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 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 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 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 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. He had several heart attacks that year. The season ended with the Redmen upsetting Villanova, 55–51, in an emotional 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." 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. He died of a heart attack in Monticello, New York, in 1970 at age 70. 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. Family Lapchick married Elizabeth Sarubbi in 1931; they had one daughter and had two sons. Barbara Lapchick