Pete Newell Dies at 93

Bay Area coaching legend Pete Newell, who won NIT and NCAA titles, as well as Olympic Gold in 1960, has died at age 93, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Newell won an NIT championship with USF in 1949, when the NIT title was considered to be more prestigious than an NCAA tournament title.

After leaving the Bay Area for Michigan State, Newell returned to take the coaching job at Cal, where he won the Pac-8 title four straight years. Newell's Bears didn't always have the best talent, but they were undoubtedly among the best coached, winning the 1959 title and reaching the title game again the next year (earning the 1960 NCAA coach of the year award). Cal's court is named in his honor.

Newell would've made Jerry Tarkanian seem calm on the bench. He chain smoked off the court and was so nervous on it that he was told to retire before the age of 45 for the sake of his health.

After retirement from NCAA coaching, Newell returned to the bench for the 1960 Olympics, leading the United States to victory. In the 1970's, he was general manager for several NBA teams, including the Lakers, who he netted Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Newell is perhaps best known for his Big Man camps, attended by players such as James Worthy, Hakeem Olajuwon, Scotty Pippen, Shaq, and more recently, Andrew Bynum.  Newell later started an elite camp for women post players as well. Both camps were operated for free. Newell also did charitable work for the Peace Corps.

As noted in the Chronicle, Newell loved basketball so much that he gave up a potentially lucrative acting career. As a child actor, he almost became internationally famous playing opposite Charlie Chaplin in The Kid (he was ultimately not chosen for the part).

For more than ten years, Bay Area teams have participated in the Pete Newell Challenge in his honor.

Newell was a class act who represented Cal, Team USA, and the sport of basketball better than almost anyone in the history of the game.

UC-Berkeley press release: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/11/17_newell.shtml

Some annecdotes about Newell's career and life: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/17/SPGM1468HJ.DTL

University of San Francisco press release: http://usfdons.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/111708aaa.html