Nat Holman
CCNY | |
Head coaching record | |
---|---|
Overall | 421–190 |
Tournaments | 4–2 (NCAA Division I) 6–3 (NIT) |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
NCAA (1950) NIT (1950) | |
Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 1964 (profile) |
Nat Holman (October 19, 1896 – February 12, 1995) was an American professional basketball player and college coach. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and is the only coach to lead his team to NCAA and National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championships in the same season.
Early life
Holman was born on the Lower East Side in New York City, to Russian immigrant parents, and was Jewish.[1][2] He attended P.S. 62, and was then a star in basketball, soccer, and football at the High School of Commerce, graduated from the Savage School for Physical Education, and earned a master's degree from New York University.[3][2] Known for his exceptional ball-handling and his accurate shooting, Holman was a star player for the NYU Violets men's basketball team.
Professional career
Holman was also an important player for the Original Celtics, which were no relation to the Boston Celtics.[4] Also a gifted passer and excellent floor leader, Holman was a prototype of later playmakers.
Coaching career
Although he played pro basketball until 1930, he took over the head coaching position at the
In 1951, Holman's CCNY team became involved in a national
While untainted by any scandal, Holman was described by author Matthew Goodman as "arrogant and aloof...who somehow developed a British accent" despite his impoverished Lower East Side roots.[5]
Holman also founded Camp Scatico in 1921 and ran the camp until he sold it to his niece and her husband in 1964.
Holman wrote two books on basketball technique entitled Scientific Basketball (1922) and Winning Basketball (1932), and his CCNY Beaver teams were lauded as "basketball's version of bebop, like a five-man jazz combo, with each player improvising off a few basic patterns, together creating something fast and complex and unpredictable.' "[5]
In his later years, he lived and died at the
He was inducted into the
Head coaching record
Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CCNY Beavers (Independent) (1919–1933)
| |||||||||
1919–20 | CCNY | 13–3 | |||||||
1920–21 | CCNY | 11–4 | |||||||
1921–22 | CCNY | 10–2 | |||||||
1922–23 | CCNY | 12–1 | |||||||
1923–24 | CCNY | 12–1 | |||||||
1924–25 | CCNY | 12–2 | |||||||
1925–26 | CCNY | 9–5 | |||||||
1926–27 | CCNY | 9–3 | |||||||
1927–28 | CCNY | 11–4 | |||||||
1928–29 | CCNY | 9–5 | |||||||
1929–30 | CCNY | 11–3 | |||||||
1930–31 | CCNY | 12–4 | |||||||
1931–32 | CCNY | 16–1 | |||||||
1932–33 | CCNY | 13–1 | |||||||
CCNY Beavers (Metropolitan New York Conference ) (1933–1934)
| |||||||||
1933–34 | CCNY | 14–1 | 4–1 | 3rd | |||||
CCNY Beavers (Independent) (1934–1935)
| |||||||||
1934–35 | CCNY | 10–6 | |||||||
CCNY Beavers (Metropolitan New York Conference ) (1935–1939)
| |||||||||
1935–36 | CCNY | 10–4 | 3–3 | 5th | |||||
1936–37 | CCNY | 10–6 | 3–3 | 6th | |||||
1937–38 | CCNY | 14–3 | 4–2 | T–3rd | |||||
1938–39 | CCNY | 11–6 | 11–6 | 6th | |||||
CCNY Beavers (Independent) (1939–1942)
| |||||||||
1939–40 | CCNY | 8–8 | |||||||
1940–41 | CCNY | 17–5 | NIT Third Place | ||||||
1941–42 | CCNY | 16–3 | NIT quarterfinal | ||||||
CCNY Beavers (Metropolitan New York Conference ) (1942–1943)
| |||||||||
1942–43 | CCNY | 8–10 | 2–5 | 6th | |||||
CCNY Beavers (Independent) (1943–1945)
| |||||||||
1943–44 | CCNY | 6–11 | |||||||
1944–45 | CCNY | 12–4 | |||||||
CCNY Beavers (Metropolitan New York Conference ) (1945–1952)
| |||||||||
1945–46 | CCNY | 14–4 | 4–1 | 3rd | |||||
1946–47 | CCNY | 17–6 | 4–1 | 2nd | NCAA Final Four
| ||||
1947–48 | CCNY | 18–3 | 4–1 | 2nd | |||||
1948–49 | CCNY | 17–8 | 3–2 | T–3rd | NIT quarterfinal | ||||
1949–50 | CCNY | 24–5 | 6–0 | 1st | NCAA Champion, NIT Champion | ||||
1950–51 | CCNY | 12–7 | 2–2 | 5th | |||||
1951–52 | CCNY | 8–11 | 1–5 | 6th | |||||
CCNY Beavers (Independent) (1954–1956)
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1954–55 | CCNY | ||||||||
1955–56 | CCNY | ||||||||
CCNY Beavers (Independent) (1958–1959)
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1958–59 | CCNY | ||||||||
CCNY: | 405–150 (.730) | 51–32 (.614) | |||||||
Total: | 405–150 (.730) | ||||||||
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
|
See also
- List of select Jewish basketball players
- List of NCAA Division I Men's Final Four appearances by coach
References
- ^ BASKETBALL; Nat Holman Finds Life Still Bears His Name – The New York Times
- ^ a b Holman, Nat: Jews In Sports
- ^ Nat Holman Is Dead at 98; Led C.C.N.Y. Champions – The New York Times
- ISBN 0-8032-8772-0.
- ^ a b Macur, Juliet (December 8, 2019). "Sports". No. Book Review. The New York Times Company.
- ^ The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame :: Nat Holman
- ^ CCNY Athletics – Hall of Fame
- ^ virtual-hall-of-fame
- ^ "Nat Holman, basketball innovator". The Philadelphia Inquirer. February 12, 1995.
- ^ Katz, Michael (November 30, 1977). "Roses in November for Holman..." The New York Times. Retrieved February 4, 2024.