View source for Al Cervi

{{short description|American basketball player and coach (1917–2009)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox basketball biography
| name         = Al Cervi
| image        = Al Cervi.jpeg
| width        = 180px
| caption      = Cervi circa 1949
| height_ft    = 5
| height_in    = 11
| weight_lb    = 170
| league       =
| team         = 
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1917|02|12}}
| birth_place  = [[Buffalo, New York]], U.S.
| death_date   = {{death date and age|2009|11|09|1917|02|12}}
| death_place  = [[Rochester, New York]], U.S.
| high_school  = [[East High School (Buffalo, New York)|East]] (Buffalo, New York)
| college      = 
| career_start = 1937
| career_end   = 1953
| career_number = 15
| career_position = [[Forward (basketball)|Forward]] / [[Guard (basketball)|guard]]
| years1 = 1937–1938
| team1 = Buffalo Bisons
| years2 = 1945–1947
| team2 = [[Rochester Royals]]
| years3 = 1947
| team3 = [[Trenton Tigers]]
| years4 = 1947–1948
| team4 = Rochester Royals
| years5 = 1948–{{nbay|1952|end}}
| team5 = [[Syracuse Nationals]]
| coach_start = 1948
| coach_end = 1959 
| cyears1 = 1948–{{nbay|1957|end}}
| cteam1 = Syracuse Nationals
| cyears2 = {{nbay|1958|full=y}}
| cteam2 = [[Philadelphia Warriors]]
| highlights   = 
'''As player:'''
* [[All-NBA Second Team]] ([[1949–50 NBA season|1950]])
* [[List of National Basketball League (United States) champions|NBL champion]] (1946)
* 3× [[All-National Basketball League (United States) Team|All-NBL First Team]] (1947–1949)
* [[All-National Basketball League (United States) Team|All-NBL Second Team]] (1946)
* [[List of National Basketball League (United States) scoring leaders|NBL scoring champion]] (1947)
'''As coach:'''
* [[List of NBA Champions|NBA champion]] ([[1955 NBA Finals|1955]])
* 2× [[List of NBA All-Star Game head coaches|NBA All-Star Game head coach]] ({{nasg|1952}}, {{nasg|1955}})
* [[NBL (United States) Coach of the Year Award|NBL Coach of the Year]] (1949)
| stats_league= NBA
| stat1label    = [[Point (basketball)|Points]]
| stat1value    = 1,591 (7.9 ppg)
| stat2label    = [[Rebound (basketball)|Rebounds]]
| stat2value    = 261 (1.8 rpg)
| stat3label    = [[Assist (basketball)|Assists]]
| stat3value    = 648 (3.2 apg)
| bbr           = cervial01
| cstats_league1 = NBA
| cwin1          = 326
| closs1         = 241
| HOF_player     = al-cervi
}}
'''Alfred Nicholas Cervi''' (February 12, 1917 – November 9, 2009) was an American professional basketball player and [[Coach (sport)|coach]] in the [[National Basketball League (United States)|National Basketball League (NBL)]] and [[National Basketball Association|National Basketball Association (NBA)]]. One of the strongest backcourt players of the 1940s and 1950s, he was always assigned to defend against the opposing team's best scoring threat. He earned the [[nickname]] "Digger" because of his hard-nosed style of defense.  He won the National Basketball League championship in 1946 with the Rochester Royals while being an All-NBL First Team in three straight seasons. He stayed with the NBL with the Syracuse Nationals in 1948, where he became player-coach that same year, which was the last one prior to joining the NBA. In that first year in the NBA, the Nationals won 51 games and reached the Finals, where they lost to the Minneapolis Lakers in six games. Cervi led the team back to the Finals in 1954 and 1955, which each saw the Nationals play in a Game 7; denied in 1954 to Minneapolis, the Nationals won Game 7 in 1955 for their first NBA championship. After twelve games in 1956, Cervi was fired from the Nationals, having coached them to eight postseason appearances in nine seasons. He coached one season with the Philadelphia Warriors in 1958 but elected to leave coaching for more lucrative ventures.<ref name="matthews">[http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009911100333 Matthews, Bob. "Basketball Hall of Famer Cervi dies at 92," ''Rochester'' (NY) ''Democrat and Chronicle'', Tuesday, November 10, 2009.]</ref> Cervi was inducted into the [[Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame]] in 1985.

==Early life==
Born in [[Buffalo, New York]], Cervi attended East High School in his hometown, where he captained the baseball and basketball teams and achieved All-City honors in both sports. He dropped out of school after his junior year when he was recruited by the Buffalo Bisons of the newly formed NBL.<ref name="northrop">[http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/856564.html Northrop, Milt. "Basketball Hall of Famer Al Cervi dies at age 92," ''The Buffalo News'', Tuesday, November 10, 2009.]</ref> He played in all of the Bisons' nine games in 1937–38, the franchise's only season of existence.<ref name="encycloped">Shouler, Ken; Ryan, Bob; Smith, Sam; Koppett, Leonard & Bellotti, Bob. ''Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia''. Toronto, ON: Sport Media Publishing, Inc., 2003.</ref>

He never attended college. Instead, he served five years in the [[United States Army Air Forces]] from 1940 through 1945.<ref name="matthews"/><ref name="litskynyt">{{citation |last=Litsky |first=Frank |title=Al Cervi, Hall of Fame N.B.A. Player-Coach, Dies at 92 | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 11, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/sports/basketball/11cervi.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries}}</ref>

==Rochester Royals (1945–1948)==
After the conclusion of World War II, he joined the [[Rochester Royals]], another NBL franchise entering its first year of operations. He immediately experienced success as the team captured the 1945–46 league title after sweeping the best-of-five championship series from the [[Sheboygan Red Skins]]. The Royals returned to the finals the following two seasons, but lost to the [[Chicago American Gears]] and [[Minneapolis Lakers]] in four games each.<ref name="encycloped"/> Cervi made the All-NBL First Team in 1947 and 1948.<ref name="onbartsn">''Official NBA Register''. 2003–04 Edition. St. Louis, Missouri: ''The Sporting News'', 2003.</ref> In the first of those two campaigns, he was the leading scorer with 632 points.<ref name="matthews"/><ref name="encycloped"/>

His time with the Royals lasted only three seasons.<ref name="encycloped"/> After discovering that other teammates were being paid more than his $7,500 annual salary, he requested a $3,500 raise, which was denied by team owner [[Les Harrison (basketball)|Les Harrison]]. As a result, instead of moving with the Royals to the [[Basketball Association of America|Basketball Association of America (BAA)]] after the 1948 campaign, Cervi stayed in the NBL and joined the [[Syracuse Nationals]], who met his salary demands and appointed him [[player-coach]].<ref name="matthews"/><ref name="encycloped"/>

==Syracuse Nationals (1948–1957)==
Besides being named to the All-NBL First Team for a third straight year in 1949, he also earned Coach of the Year honors. After the BAA-NBL merger to form the NBA prior to the [[1949–50 NBA season|1949–50]] campaign, he continued to serve in the dual capacity role until his retirement as an active player in [[1952–53 NBA season|1953]].<ref name="onbartsn"/> However, his last year as a full-time player was 1952; it was the last year that he played at least 50 games.

The Syracuse teams he piloted took on his relentlessly competitive nature. He played a major role in the development of [[Dolph Schayes]].<ref name="kirstpssyr">[http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2009/11/nats.html Kirst, Sean. "Relentless: The passing of Al Cervi," ''The Post-Standard'' (Syracuse, NY), Tuesday, November 10, 2009.]</ref>

The Nationals qualified for the playoffs in eight of the nine seasons that he coached the ballclub, including three trips to the [[NBA Finals]]. They were twice defeated by the Lakers, first in six games in [[1950 NBA Finals|1950]] and then in seven in [[1954 NBA Finals|1954]]. The pinnacle of Cervi's coaching career was leading his squad to the NBA Championship over the [[Fort Wayne Pistons]] in seven games in [[1955 NBA Finals|1955]].<ref name="onbartsn"/>

When the Nationals began the [[1956–57 NBA season|1956–57]] campaign at 4–8, he was replaced by team captain [[Paul Seymour (basketball)|Paul Seymour]].<ref name="theguide">''Official NBA Guide''. 2003–04 Edition. St. Louis, Missouri: ''The Sporting News'', 2003.</ref>

==Later years==
Cervi succeeded [[George Senesky]] as coach of the [[Philadelphia Warriors]] in [[1958–59 NBA season|1958]],<ref>[https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/GSW/ Golden State Warriors Franchise Index – Basketball-Reference.com.]</ref> but left after one season to accept a more lucrative job in the [[trucking industry in the United States|trucking]] business as an area [[management|manager]] for [[Eastern Freightways, Inc.]] in [[Rochester, New York]]. In [[1960–61 NBA season|1960]] he declined to accept a two-year offer to coach the Lakers in its first campaign in Los Angeles because his wife was reluctant to leave the Rochester area. He lived in the suburb of [[Brighton, Monroe County, New York|Brighton]] for the last 58 years of his life.<ref name="matthews"/>

Cervi was inducted into the [[Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame]] in 1985.<ref>[http://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/tag/alfred-n-al-cervi Alfred N. "Al" Cervi (biography) – Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120908030025/http://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/tag/alfred-n-al-cervi |date=2012-09-08 }}</ref> He received similar honors from the [[Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame]] in 2003.<ref>[http://www.buffalosportshallfame.com/2003/al_cervi.html Al Cervi (Class of 2003), Buffalo Bisons Basketball Player – Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202130627/http://buffalosportshallfame.com/2003/al_cervi.html |date=2009-02-02 }}</ref>

He died on November 9, 2009, in Rochester, New York, at the age of 92.<ref name="litskynyt"/>

Cervi was featured in the book, Basketball History in Syracuse, Hoops Roots by author Mark Allen Baker published by The History Press in 2010. The book is an introduction to professional basketball in Syracuse and includes teams like (Vic Hanson's) All-Americans, the Syracuse Reds and the [[Syracuse Nationals]]  (1946–1963).

== Career playing statistics ==
{| class="toccolours" style="font-size: 90%; white-space: nowrap;"
|-
! colspan="6" style="background:#f2f2f2; border:1px solid #aaa;"| Legend
|-
| style="background:#f2f2f2; border:1px solid black;"| &nbsp;&nbsp;GP
| Games played
| style="background:#f2f2f2; border:1px solid black;"| &nbsp;FGM&nbsp;
| style="padding-right: 8px" | [[Field goal (basketball)|Field-goals]] made
|-
| style="background:#f2f2f2; border:1px solid black;"| &nbsp;FG%&nbsp;
| style="padding-right: 8px" | [[Field goal (basketball)|Field-goal]] percentage
| style="background:#f2f2f2; border:1px solid black;"| &nbsp;FTM&nbsp;
| [[Free throw|Free-throws]] made
|-
| style="background:#f2f2f2; border:1px solid black;"| &nbsp;FTA&nbsp;
| [[Free throw|Free-throws]] attempted
| style="background:#f2f2f2; border:1px solid black;"| &nbsp;FT%&nbsp;
| [[Free throw|Free-throw]] percentage
|-
| style="background:#f2f2f2; border:1px solid black;"| &nbsp;RPG&nbsp;
| [[Rebound (basketball)|Rebounds]] per game
| style="background:#f2f2f2; border:1px solid black;"| &nbsp;APG&nbsp;
| [[Assist (basketball)|Assists]] per game
|-
| style="background:#f2f2f2; border:1px solid black;"| &nbsp;PTS&nbsp;
| Points
| style="background:#f2f2f2; border:1px solid black;"| &nbsp;PPG&nbsp;
| Points per game
|-
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2; border: 1px solid black" | &nbsp;'''Bold'''&nbsp;
| Career high
|-
|}
{|class ="wikitable"
|-
|style="background:#ffe6fa; width:3em;"|†
|Denotes seasons in which Cervi's team won an [[List of National Basketball League (United States) champions|NBL championship]]
|}

===NBL===
Source<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/players/c/cervial01n.html|title=Al Cervi NBL stats|website=[[Basketball Reference]]|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|accessdate=8 June 2025}}</ref>

====Regular season====
{{NBL (United States) player statistics start}}
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| [[1937–38 National Basketball League (United States) season|1937–38]]
| style="text-align:left;"| Buffalo
| 9 || 19 || 6 ||  ||  || 44 || 4.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#ffe6fa;"| [[National Basketball League (United States)|1945–46]]†
| style="text-align:left;"| [[1945–46 Rochester Royals season|Rochester]]
| 28 || 112 || 76 || 108 || .704 || 300 || 10.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| [[National Basketball League (United States)|1946–47]]
| style="text-align:left;"| [[1946–47 Rochester Royals season|Rochester]]
| 44 || 228 || 176 || 236 || .746 || 632 || '''14.4'''
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| [[National Basketball League (United States)|1947–48]]
| style="text-align:left;"| [[1947–48 Rochester Royals season|Rochester]]
| 49 || '''234''' || 187 || 242 || '''.773''' || 655 || 13.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| [[National Basketball League (United States)|1948–49]]
| style="text-align:left;"| [[1948–49 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
| '''57''' || 204 || '''287''' || '''382''' || .751 || '''695''' || 12.2
|-
|style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career
| 187 || 797 || 732 || 968 || .750 || 2,326 || 12.4
|}

====Playoffs====
{{NBL (United States) player statistics start}}
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#ffe6fa;"| [[National Basketball League (United States)|1946]]†
| style="text-align:left;"| [[1945–46 Rochester Royals season|Rochester]]
| 7 || 23 || 24 || 30 || '''.800''' || 70 || 10.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| [[National Basketball League (United States)|1947]]
| style="text-align:left;"| [[1946–47 Rochester Royals season|Rochester]]
| '''11''' || '''49''' || '''50''' || '''68''' || .735 || '''148''' || '''13.5'''
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| [[National Basketball League (United States)|1948]]
| style="text-align:left;"| [[1947–48 Rochester Royals season|Rochester]]
| 6 || 18 || 14 || 19 || .737 || 50 || 8.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| [[National Basketball League (United States)|1949]]
| style="text-align:left;"| [[1948–49 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
| 6 || 12 || 22 || 30 || .733 || 46 || 7.7
|-
|style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career
| 30 || 102 || 110 || 147 || .748 || 314 || 10.5
|}

===NBA===

====Regular season====
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;"
!Year
!Team
!GP
!MPG
!FG%
!FT%
!RPG
!APG
!PPG
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1949–50 NBA season|1949–50]]
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1949–50 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
|'''56'''
|–
|.332
|.829
|–
|'''4.7'''
|'''10.2'''
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1950–51 NBA season|1950–51]]
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1950–51 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
|53
|–
|.382
|.819
|'''2.9'''
|3.9
|8.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1951–52 NBA season|1951–52]]
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1951–52 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
|55
|'''15.5'''
|.354
|'''.883'''
|1.6
|2.7
|7.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1952–53 NBA season|1952–53]]
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1952–53 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
|38
|7.9
|'''.437'''
|.810
|0.6
|0.7
|3.8
|- class="sortbottom"
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Career
|202
|12.4
|.359
|.839
|1.8
|3.2
|7.9
|}

====Playoffs====
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;"
!Year
!Team
!GP
!MPG
!FG%
!FT%
!RPG
!APG
!PPG
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1950 NBA Playoffs|1950]]
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1949–50 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
|'''11'''
|–
|.338
|.826
|–
|4.7
|7.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1951 NBA Playoffs|1951]]
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1950–51 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
|7
|–
|.304
|.880
|'''4.7'''
|'''5.4'''
|'''11.1'''
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1952 NBA Playoffs|1952]]
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1951–52 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
|7
|12.6
|.223
|'''.957'''
|1.4
|2.1
|5.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1953 NBA Playoffs|1953]]
| style="text-align:left;" |[[1952–53 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
|2
|'''14.0'''
|'''.600'''
|.800
|0.0
|0.5
|9.0
|- class="sortbottom"
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Career
|27
|12.9
|.314
|.866
|2.7
|3.9
|8.0
|}

==Head coaching record==
{{NBA coach statistics legend}}
{{NBA coach statistics start}}
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1949–50 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1949}}
| 64||51||13||{{Winning percentage|51|13}}|| style="text-align:center;"|1st in [[Eastern Division (NBA)|Eastern]]||11||6||5||{{Winning percentage|6|5}}
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in [[1950 NBA Finals|NBA Finals]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1950–51 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1950}}
| 66||32||34||{{Winning percentage|21|45}}|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Eastern||7||4||3||{{Winning percentage|4|3}}
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in [[1951 NBA playoffs|Division finals]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1951–52 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1951}}
| 66||40||26||{{Winning percentage|40|26}}|| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Eastern||7||3||4||{{Winning percentage|4|3}}
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in [[1952 NBA playoffs|Division finals]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1952–53 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1952}}
| 71||47||24||{{Winning percentage|47|24}}|| style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Eastern||2||0||2||{{Winning percentage|0|2}}
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in [[1953 NBA playoffs|Division semifinals]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1953–54 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1953}}
| 72||42||30||{{Winning percentage|42|30}}|| style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Eastern||13||9||4||{{Winning percentage|9|4}}
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in [[1954 NBA Finals|NBA finals]]
|-style="background:#FDE910;"
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1954–55 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1954}}
| 72||43||29||{{Winning percentage|43|29}}|| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Eastern||11||7||4||{{Winning percentage|7|4}}
| style="text-align:center;"|'''Won [[1955 NBA Finals|NBA championship]]'''
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1955–56 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1955}}
| 72||35||37||{{Winning percentage|35|37}}|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Eastern||8||4||4||{{Winning percentage|4|4}}
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in [[1956 NBA playoffs|Division finals]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1956–57 Syracuse Nationals season|Syracuse]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1956}}
| 12||4||8||{{Winning percentage|4|8}}|| style="text-align:center;"|(replaced)||—||—||—||—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1958–59 Philadelphia Warriors season|Philadelphia]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1958}}
| 72||32||40||{{Winning percentage|32|40}}|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Eastern||—||—||—||—
| style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/cervial01c.html|title=Al Cervi coaching record|website=[[Basketball Reference]]|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|accessdate=6 June 2025}}</ref>
| 567||326||241||{{Winning percentage|326|241}}||&nbsp;||59||33||26||{{Winning percentage|33|26}}||&nbsp;
{{s-end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |first=Robert W. |last=Peterson |title=Cages to Jump Shots: Pro Basketball's Early Years |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2002 |chapter=The Infancy of the NBA |pages=166–183 |isbn=0-8032-8772-0 }}

==External links==
* {{Basketballhof|alfred-n-al-cervi|Al Cervi}}
* {{basketballstats|bbr=c/cervial01|name=Al Cervi}}

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{{NBL (United States) scoring leaders}}
{{NBL (United States) Coaches of the Year}}
{{1985 Basketball HOF}}
{{Basketball Hall of Fame guards}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cervi, Al}}
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:Basketball players from Buffalo, New York]]
[[Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II]]
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