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Alex Hannum

Alexander Murray Hannum (July 19, 1923 – January 18, 2002) was a professional basketball player and coach. Hannum coached two National Basketball Association (NBA) teams and one American Basketball Association (ABA) team to league championships. He had a combined NBA-ABA record of 649–564 (.535) in the regular season and 61–46 (.570) in the playoffs over 16 seasons. In 1998, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach.

Alex Hannum
Hannum, circa 1947
Personal information
Born(1923-07-19)July 19, 1923
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedJanuary 18, 2002(2002-01-18) (aged 78)
San Diego, California, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
High schoolAlexander Hamilton
(Los Angeles, California)
CollegeUSC (1942–1943; 1946–1948)
NBA draft1948: – round, –
Selected by the Indianapolis Jets
Playing career1948–1957
PositionPower forward / center
Number10, 11, 20, 4, 6, 33, 18
Coaching career1956–1974
Career history
As player:
1948–1949Oshkosh All-Stars
1949–1951Syracuse Nationals
1951–1952Baltimore Bullets
1952–1954Rochester Royals
1954–1956Milwaukee / St. Louis Hawks
1956Fort Wayne Pistons
1956–1957St. Louis Hawks
As coach:
1956–1958St. Louis Hawks
1960–1963Syracuse Nationals
1963–1966San Francisco Warriors
1966–1968Philadelphia 76ers
1968–1969Oakland Oaks
1969–1971San Diego Rockets
1971–1974Denver Rockets
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As coach:

Career NBA playing statistics
Points3,078 (6.0 ppg)
Rebound2,013 (4.5 rpg)
Assists857 (1.7 apg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Career coaching record
ABA & NBA649–564 (.535)
Basketball Hall of Fame as coach

Early life

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Alexander Murray Hannum was born on July 19, 1923, in Los Angeles, California. He attended Hamilton High School, where he excelled in basketball.

College career

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Hannum played at USC, where he was captain of the 1948 team.

Professional career

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On May 10, 1948, Hannum was drafted by the Indianapolis Jets in the 4th round of the 1948 BAA Draft.

Oshkosh All-Stars (1948–1949)

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Hannum played for the Oshkosh All-Stars from 1948 to 1949.

Syracuse Nationals (1949–1951)

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Hannum played for the Syracuse Nationals from 1949 to 1951. Hannum is one of only three NBA players to receive more than six personal fouls in a single game (Don Otten and Cal Bowdler are the others). On December 26, 1950, Hannum received seven personal fouls in a game against the Boston Celtics.[1]

Baltimore Bullets (1951–1952)

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On July 14, 1951, Hannum was traded by the Syracuse Nationals with Fred Scolari to the Baltimore Bullets for Red Rocha. Hannum played for the Baltimore Bullets from 1951 to 1952.

Rochester Royals (1952–1954)

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On January 18, 1952, Hannum's player rights were sold by the Baltimore Bullets to the Rochester Royals. Hannum played for the Rochester Royals from 1952 to 1954.

Milwaukee / St. Louis Hawks (1954–1956)

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On December 10, 1954, Hannum's player rights were sold by the Rochester Royals to the Milwaukee Hawks. Hannum played for the Milwaukee / St. Louis Hawks from 1954 to 1956.

Fort Wayne Pistons (1956)

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Hannum signed and played for the Fort Wayne Pistons in 1956.

Return to St. Louis Hawks (1956–1957)

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On December 17, 1956, Hannum signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Hawks. Hannum played for the St. Louis Hawks from 1956 to 1957.

Coaching career

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St. Louis Hawks (1956–1958)

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Midway through the 1956–57 season, Hannum was named player-coach of the St. Louis Hawks. He was actually the Hawks' third head coach that year. Red Holzman had been fired midway through the season in favor of Hannum's teammate, Slater Martin. However, Martin didn't want to be a coach and a player, and gave up the reins after only eight games. Hannum led the team to a 15–16 record for the rest of the season. Despite a losing overall record, the West was so weak that year (no team finished with a winning record) that the Hawks actually won the division title. They advanced all the way to the NBA Finals and lost to the Boston Celtics in seven games.

Hannum retired as a player after that season. A year later, led by Bob Pettit and Martin, the Hawks went 41–31 and won another division title before advancing to the Finals to play the Boston Celtics. They upset the Celtics in Boston for Game 1 before the series was events going back to St. Louis. In Game 3, Celtics star Bill Russell severely sprained his ankle as the Hawks prevailed 111–108. Boston evened the series in Game 4, but the Hawks won a narrow Game 5 to force a clinching game back home. Pettit scored 50 points, with 18 of them being among the final 21 scored by the Hawks, who won 110–109. Coincidentally, the only two seasons in Russell's 13-year career in which the Celtics' center did not win an NBA championship were the direct result of losing to a team coached by Hannum. It currently is the only NBA Championship for the Hawks and it was also the last game coached by Hannum, who was not retained by owner Ben Kerner, whose interference irked Hannum. When he wanted a two-year deal, Kerner did not budge from wanting a one-year deal. Kerner replaced Hannun with Andy Phillip for the 1958–59 season (who in turn was replaced by Ed Macauley early in the season).[2]

Hannum coached the Wichita Vickers of the AAU National Industrial Basketball League in the 1958–59 and 1959–60 season.[3][4]

Syracuse Nationals (1960–1963)

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Hannum returned to the NBA in 1960 with the Syracuse Nationals, advancing to the Eastern Finals in his first season and losing in the first round two years in a row. He then left the team after the 1962–1963 season, the final one played in Syracuse prior to the relocation of the team to Philadelphia, who would be coached by Dolph Schayes.

San Francisco Warriors (1963–1966)

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Hannum, circa 1963

Hannum had expressed interest in coaching the San Francisco Warriors when the team had moved to the region from Philadelphia in 1962. Eddie Gottlieb, the operator of the team before selling to Franklin Mieuli (prior to departing fully in 1964), had stated that Hannum was his third choice in mind next to Frank McGuire (who had coached the team the previous season in Philadelphia) and Bob Feerick. McGuire elected to resign rather than move to the West Coast and Feerick went 31–49 in the 1962–63 season before being fired. As such, Hannum was hired to coach the team for the 1963 season.[5] That year, the Warriors, bolstered by rookie Nate Thurmond to go with Wilt Chamberlain, went 48–32 and advanced all the way to the NBA Finals, losing to the Boston Celtics. Hannum was named NBA Coach of the Year after the season ended. The following year was a disaster, as the Warriors won just 17 games while trading Chamberlain to the Philadelphia 76ers at the All-Star break. Despite the arrival of draft pick Rick Barry in 1965, the Warriors went 35–45 and missed the playoffs by one game. Hannum was fired after the season ended.[6]

Philadelphia 76ers (1966–1968)

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In 1966, Hannum was named the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. That team had moved from Syracuse three years earlier. He succeeded Dolph Schayes, who had been named coach after the move from Central New York but was fired despite winning NBA Coach of the Year because of his strained relationship with Chamberlain. Hannum, now with a team that had players who had played under him in Syracuse such as Hal Greer and Chet Walker, were receptive to Hannum when he addressed the team's strengths and weaknesses, with emphasis on changing the offense to rely on scoring in movement by slowing it down that would see the reigning MVP score a career-low 24.1 points per game but also shoot 68.3% on his field goal attempts.[7] During his first season as coach, the 76ers had a record setting season as they started 46–4,[8] en route to a record of 68–13, the best record in league history at the time.[9] After a 129–103 win over the Pistons on March 3, 1967, he joined Red Auerbach as the only coaches to have won 60 games in a season at that period.[10] Hannum led the Sixers towards the 63rd victory, breaking the NBA-record for most wins in a single season, in an OT win over the Boston Celtics.[11] On March 14, 1967, he became the first coach to have won 65 games in a season.[12] Chamberlain would be awarded the MVP for the second straight season. Hannum then coached the Wilt Chamberlain-led Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA championship, ending the eight-year title streak of the Boston Celtics.[13] The 1967 Championship made him the first of only three head coaches in NBA history to win championships with two different teams (the other two are Phil Jackson and Pat Riley). The following year, the 76ers won 62 games for another division title and advanced all the way to the Eastern Division Finals, but the loss of Billy Cunningham due to a broken wrist in the Semifinals victory came to hinder the team, as the 76ers lost to the Celtics in seven games after having won three of the first four games. It was the first time in NBA playoff history that a team had lost a playoff series after being up 3-1. Hannum left the team after the season to coach the Oakland Oaks in the newly created American Basketball Association due to an interest in being closer to his family on the West Coast.

Oakland Oaks (1968–1969)

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In 1968, Hannum was named head coach and executive vice president of the Oakland Oaks (owned by singer Pat Boone along with S. Kenneth Davidson and Dennis A. Murphy) of the second-year American Basketball Association, taking the offer over coaching the Warriors because of the offer of ownership stake and a "special relish to competing against Mieuli", who he called a promoter of himself first.[14] The team would have the services of Rick Barry, who sat out a year rather than play it out with the Warriors when he tried to jump for the Oaks (who also offered Barry a stake in the team just like Hannum) the previous year.[15] Tasked with improving the worst team in the ABA the previous season, Hannum coached the Oaks to 60 wins (jumping out to a 25–4 start) even with the loss of Barry to a knee injury that saw him play 35 games. While fans were not particularly plentiful in Oakland, the Oaks had a 16-game winning streak occur at one point during the year. Warren Jabali (the ABA Rookie of the Year that season) delivered the 1969 ABA Championship over the Indiana Pacers with a performance that saw him named Playoffs MVP, which he closed out with a 39-point performance in clinching Game 5.[16] With the win (the first basketball championship by a West Coast team), Hannum became the first of two coaches to win championships in both the NBA and ABA. Hannum won the ABA Coach of the Year honors the same season. Hannum left after the season ended as the Oaks relocated to become the Washington Caps under new management by Earl Foreman.

San Diego Rockets (1969–1971)

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Hannum was hired to be the head coach of the San Diego Rockets 26 gamed into the 1969–1970 season to replace Jack McMahon. The third-year franchise won 27 games that year before improving to 40 the following year, but a seven-game winning streak at the end of the season was all for naught as they narrowly finished one game behind San Francisco for second place in the Pacific Division, which would've meant a playoff spot. Less than three weeks after the end of season, Hannum left the team, which soon relocated to Houston, Texas.

Denver Rockets (1971–1974)

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Hannum left his position as head coach of the San Diego Rockets of the NBA to become president, general manager and head coach of the ABA's Denver Rockets on April 8, 1971.[17] It was Hannum who instituted changes to the color scheme of the team from orange and black to columbine blue and yellow.[18] In his first season the Rockets lost their opening playoff match to the Texas Chaparrals. On June 13, 1972, Hannum bought control of the Rockets with A.G. "Bud" Fischer and Frank M. Goldberg. On October 26, 1972, Hannum engaged in an unusual strategy. He instructed his players to foul any player of the Virginia Squires that was taking a shot in the fourth quarter. The result was a 155–111 victory that saw Virginia score 74 free throws while Denver had seven players foul out. The records for that quarter were later expunged and the game was declared a forfeit. Hannum said he was conducting an experiment because of “the trend of pressure defense...I wanted to see how far you could go without hurting your team's chances."[19] In the 1972–73 season, Hannum coached the Rockets to the 1973 ABA Playoffs where they lost in the first round of the Western Division playoffs to the Indiana Pacers, 4 games to 1. Hannum returned the Rockets to the 1974 ABA Playoffs where they lost to the San Diego Conquistadors. On April 30, 1974, Hannum was dismissed as president, general manager and head coach of the Rockets (rebranded to Nuggets after the season ended) for Larry Brown, who had played for Denver in the 1971–72 season before being a head coach with Carolina. Hannum never coached again.

Hannum's combined record (NBA and ABA), was 649–564 (.535) with a 61–46 record (.570) in the playoffs on 11 trips in 16 seasons.

Honors

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Hannum was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998.

Thirteen Hall-of-Famers played for Hannum. In addition to Pettit, Chamberlain and Barry, he had also coached Cliff Hagan, Ed Macauley, Slater Martin, Dolph Schayes, Nate Thurmond, Billy Cunningham, Hal Greer, Elvin Hayes, Calvin Murphy and Chet Walker.

Personal life

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Hannum, a native of Los Angeles, and graduate of the University of Southern California, died at the age of 78 in San Diego.[20]

Career statistics

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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

Playing

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NBA

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Source[21]

Regular season
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Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1949–50 Syracuse 64 – .363 .688 – 2.0 7.5
1950–51 Syracuse 63 – .368 .543 4.8 1.9 7.5
1951–52 Baltimore 35* 27.4 .353 .683 5.5 2.1 7.7
1951–52 Rochester 31* 17.7 .395 .750 4.6 1.9 5.5
1952–53 Rochester 68 18.9 .358 .662 4.1 1.2 5.1
1953–54 Rochester 72 23.7 .348 .622 4.9 1.5 6.3
1954–55 Milwaukee 53 20.5 .352 .570 4.6 2.0 5.9
1955–56 St. Louis 71 20.8 .322 .604 4.8 2.2 5.4
1956–57 Fort Wayne 22 10.0 .382 .600 2.5 .5 3.2
1956–57 St. Louis 37 11.4 .327 .694 2.8 .5 3.3
Career 516 19.8 .354 .629 4.5 1.7 6.0
Playoffs
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Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1950 Syracuse 11 – .442 .500 – .9 8.5
1951 Syracuse 7 – .436 .800 6.7 2.4 6.0
1952 Rochester 6 24.3 .381 .615 4.3 1.3 6.7
1953 Rochester 3 17.3 .400 .375 1.3 .7 3.7
1954 Rochester 6 17.8 .414 .625 3.7 .8 6.5
1956 St. Louis 8 19.9 .318 .543 3.6 1.3 7.6
1957 St. Louis 2 3.0 .000 – .0 .0 .0
Career 43 18.8 .394 .565 4.0 1.2 6.7

Head coaching record

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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
St. Louis 1956–57 31 15 16 .484 1st in Western 10 6 4 .600 Lost in NBA Finals
St. Louis 1957–58 72 41 31 .569 1st in Western 11 8 3 .727 Won NBA Finals
Syracuse 1960–61 79 38 41 .481 3rd in Eastern 8 4 4 .500 Lost Division finals
Syracuse 1961–62 80 41 39 .513 3rd in Eastern 5 2 3 .400 Lost Division semifinals
Syracuse 1962–63 80 48 32 .600 2nd in Eastern 8 4 4 .500 Lost Division semifinals
San Francisco 1963–64 80 48 32 .600 1st in Western 8 4 4 .500 Lost in NBA Finals
San Francisco 1964–65 80 17 63 .213 5th in Western — — — — Missed playoffs
San Francisco 1965–66 80 35 45 .438 4th in Western — — — — Missed playoffs
Philadelphia 1966–67 81 68 13 .745 1st in Eastern 15 11 4 .733 Won NBA Finals
Philadelphia 1967–68 82 62 20 .756 1st in Eastern 13 7 6 .538 Lost Division finals
Oakland 1968–69 78 60 18 .769 1st in Western 16 12 4 .750 Won ABA Finals
San Diego 1969–70 56 18 38 .321 7th in Western — — — — Missed playoffs
San Diego 1970–71 82 40 42 .488 3rd in Pacific — — — — Missed playoffs
Denver 1971–72 84 34 50 .405 4th in Western 7 3 4 .429 Lost Division semifinals
Denver 1972–73 84 47 37 .565 3rd in Western 5 1 4 .200 Lost Division semifinals
Denver 1973–74 84 37 47 .440 4th in Western — — — — Missed playoffs
Career 1,213 649 564 .535   107 61 46 .570

References

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  1. ^ The Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia. Villard Books. 1994. p. 388. ISBN 0-679-43293-0.
  2. ^ "Never a Dull Moment with the St. Louis Hawks, 1958". From Way Downtown. September 26, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  3. ^ "Wichita Vickers Oilers Rosters".
  4. ^ "Wichita Vickers Oilers Rosters".
  5. ^ Eschenbach, Julian (December 17, 2023). ""I took the job, coached Wilt, and went to the finals" - How Alex Hannum made the 1960s Warriors go from non-playoffs to title contenders". Basketball Network - Your daily dose of basketball. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  6. ^ Deford, Frank. "The waiting made it sweeter". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  7. ^ Holmes, C. J. "A banner season: Wilt Chamberlain, 1967 Sixers ended the NBA's greatest dynasty". The Athletic. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  8. ^ nba.com/history, Top 10 Teams in NBA History Archived May 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, accessed January 16, 2007
  9. ^ Sachare, Alex (2008). "NBA Encyclopedia Playoff Edition: The Best Team Ever". NBA.com.
  10. ^ "Philadelphia 76ers vs Detroit Pistons Box Score, March 3, 1967". Basketball-Reference. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  11. ^ "Philadelphia 76ers at Boston Celtics Box Score, March 8, 1967". Basketball-Reference. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  12. ^ "Philadelphia 76ers at San Francisco Warriors Box Score, March 14, 1967". Basketball-Reference. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  13. ^ Corpuz (August 29, 2008). "1967 Philadelphia 76ers: Greatest NBA Championship Team Ever?". Bleacher Report. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  14. ^ https://www.sfgate.com/warriors/article/oakland-oaks-rick-barry-aba-15885638.php [bare URL]
  15. ^ Deford, Frank. "THE FURLOUGH WAS SALUBRIOUS". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  16. ^ "On this Date, 1969: Oakland Oaks win ABA championship". The Mercury News. May 7, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  17. ^ "HANNUM WILL HEAD A.B.A. DENVER CLUB". The New York Times. April 9, 1971. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 5, 2024.
  18. ^ http://www.remembertheaba.com/Denver-Rockets.html [bare URL]
  19. ^ "ROCKET 'FOUL' GAME AWARDED TO SQUIRES". The New York Times. November 7, 1972. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 5, 2024.
  20. ^ "NBA, ABA Coach Alex Hannum Dies". AP News. January 20, 2002. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  21. ^ "Alex Hannum NBA stats". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
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