Bob Feerick

Robert Joseph "Bob" Feerick ( January 2, 1920 in San Francisco, California, † June 8, 1976 in Oakland, California ) was an American professional basketball player and coach.

College and Beyond

After Feerick had attended Lowell High School in his hometown of San Francisco, he went from 1937 to 1941 at the Santa Clara University and played for the basketball team, the Santa Clara Broncos. Under coach George Barsi he was, among other things named All-American. After he made ​​his 1942 graduation, he first played in the Amateur Athletic Union of the team from Oakland and even reached the national final. In 1943, he finally joined the Navy and served in World War II. Then he was sent to the Naval Station Norfolk and met Red Auerbach and Red Holzman. Together with Holzman he played in the team of the station, which was coached by Auerbach. With this team he defeated twice, the Washington Bears, who had won the 1943 World Professional Basketball Tournament. Since 13 January 2007, his jersey is no longer awarded with the number 5 at the Broncos.

Professional career

After he had done his service in the Army, he began to play professional basketball and joined the Oshkosh All-Stars on. The All-Stars, he played a season and reached the play-offs with them the NBL, where the team lost 2-3 against the Sheboygan Red Skins. After this one season, he was brought by Red Auerbach to the Washington Capitols in the BAA. Under Auerbach as coach, the team was very successful and Feerick was elected to the seasons 1946-1947 and 1947-1948 in the All- BAA First Team. In the last season at the Capitol Auerbach reached the BAA Finals and lost the best- of-seven against the Minneapolis Lakers 2-4. Feerick was elected team in the All- BAA Second at the end of the season and took over after Auerbach 's departure to the Tri -Cities Blackhawks the post of coach and was therefore now player-manager of the Capitol. After he had done this job for a season and after all the play-offs had been reached, he gave up the post and returned to his alma mater.

Coaching career

So in 1950 he assumed the position as head coach of the Broncos and should remain the Broncos faithful for the next twelve years. With the Broncos, he reached four times the NCAA Tournament and 1952 even the Final Four at this time. During this time, Ken Sears was named All-American and he himself was elected three times to the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year. In 1962, he received an offer from the San Francisco Warriors, who had just moved from Philadelphia out there. Feerick accepted the offer thus became the successor of Frank McGuire. The Warriors by Wilt Chamberlain he could not perform in the play-offs and was replaced after one season by Alex Hannum. Later, he was still working as general manager and director of player personnel for the Warriors.

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