, and to the NIT finals in 1960. When he graduated, Wilkens was, with 1,193 points, the second-ranked scorer in Friar history (he has since dropped to twentieth as of 2005). In 1996, Wilkens' #14 jersey was retired by the college, the first alumnus to receive such an honor. Wilkens was drafted sixth overall by the St. Louis Hawks in the 1960 NBA Draft. He played for the Hawks (1960-1968), Seattle SuperSonics (1968-1972), Cleveland Cavaliers (1972-1974) and Portland Trail Blazers (1974–1975). Wilkens placed second to Wilt Chamberlain in the 1967–1968 MVP balloting. Wilkens was a nine-time NBA All-Star, and was named the 1971 NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1971. He led the league in assists in the 1969–70 season, and at the time of his retirement, Wilkens was the NBA's second all-time leading playmaker, behind only Oscar Robertson. [edit] Coaching careerFrom 1969–1972 with Seattle, and in his one season as a player with Portland, he was a player-coach. He retired from playing in 1975 and was the full-time coach of the Trail Blazers for one more season. After a season off from coaching, he again became coach of the SuperSonics when he replaced Bob Hopkins who was fired 22 games into the 1977-1978 season. He coached in Seattle for eight seasons (1977-1985), winning his (and Seattle's) only NBA Championship in 1979. He would go on to coach Cleveland (1986–1993), Atlanta (1993–2000), Toronto (2000–2003) and New York (2004–2005). The Hall of Famer was named head coach of the New York Knicks on January 15, 2004. After the Knicks' slow start to the 2004–2005 season, Wilkens resigned from the team on January 22, 2005. [edit] AccomplishmentsHe retired with 1,332 wins and 1,155 losses, both figures the most in NBA history. This comes from his 35 years of coaching in the NBA, among the longest tenure in the league. He coached the Olympic Champion Men's Basketball team in 1996 and was an assistant coach on the 1992 USA Olympic Dream Team. Wilkens is one of three players to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach (the other two being John Wooden and Bill Sharman), joining the Hall in 1989 as a player and 1998 as a coach. In 1996, the NBA named Wilkens one of its 50 Greatest Players and 10 Greatest Coaches; Wilkens is the only person named to both lists. He is also a member of the Providence College Athletic Hall of Fame. [edit] Quotes
[edit] Coaching record
Source: Lenny Wilkens Coaching Record – Basketball-Reference.com [edit] References
[edit] TriviaA basketball signed by Lenny Wilkens appeared behind Barack Obama in his first YouTube "radio" address as President-elect. Wilkens is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans. [edit] External links
Categories: 1937 births | Living people | African American basketball players | African American sports coaches | African American Catholics | American expatriate basketball people in Canada | American Roman Catholics | National Basketball Association executives | National Basketball Association broadcasters | Irish-American sportspeople | National Basketball Association players with retired numbers | Basketball Hall of Fame inductees | People from Brooklyn | Providence Friars men's basketball players | Providence College alumni | Cleveland Cavaliers players | St. Louis Hawks draft picks | Portland Trail Blazers players | Seattle SuperSonics players | St. Louis Hawks players | Seattle SuperSonics head coaches | Portland Trail Blazers head coaches | Cleveland Cavaliers head coaches | Atlanta Hawks head coaches | Toronto Raptors head coaches | New York Knicks head coaches | Player-coaches | Point guards | Basketball players from New York | National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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