Thomas Ernest "Satch" Sanders (born November 8, 1938) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player and coach. He played his entire professional career as a

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

for the Boston Celtics of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA). Sanders won eight NBA championships and is tied for third for the most NBA championships. He is also one of three NBA players with an unsurpassed 8–0 record in NBA Finals series. After his playing retirement, he served as a head coach for the Harvard Crimson men's basketball team and the Boston Celtics. Sanders was inducted into the

Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and prese ...

as a contributor in 2011.

Career

After playing at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

as a stand out collegian, he spent all of his 13 years in the

(NBA) with the Boston Celtics. He scored a career-high 30 points to go along with 26 rebounds in a 142-110 win over the Syracuse Nationals on March 13, 1962. He was part of the eight championship teams in 1961–66, 1968 and 1969. In NBA history, only teammates

Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. A five-time NBA Most Va ...

and Sam Jones have won more championship rings during their playing careers (three other teammates, John Havlicek, Tom Heinsohn and K. C. Jones, also won eight championship rings). Sanders underwent knee surgery in 1970 after he injured his left knee during the last Celtics game for the regular season. This immensely affected his ability to play afterwards. He announced he was ending his playing career in 1973. On March 20, 1968, a

housing development A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...

group formed by Sanders (called the Sanders Associates) received a $996,000 FHA commitment through the Boston Rehabilitation Program (BURP) for the rehabilitation of 83 units in Roxbury, Massachusetts after local community activists (including Mel King) criticized BURP for a lack of sufficient community control and racial equity. Following his playing career Sanders became the basketball coach at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, a position he held until 1977. Sanders became the first African-American to serve as a head coach of any sport in the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...

. In 1978, Sanders became the head coach of the Boston Celtics, taking over for former teammate Tommy Heinsohn. Sanders returned the following

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

; however after a 2–12 record he was replaced by Dave Cowens, who took on the role as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

. In 1986, Sanders founded the Rookie Transition Program - the first such program in any major American sport.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

BasketballReference.com: Satch Sanders (as coach)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Satch 1938 births Living people African-American basketball coaches African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York City Boston Celtics draft picks Boston Celtics head coaches Boston Celtics players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Harvard Crimson men's basketball coaches Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees National Basketball Association players with retired numbers NYU Violets men's basketball players Power forwards (basketball) Seward Park High School alumni Small forwards 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople