July 19, 1923, 100 years ago: Alexander Murray Hannum is born in Los Angeles. His may be the biggest name in basketball that you've never heard.
The forward from the University of Southern California debuted in the NBA in 1948. He played for the Oshkosh All-Stars in 1948-49, the Syracuse Nationals in 1949-50 and 1950-51, the original Baltimore Bullets in 1951-52, the Rochester Royals in 1952-53 and 1953-54, the Milwaukee Hawks in 1954-55, then moved with them to become the St. Louis Hawks in 1955-56, and briefly with the Fort Wayne Pistons in 1956, before returning to the Hawks in 1957.
In his last season, 1956-57, he got the St. Louis Hawks into the NBA Finals. Then he became their head coach, and led them to the 1958 NBA Championship -- still the only title the team now known as the Atlanta Hawks has ever won.
He left the Hawks because he wanted a 2-year contract from owner Ben Kerner, who wasn't willing to go beyond 1 year. For 2 years, he coached the Wichita Vickers of the National Industrial Basketball League. From 1960 to 1963, he was back in the NBA with the Syracuse Nationals.
In 1963-64, he coached the San Francisco Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors) to the NBA Western Conference title, but lost the Finals. He was named NBA Coach of the Year. In 1966-67, he coached the Philadelphia 76ers, with Wilt Chamberlain, and they started the season 41-3.
That is not a misprint: They won forty-one of their first forty-four games. They finished 68-13, the best record in NBA history to that point. And they won the NBA Championship. He was the 1st head coach to win NBA titles with 2 different teams, a feat since matched only by Phil Jackson and Pat Riley.
He went back to the West Coast, and coached the Oakland Oaks, with Rick Barry, to the 1969 ABA Championship. He and Bill Sharman were the only coaches to win the title in the NBA and the ABA.
He has an even odder NBA/ABA distinction: He coached the NBA's San Diego Rockets in 1969-70 and 1970-71, then, before they could move to become the Houston Rockets, was hired by the ABA's Denver Rockets. He was fired in 1974, just as, in anticipation of their being brought into the NBA, who already had a Rockets, they changed their name to the Denver Nuggets. He never coached again, having a record of 649-564. He made the Playoffs in 11 out of 16 seasons, and won 3 league titles.
He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998, with Chamberlain giving his presentment speech, and died on January 18, 2002, in San Diego, at the age of 78.
Note to those of you younger than I am: Chamberlain was the greatest basketball player who ever lived. Not Michael Jordan, not Kobe Bryant, not LeBron James.
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