Roy Rubin (basketball)
Miami, Florida, U.S. | |
Playing career | |
---|---|
1950–1951 | Louisville |
Position(s) | Guard |
Coaching career ( Long Island | |
1972–1973 | Philadelphia 76ers |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | Long Island: 174–94 (.649) NBA: 4–47 (.078) |
Roy Rubin (December 9, 1925 – August 5, 2013) was a former college and professional basketball coach.
Career as coach
Rubin played college basketball while attending
Rubin coached at
Philadelphia 76ers
Rubin left his positions at LIU to sign a three‐year contract to head coach the
Rubin joined a team whose only holdover from its championship run six seasons earlier was aging veteran Hal Greer. Rubin's introductory press conference occurred almost simultaneous to the ones held in Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina in which Billy Cunningham announced that he was going to play with the American Basketball Association's Carolina Cougars beginning with the upcoming season.[4] An 0–15 start started a watch of just how bad the team could get.[6] It took him a month to get a win, and he would only win three more times after that.[5] After 51 games and a 4–47 record—and while in the midst of what would become a (then)-record 20-game losing streak—Rubin was fired in favor of player-coach Kevin Loughery on January 23, 1973.[7] However, according to ESPN, Rubin had lost the team before then; the players reportedly considered Loughery their on-court leader as early as Christmas.[5]
Several players on the team believed that Rubin was in over his head as an NBA head coach. They claimed he ran sloppy practices and never said anything meaningful during timeouts, halftime or postgame meetings. For example, he suggested that all the players needed to do to get ready for the season was run full-court, one-on-one games for 48 minutes.[6][5] Years later, one of the players on that team, Fred Carter, said that letting Rubin coach the Sixers was "like letting a teenager run a big corporation."[6] Later, Carter told ESPN that he concluded Rubin wasn't cut out to be an NBA head coach when he was in high spirits after a preseason win over the Eastern Conference finalist Boston Celtics even though the Celtics had mostly played their third stringers.[5]
Tough to Get Help
A month prior to signing with the 76ers, Rubin was one of the producers of the Broadway comedy Tough to Get Help.[4] It was written by Steve Gordon, directed by Carl Reiner,[8] starred John Amos and Dick O'Neill and also featured Abe Vigoda.[9] The comedy was about a black couple who worked as a gardener (Amos) and a cook (Lillian Hayman) for a white liberal advertising executive (O'Neill) and his wife (Billie Lou Watt) and the homecoming of their militant son (John Danelle).[10]
Its reviews were unfavorable. The only criticism from Clive Barnes of The New York Times was directed at Gordon. He explained, "...The play, with interminable and unfunny dream sequences, with dialogue that seems to have been picked up wholesale from a TV situation comedy and characters of no real comic depth or perception, does not have a great deal going for it."[10] His critique was published the day after the comedy opened and closed with only one performance at the Royale Theatre on May 4, 1972.[9]
Later life
Rubin moved to Florida, eventually owned an International House of Pancakes restaurant, and never coached another game of basketball.[6] He died of cancer in Miami in 2013.[2] He was survived by his wife, Marsha.[11]
References
- ^ "Welcome to Jews in Sports Online".
- ^ a b Goldstein, Richard (August 10, 2013), "Roy Rubin, Who Led a Record-Losing 76ers, Dies at 87", The New York Times
- New York Times, 1989-03-12.
- ^ a b c d Goldaper, Sam. "Rubin Quits L. I. U. to Pilot 76ers," The New York Times, Friday, June 16, 1972. Retrieved November 29, 2020
- ^ a b c d e f Anthony Oliveri (July 10, 2023). "Inside the worst team in NBA history, the 1972-73 Sixers". ESPN.
- ^ a b c d e Perner, Mark (March 7, 2013), "Recalling the 9-73 Sixers of 1972-73", Philadelphia Daily News, archived from the original on 2014-03-28
- ^ "76ers Dismiss Rubin, Name Loughery Coach," The Associated Press (AP), Tuesday, January 23, 1973. Retrieved November 29, 2020
- ^ Fraser, C. Gerald. "Steve Gordon, Screen Writer, 44" (obituary), The New York Times, Tuesday, November 30, 1982. Retrieved November 29, 2020
- ^ a b Tough to Get Help – Playbill. Retrieved November 29, 2020
- ^ a b Barnes, Clive. "Theater: Tough to Get Help at Royale," The New York Times, Friday, May 5, 1972. Retrieved November 29, 2020
- ^ "Former Sixers coach Rubin dies at 87". 8 August 2013.