Al Attles

Alvin A. "Al" Attles Jr. (born November 7 1936 in Newark, New Jersey) is a retired American professional basketball player and coach. He is a graduate of Weequahic High School in Newark and North Carolina A&T State University. [Johnson, Roy S. [http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=FA0A11FC385C0C7B8EDDA80894DA484D81 "ATTLES COACHES IN A PERSONAL WAY"] , "The New York Times", January 28, 1982. Accessed November 22, 2007.] Attles played eleven seasons for the National Basketball Association's San Francisco Warriors (which were called the Philadelphia Warriors until 1962) beginning in 1960. He was a role player on the 1964 Warriors team (with Wilt Chamberlain, Guy Rodgers) that made the NBA Finals and eventually lost the series to the Boston Celtics four games to one. He also played on the Warriors' 1967 team that lost to Chamberlain's 68-13 Philadelphia 76ers in a closely-played six-game final series.

Attles later became one of the first African-American coaches in the NBA, when he succeeded George Lee as Warriors head coach in 1970. Attles guided the Rick Barry-led Warriors to the 1975 NBA championship, making him the second African American coach to win an NBA title (the first was Bill Russell). Attles coached the Warriors until 1983, compiling a 557-518 regular season record ( 588-548 overall in 14 seasons with 6 playoff years).

References

External links

* [http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/attleal01.html Basketball-Reference.com: Al Attles (as player)]
* [http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/attleal01c.html Basketball-Reference.com: Al Attles (as coach)]
* [http://www.ncat.edu/%7Ealumni/alumni_affairs/distinguished/distinguished.html North Carolina A & T]