View source for Lenny Sachs

{{Short description|American football player and coach (1897–1942)}}
{{for|similarly named people|Leonard Sax (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Refimprove|date=March 2009}}
{{Infobox gridiron football person
| name = Lenny Sachs
| image = Lenny_Sachs_Loyola.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = Sachs from the 1938 ''Loyolan''
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1897|8|7}}
| birth_place = [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1942|10|27|1897|8|7}}
| death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| team = 
| number = 
| status = 
| position1 = [[End (gridiron football)|End]]
| height_ft = 5
| height_in = 8
| weight_lb = 176
| high_school = [[Carl Schurz High School]]
| college = [[DePaul University|American College of Physical Education]] (BA/BS)<br/>[[Loyola University Chicago|Loyola (ILL)]] (MA/MS)
| coaching_years1 = 1926
| coaching_team1 = [[Louisville Brecks#Louisville Colonels (1926)|Louisville Colonels]]
| playing_years1 = 1920–1922
| playing_team1 = [[Chicago Cardinals]]
| playing_years2 = 1923–1924
| playing_team2 = [[Milwaukee Badgers]]
| playing_years3 = 1924–1925
| playing_team3 = [[Hammond Pros]]
| playing_years4 = 1925
| playing_team4 = Chicago Cardinals
| playing_years5 = 1926
| playing_team5 = [[Louisville Brecks#Louisville Colonels (1926)|Louisville Colonels]]
| career_highlights = *[[List of NFL champions|NFL Champion]] ([[1925 NFL season|1925]])
| CoachPFR = SachLe0
| module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
|allegiance           = {{flagicon|United States}} [[United States of America|United States]]
|branch               = [[File:United States Department of the Navy Seal.svg|20px|United States Navy seal]] [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]]
|serviceyears         = 1917–1919
|unit                 =
|battles              = [[World War I]]
|awards               = 
}}
}}

'''Leonard David Sachs''' (August 7, 1897 – October 27, 1942) was an American [[basketball]] and [[American football|football]] [[coach (sport)|coach]] and player. In 1961, he was posthumously enshrined as a coach in the [[Basketball Hall of Fame]].

He was born in [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]] on August 7, 1897. Sachs attended [[Carl Schurz High School]] in Chicago, where he earned 11 varsity letters before his graduation in 1914. Upon graduation from high school, Sachs joined  the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War I]], where he continued playing sports, earning an All-Service team honorable mention in football in 1918 while playing on the [[Cleveland]] [[Naval Reserves]] football team.

After the war, Sachs enrolled at Chicago's American College of Physical Education—which later merged with [[DePaul University]]—and graduated in 1923. While at college, Sachs played for the [[Chicago Cardinals]] in the [[National Football League]] (NFL) from 1920 to 1922.

Sachs was hired as basketball coach in 1923 at [[Loyola University Chicago]], even while continuing his NFL career. From 1923 to 1926 Sachs played for the [[Milwaukee Badgers]], [[Hammond Pros]], and [[Louisville Brecks#Louisville Colonels (1926)|Louisville Colonels]], ending his career as a player-coach for the 1926 Louisville Colonels, a road-only team based in Chicago. Sachs was also an assistant football coach at Loyola on the staff of head coach [[Roger Kiley]].<ref>[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/358661052.html?dids=358661052:358661052&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+26%2C+1923&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=tOYOLA+VARSITY+SEEKS+BIG+SCORE+AGAINST+LEWIS&pqatl=google Loyola Varsity Seeks Big Score Against Lewis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107172344/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/358661052.html?dids=358661052:358661052&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+26,+1923&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=tOYOLA+VARSITY+SEEKS+BIG+SCORE+AGAINST+LEWIS&pqatl=google |date=2012-11-07 }}, ''The Chicago Tribune'', October 26, 1923.</ref>

After abandoning his NFL career, Sachs began to flourish as a basketball coach. In the 1926–27 season, the Loyola basketball team improved to 13–4. In 1927–28, the team set a new Loyola record for wins in a season by earning a record of 16–4. And in 1928–29, Loyola was a perfect 16-0 under Sachs' guidance. Loyola recorded 31 consecutive victories between 1928 and 1930.

In the 1930s, Sachs developed an innovative fast-break offense and a 2–2–1 [[zone defense]] that prompted a rule change in 1937 to prevent goaltending. His 1938–39 team was 21–0 before losing to 44–32 to [[Long Island University]] in the [[1939 National Invitation Tournament|National Invitation Tournament]] final at [[Madison Square Garden]].

On October 27, 1942, Sachs suffered a fatal heart attack while advising the [[Wendell Phillips High School]] football team for their appearance in the [[Chicago Public League]] championship. He was 45 years old.

Sachs amassed a record of 224–129 as a college basketball coach. In 1935 he earned a graduate degree from Loyola.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Basketballhof|leonard-sachs}}

{{Navboxes
| list1 =
{{Loyola Ramblers men's basketball coach navbox}}
{{Louisville Brecks coaches}}
{{Loyola Ramblers athletic director navbox}}
{{1920 Chicago Cardinals}}
{{1925 Chicago Cardinals}}
{{1961 Basketball HOF}}
{{Basketball Hall of Fame coaches}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sachs, Lenny}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:American football ends]]
[[Category:American men's basketball coaches]]
[[Category:Basketball coaches from Illinois]]
[[Category:Chicago Cardinals players]]
[[Category:College men's basketball head coaches in the United States]]
[[Category:DePaul University alumni]]
[[Category:High school basketball coaches in the United States]]
[[Category:Louisville Brecks and Colonels (NFL) coaches]]
[[Category:Loyola Ramblers athletic directors]]
[[Category:Loyola Ramblers football coaches]]
[[Category:Loyola Ramblers men's basketball coaches]]
[[Category:Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Chicago]]
[[Category:Carl Schurz High School alumni]]