The Giants of the game.

TEAMS

ORIGINAL CELTICS

The legendary pro team (1920-40), a wonderfully brainy and cohesivc force that usually could win by as many as they chose. Barnstormed all over the U.S., selling the game.

RENAISSANCE

A stupendous all-black team that would play anyone, anywhere. Won 2,588 games and lost 529 (an .833 winning percentage), super speed, ball handling, resourcefulness.

UCLA (1966-68)

Greatest college dynasty of all-time, hugely talented and brillantly coached. Won 10 NCAA titles in 12 years with record 88-game winning streak. The 3 Jabbar teams probably the best.

OKLAHOMA A & M (1945-46)

Epitomized the traditional patterned game with back-to-back NCAA titles. Disciplined, tightly patterned, patient. Almost error-free.

OHIO STATE (1960-62)

A powerful team of under-achievers (led by Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek) that won one NCAA crown and should have beaten Cincinnati for two others. All five starters were drafted by the pros.

MINNEAPOLIS LAKERS

Immortal front line of Mikan, Pollard, and Mikkelsen won five NBA championships (1948-54).

KENTUCKY

The fabled Adolph Rupp team spearheaded by three All-Americans (Groza, Beard and Jones) that won back-to-back NCAA championships in 1948 and '49.

U.S. OLYMPIC DREAM TEAM (1992)

The greatest team of all-time that the whole world adored. Annihilated the field in Barcelona, Spain: Bird, Jordan, Johnson, Robinson, Barkley, Drexler, Ewing, et. al.

PLAYERS

HANK LUISETTI

Stanford 3-time All-American (1936-39) revolutionized the game with a one-hand set shot.

KEN SAILORS

Wyoming super guard (1943) introduced the jump shot.

DUTCH DEHNERT

Burly forward of legendary Original Celtics (1922-40) originated the pivot play -- setting up low with back to basket,

GEORGE MIKAN

The first modern "big man" center at 6-10 (DePaul, 1944-46) combined size with ability to run the floor, shoot, pass, rebound, and play defense.

BOB COUSY

The prototype point guard at Holy Cross (1949-50) and then with the Boston Celtics (1951-63), an electrifying passer who could quarterback a fast break like it had never been done before.

BILL RUSSELL

The nonpareil shot-blocker, rebounder, and intimidator with the U. of San Francisco (1954-56) and Celtics (1956-69) -- championships always followed him.

WILT CHAMBERLAIN

The all-time "aircraft carrier" -- a huge 7-1, immensely strong, graceful, and a scoring machine. Holds all the NBA rebounding and scoring record (1959-73).

ELGIN BAYLOR

The 6-5 link between Mikan and Jordan, with great strength and great fluid, acrobatic moves that made him a spectacular rebounder, passer, and scorer (1958-72).

MICHAEL JORDAN

Simply the greatest player the game has ever seen -- awesome strength, speed, moves, defense, and the ability to raise his game and dominate it.

COACHES

JOHN WOODEN

Nonpareil college coach with 10 NCAA titles in 12 tries, including 7 in a row. A total perfectionist, a masterful strategist, and a great spiritual force.

RED AUERBACH

Won 9 NBA championships in 10 years -- without assistant coaches, scouts, or help in the draft. Tough, intuitive, impossible to outthink.

DOC CARLSON

The U. of Pittsburgh coach who invented the first continuity offense in basketball -- the Figure 8 weave.

CLAIR BEE

Winningest coach in NCAA history (410-86) originated the 1-3-1 zone defense; wrote (or ghosted) at least 50 books, a great clinician on both home and foreign fronts.

FRANK KEANEY

Progenitor of racehorse offense at Rhode Island in '20s and '30s. Taught the full-court baseball pass and point-a-minute offense back when these things were considered original sins.

TEX WINTER

A fabled offensive innovator at three major universities who wrote a prophetic book called "Triple Post Offense," which proved itself out with the Chicago Bulls.

HANK IBA 

Patron saint of the deliberate patterned offense that helped him win two NCAA and two Olympic championships. In 1972, was robbed of a third Olympic gold medal by an officiating atrocity.

FRANK McGUIRE

Only coach ever to win 100 games at three different major universities. Also won an NCAA title and was an outstanding clinician, technical writer, and humanitarian.

JACK RAMSAY

Brilliant college and pro coach who won on every level with a unique full-court pressure defense. Wrote many articles and basketball texts and is currently a top TV commentator.

CONTRIBUTORS

NED IRISH

The Prophet (for profit). Opened Madison Square Garden to major college play, which nationalized the game, then internationalized it, and finally gave rise to the NBA.

H.V. PORTER

The George Washington of the National Federation who helped organize the NBC of the U.S. and Canada; sat on the rules committee for 30 years, and became the most dynamic force in high school legislation.

OSWALD TOWER

A member of the rules committee and editor of the Basketball Guide for 49 years. Probably the foremost interpreter of the rules in his lifetime.

DANNY BIASONE

Owner of the Syracuse Nats who saved pro basketball from disaster by creating the 24-second rule on continual possession (1954).

PAT KENNEDY

Dramatized officiating by breaking every "no" in the book with a flamboyance never seen before or since -- which worked because he was fair, courageous, and unintimidatable.

DAVID STERN

The NBA commissioner who brought pro sport into the 20th century with his brilliant command of the legalistics, ethnicity, finance, and promotion of sports administration.

PHOG ALLEN

A legendary coach who co-founded the NABC, helped incorporate basketball into the Olympics, and helped organize the NCAA championship tournament.

DOC MEANWELL

A coach at Missouri and Wisconsin who was a charter member of the NABC, an inventor (of the valve for the seamless basketball), an active rulesman, and the author of the first book on training.

EVERETT MORRIS

Maybe the best of the pioneer basketball writers who founded the first basketball writers association, organized the first national tournament (NIT), and lent class to an ignoble profession.