View source for Joe Lapchick

{{Short description|American basketball player and coach}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2011}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Joe Lapchick
| image = Joe Lapchick in his first Celtic uniform, 1922.tiff
| alt = Photograph of Joe Lapchick in Celtic uniform, 1922
| caption = Lapchick in his first Celtic uniform
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1900|4|12}}
| birth_place = [[Yonkers, New York]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1970|8|10|1900|4|12}}
| death_place = [[Monticello, New York]], U.S.
| alma_mater = 
| player_years1 = 1923–1928
| player_team1 = [[Original Celtics]]
| player_years2 = 1928–1930
| player_team2 = [[Cleveland Rosenblums]]
| player_years3 = 1930–1931
| player_team3 = [[Toledo Red Man Tobaccos]]
| coach_years1 = 1936–1947
| coach_team1 = [[St. John's Red Storm men's basketball|St. John's]]
| coach_years2 = 1947–1956
| coach_team2 = [[New York Knicks]]
| coach_years3 = 1956–1965
| coach_team3 = St. John's
| overall_record = 334–130 (college)<br /> 326–247 (NBA)
| bowl_record = 
| tournament_record = 
| championships = 
'''As player:'''<br />
*4× [[American Basketball League (1925–1955)|ABL]] champion (1927–1930)
'''As head coach:'''<br />
*3× [[List of NBA All-Star Game head coaches|NBA All-Star Game head coach]] ({{nasg|1951}}, {{nasg|1953}}, {{nasg|1954}})
*4× [[National Invitational Tournament|NIT]] champion (1943, 1944, 1959, 1965)
*6× [[Metropolitan New York Conference]] regular season championships (1943, 1946, 1947, 1958, 1961, 1962)
| awards = 
| coaching_records = 
| BASKHOF_year = 1966
| CBBASKHOF_year = 
| BASKHOF_id = 
}}
[[File:JoeLapchickGoudeycard.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Joe Lapchick's misspelled 1933 [[Goudey]] Sport Kings basketball card.]]
'''Joseph Bohomiel Lapchick''' (April 12, 1900 – August 10, 1970) was an American professional [[basketball]] player,<ref>{{cite news |author1=Bob Hohler |title=Dad, why don't you ever play soccer with me like the other fathers? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113330988/dad-why-dont-you-ever-play-soccer/ |access-date=19 November 2022 |work=[[Boston Globe]] |date=20 June 1999 |pages=L10–L11 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{open access}}</ref> mostly known for playing with the [[Original Celtics]] in the 1920s and 1930s. He is commonly regarded as the best center of his era, overshadowed (if anything) in his later years only by [[Tarzan Cooper]]. After ending his playing career in 1937, Lapchick became head coach at [[St. John's University, New York|St. John's University]], a position he held until 1947, when he took over the [[New York Knicks]] in the [[National Basketball Association|NBA]]. Lapchick coached the Knicks until 1957, leading them to three consecutive [[NBA Finals]] appearances (1951–1953). He returned to St. John's, coaching them until 1965.

==Early life==
Born in [[Yonkers, New York]] to [[Czech people|Czech]] [[immigrants]], Lapchick as a boy helped his struggling family make ends meet by scrounging for coal near railroad tracks. At age 12 the youngster started playing basketball around his neighborhood, wearing a uniform his mother had made for him. Like many youngsters of the era, he stopped going to school after the eighth grade.

==Playing career==
While working as a [[caddie]] and in a factory, the 15-year-old found he could make $5 to $10 per night playing for local basketball teams. At age 19 he was suiting up for four different touring teams, such as the [[Holyoke Reds]], [[Brooklyn Visitations]], and [[Troy Trojans (basketball)|Troy Trojans]], and pocketing up to $100 per game. Basketball became his life.

Lapchick was rangy at 6-foot-5, making him a valuable commodity at a time when a jump ball was held after every basket. "I played one manager against the other," he said years later. "I bargained with the managers for every game. When there was a clash of dates, I took the best offer."

In 1923 he joined the fabled [[Original Celtics]] (a team that was the second incarnation of the New York Celtics, which had disbanded during [[World War I]]). At first the team eschewed league play, choosing instead to barnstorm throughout the Northeast and wow crowds with its razzle-dazzle style of play. Conditions were spartan. When a large cut on Lapchick's wrist became infected with uniform dye, a teammate rubbed off the scab with a towel and doused the wound with whiskey. Luckily for Lapchick, the treatment worked.

The Celtics joined the [[American Basketball League (1925-1955)|American Basketball League]] in 1926 and won two straight titles. So dominant were Lapchick, [[Nat Holman]], and the rest of the Celtics that the league insisted the team disband. The team disbanded in 1928. Lapchick and two other former Celtics then joined the [[Cleveland Rosenblums]], a team owned by a department store magnate who had named the team after himself. With Lapchick starring at the pivot, the "Rosenblum Celtics" won two straight [[American Basketball League (1925-1955)|ABL titles]]. The Rosenblums folded during the 1930–31 season and Lapchick and four of his teammates signed with the [[Toledo Red Man Tobaccos]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Toledo Signs Clevelanders |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pKVZAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA16 |access-date=31 March 2024 |work=Painesville Telegraph |date=December 9, 1930}}</ref>

The [[Great Depression]] forced an end to the [[American Basketball League (1925-1955)|ABL in 1931]]. Still a young man, Lapchick re-formed the Celtics with [[Dutch Dehnert]], [[Davey Banks]], [[Nat Hickey]], [[Johnny Beckman]], [[Carl Husta]] and him. They hit the road for five years, with Lapchick handling driving duties, and [[Kate Smith]] singing "God Bless America" at games.

==Coaching career==
In 1936 Lapchick landed the coaching job at [[St. John's University, New York|St. John's University]], [[New York City]]. In 11 seasons he steered the Redmen to a 180–55 record and two consecutive [[National Invitation Tournament]] titles, in 1943 and 1944. Overwhelmed by stress, Lapchick fainted during the second half of the 1944 final game. In 1947 he passed up a then-astronomical offer of $12,000 per year to stay at St. John's, opting instead to accept a job as coach of the [[New York Knicks|New York Knickerbockers]] of the fledgling [[Basketball Association of America]]. Landing Lapchick was a big boost to the league, which was in only its second year of operation. He signed [[Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton]] to the Knicks, one of the league's first African-American players.<ref>St. John's University, The President's Newsletter, Vol. 3, Issue 2, February 2018, ""St. John's Unveils Statue Honoring Basketball Legend Joe Lapchick."</ref>

Though a slick player and an admired coach, Lapchick was perhaps best known for his obsessive worrying and anxiety during games. He lived every second of every game as though it were the last tick of the clock. Stress related health problems ended his professional coaching career and caused an occasional on-court fainting spell and even a few heart attacks. Lapchick was respected for his motivational coaching style, which focused less on mechanics than on eliciting peak performances from his players. Stressing a freewheeling offensive approach and smooth ballhandling, Lapchick built winners at both the college and pro levels. As a player, Lapchick had sharp passing and shooting skills that made him one of the first great pro centers and that helped his teams win several championships.

Continuing to emphasize his themes of personal achievement and responsibility, Lapchick was hired by the [[New York Knicks]] for the [[1947–48 New York Knicks season|1947-48 season]], the second in team history. He finished 2nd place in his first year and lost in the first round. The Knicks finished 2nd in the next two seasons, which saw them lose in the Division Finals each time before having it all come together in the 1950–51 season. They finished 36-30 for a third place in the Eastern Division, but they beat Syracuse in a [[1951 NBA playoffs|best-of-five series]] that went the distance to reach their first NBA Finals. They met the Rochester Royals, also making their first NBA Finals. The Knicks lost the first three games of the series, which had scores of 92–65, 99–84, and 78–71. The Knicks suddenly pulled off three straight close wins to even the series at three going into Game 7 in Rochester. They trailed by six at halftime but managed to reel in a late 74–72 lead in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Rochester utilized a handful of free throws and jump balls (at the time, jump balls were done after a made free throw in the last three minutes of a game) to prevail 79–75.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://subscribe.democratandchronicle.com/restricted?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.democratandchronicle.com%2Fstory%2Fsports%2F2021%2F04%2F21%2Fremembering-when-rochester-royals-won-nba-championship-1951%2F7204851002%2F | title=Democrat and Chronicle Subscription Offers, Specials, and Discounts }}</ref> The Knicks improved by one win the following year but repeated a trip to the Finals with wins over [[1952 NBA playoffs|Boston and Syracuse]]. The Knicks met the [[Minneapolis Lakers]], who had won two league championships in the past three seasons under coach [[John Kundla]] and player such as [[George Mikan]]. The two teams split the first four games, which included wins for each team in overtime. Minneapolis won 102–89 to have the Knicks on the wall for Game 6, but they won 76–68 to force Game 7 on the road. In Game 7, the Lakers led by six after one quarter and never looked back in an 82–65 victory. The following year, the Knicks went 47–23 for their first ever division title (sixteen years later, the Knicks would set a new mark for wins). They then beat Baltimore and Boston to reach the Finals for the third straight year. The Knicks met the Lakers again and actually pulled off a 96–88 win on the road for Game 1. However, the Lakers would win the next four games, two of which came by two points to win the series in five games. Under Lapchick, the Knicks were the first NBA team to reach the Finals in three consecutive seasons. Coincidentally, the next team to reach the Finals three straight times and lose three in a row would be the Lakers, who reached the Finals in 1954 to set a three-peat before later losing three in a row from 1968 to 1970. The Knicks won the division again the following year but lost in the one-time [[Round-robin tournament]] used for the playoffs that saw the Knicks lose four games combined to Boston and Syracuse with no wins. Lapchick's final full season came in 1954, where they went 38-34 and lost in the Division Semifinals to Boston. He did not finish out the 1955 season, which saw him leave after going 26–25 to be replaced by [[Vince Boryla]] for the final 21 games.

Ultimately, Lapchick led the Knicks to eight straight winning seasons and eight trips to the playoffs, including three straight [[NBA Finals]] from 1951 to 1953. The [[1953-54 NBA season|1953–54]] Knicks were more than just a team of talented players; eight of them went on to coach pro or college teams, a tribute to Lapchick's leadership. Though a great motivator, Lapchick was a wild man on the sidelines, stomping on his coat, smashing chairs, and tossing various objects into the air. Stress-related health problems forced him to quit near the end of the [[1955-56 NBA season|1955–56 season]]. He left the Knicks with a 326–247 NBA coaching record.

Lapchick rested for only a month before returning to St. John's, where in nine more seasons he led the Redmen to two more [[National Invitation Tournament|NIT]] crowns, giving them a record four titles. Lapchick wasn't just his players' basketball coach; he monitored their academic performance as well. The school's mandatory-retirement rules forced Lapchick, a two-time college Coach of the Year, to step down after the 1964–65 season at age 65.<ref>{{cite news |author1=[[Dick Young (sportswriter)|Dick Young]] |title=Young ideas |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113330295/young-ideas/ |access-date=19 November 2022 |work=[[New York Daily News]] |date=25 December 1966 |page=68 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{open access}}</ref> He had several heart attacks that year. The season ended with the Redmen upsetting [[Villanova University|Villanova]], 55–51, in an emotional [[National Invitation Tournament|NIT]] Championship Game.

Describing his final season at St. John's, Lapchick told the Washington, D.C.–based ''Evening Star'': "I used to double up with chest pains. Sometimes I couldn't even talk to the team during halftime."

==Later years and legacy==
Lapchick turned to writing. In 1968 he wrote ''50 Years of Basketball,'' a book that was both a compilation of stories from Lapchick's early days as a player and an explanation of his coaching philosophy. As one of basketball's most prominent elder statesmen, Lapchick also stayed active as a spokesman for the sport.
[[File:Lapchick headstone.JPG|thumb|The grave of Joe Lapchick in [[Oakland Cemetery (Yonkers, New York)|Oakland Cemetery]] in Yonkers, NY]] He died of a heart attack in [[Monticello, New York]], in 1970 at age 70.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Sandy Padwe |title=Game grew with Lapchick |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15092209/joe-lapchick-baskeball-player/ |access-date=19 November 2022 |work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] |date=11 August 1970 |page=18 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{open access}}</ref> As a star center with the [[Original Celtics]] and other barnstorming teams, a college coach at [[St. John's University, New York|St. John's]], an [[NBA]] coach with the [[New York Knicks]], and an ambassador of the sport, Lapchick cast a broad shadow across the game and its history. From star player to successful coach to popular author to respected dignitary, Lapchick played a variety of roles in his more than 50 years in the game of basketball. He was an eminently influential figure who helped nurture the sport from its crude beginnings into its modern form.

==Legacy and honors==
* Lapchick was elected to the [[Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame]] as a member of the Original Celtics in 1959 and as an individual in 1966.
* In his memory, St. John's created an annual preseason college basketball tournament entitled the [[Lapchick Memorial Tournament]].
*[[Jeremy Piven]] portrayed him in the 2023 movie ''[[Sweetwater (2023 film)|Sweetwater]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2365971/ | title=Sweetwater | website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>

===Family===
Lapchick married Elizabeth Sarubbi in 1931; they had one daughter and had two sons. Barbara Lapchick was one of the original Ford models and graduated from Barnard College.   [[Richard Lapchick|Dr. Richard Lapchick]] is a human rights activist working for racial equality, an internationally recognized expert on sports issues, a scholar and an author. Lapchick is the Endowed Chair and Director of the [[DeVos Sport Business Management Program]] at the [[Business school|College of Business Administration]], [[University of Central Florida]]. He is also President/CEO of the National Consortium for Academics and Sport (NCAS), a school outreach program which focuses on teaching youth how to improve race relations, and develop conflict resolution skills.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tidesport.org/aboutdirectors.html#lapchick |title=TIDES |publisher=Tidesport.org |access-date=2010-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323045835/http://www.tidesport.org/aboutdirectors.html#lapchick |archive-date=2010-03-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Joseph Lapchick graduated from the USMA and took a commission in the USAF. He earned a PhD at Harvard. He was superintendent of schools in Aspen, Colorado, and later an area superintendent in Philadelphia.

==Head coaching record==
===NBA===
{{NBA coach statistics legend}}
{{NBA coach statistics start}}
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1947–48 New York Knicks season|New York]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1947}}
|48||26||22||{{Winning percentage|26|22}}|| align="center"|2nd in Eastern|||3||1||2||.333
| style="text-align:center;"|[[1948 BAA playoffs|Lost in First Round]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1948–49 New York Knicks season|New York]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1948}}
|60||32||28||{{Winning percentage|32|28}}|| align="center"|2nd in Eastern|||6||3||3||.500
| style="text-align:center;"|[[1949 BAA playoffs|Lost in Division Finals]]
|- 
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1949–50 New York Knicks season|New York]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1949}}
|68||40||28||{{Winning percentage|40|28}}|| align="center"|2nd in Eastern|||5||3||2||{{Winning percentage|3|2}}
| style="text-align:center;"|[[1950 NBA playoffs|Lost in Division Finals]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1950–51 New York Knicks season|New York]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1950}}
|66||36||30||{{Winning percentage|36|30}}|| align="center"|3rd in Eastern|||14||8||6||{{Winning percentage|8|6}}
| style="text-align:center;"|[[1951 NBA playoffs|Lost in NBA Finals]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1951–52 New York Knicks season|New York]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1951}}
|66||37||29||{{Winning percentage|37|29}}|| align="center"|3rd in Eastern|||14||8||6||{{Winning percentage|8|6}}
| style="text-align:center;"|[[1952 NBA playoffs|Lost in NBA Finals]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1952–53 New York Knicks season|New York]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1952}}
|70||47||23||{{Winning percentage|47|23}}|| align="center"|1st in Eastern|||11||6||5||{{Winning percentage|6|5}}
| style="text-align:center;"|[[1953 NBA playoffs|Lost in NBA Finals]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1953–54 New York Knicks season|New York]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1953}}
|72||44||28||{{Winning percentage|44|28}}|| align="center"|1st in Eastern|||4||0||4||.000
| style="text-align:center;"|[[1954 NBA playoffs|Lost in Round-Robin]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1954–55 New York Knicks season|New York]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1954}}
|72||38||34||{{Winning percentage|38|34}}|| align="center"|2nd in Eastern|||3||1||2||.333
| style="text-align:center;"|[[1955 NBA playoffs|Lost in Division Semifinals]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|[[1955–56 New York Knicks season|New York]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1955}}
|51||26||25||{{Winning percentage|26|25}}|| align="center"|4th in Eastern|||-||-||-||-
| style="text-align:center;"|Resigned
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:left;"|'''Career'''
| ||573||326||247||{{Winning percentage|326|247}}|| ||60||30||30||{{Winning percentage|30|30}}||
{{s-end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* {{Basketballhof|joe-lapchick}}
* [https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/lapchjo99c.html BasketballReference.com: Joe Lapchick]

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[[Category:1900 births]]
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