Alexander Murray Hannum (July 19, 1923 – January 18, 2002) was an American professional

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player and coach. As a player, Hannum played for six different teams, most notably with the Milwaukee (later St. Louis) Hawks, where he played for three seasons. Midway through the 1956-57 season, Hannum was named player-coach of the Hawks with 31 games left in the season; the team reached the

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and lost in seven games. Hannum retired as a player after the season ended to focus on coaching. In the 1957-58 season, the Hawks won 41 games and won the Western Division again on their way to another matchup against the

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in the NBA Finals, where the Hawks won the championship in Game 6 for the championship—the only one in Hawks history. Hannum left the team in the offseason after a dispute with ownership but returned to the NBA to coach the Syracuse Nationals in 1960. He coached the Nationals for three seasons before resigning in 1962. Hannum joined the newly christened San Francisco Warriors in 1963 and led the team to the Western Division title in his rookie season. They reached the NBA Finals that year but lost to Boston in a sweep. After two further seasons, Hannum was fired. He coached the Philadelphia 76ers in 1966 and in his first season, the team won a then-record 68 games to win the Eastern Division and then defeated the Celtics on their way to the NBA Finals, which they won in six games over San Francisco to make Hannum the first NBA coach to win championships with multiple teams. His second season in Philadelphia saw them win 62 games and another division title, but Hannum elected to resign after the team lost in the Division Finals. Hannum coached the Oakland Oaks in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

in 1968, where the team won 60 of 78 games on their way to a dominant postseason run where they went 12-4 to win the ABA Finals, thereby making Hannum the first (and so far only) coach to lead three professional basketball teams to league championships. The Oaks relocated to Washington after the season and Hannum resigned to coach the San Diego Rockets in 1969. His two seasons there was the only time he did not reach the postseason with a team. He finished his coaching tenure with the Denver Rockets, coaching from 1971 to 1974 and reaching the postseason twice. In his career, Hannum had a combined NBA-ABA record of 649–564 (.535) in the regular season and 61–46 (.570) in the playoffs over 16 seasons while being the first of only two coaches to win NBA and ABA championships. In 1998, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach.

Early life

Alexander Murray Hannum was born on July 19, 1923, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He attended Hamilton High School, where he excelled in

College career

Hannum attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC). He played basketball at USC in 1942 and 1943, but his time at USC was interrupted when he was called into military service during

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in 1943. After three years in the military, he returned to USC for the 1946-47 and 1947-48 school years. During his senior year, he was captain of the 1948 team, and was an All-Conference selection. He played basketball at USC under Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Sam Barry. In addition to Hannum, Barry coached two other future Hall of fame coaches in college, Tex Winter and Bill Sharman. Sharman was Hannum’s teammate from 1946-48 at USC. They both played with Winter during the 1946-47 USC season.

Professional career

On May 10, 1948, Hannum was drafted by the Indianapolis Jets in the 4th round of the 1948 BAA Draft.

Oshkosh All-Stars (1948–1949)

Hannum played three seasons of

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) basketball for the Los Angeles Shamrocks, before signing with the National Basketball League's (NBL) Oshkosh All-Stars. He played for Oshkosh during the 1948-49 season, averaging 5.7 points per game during the regular season and playoffs. Oshkosh lost in the NBL finals (which was also the team's final year in existence).

Syracuse Nationals (1949–1951)

Hannum played sparingly for the Syracuse Nationals from 1949 to 1951. Hannum is one of only three NBA players to receive more than six personal fouls in a single game ( Don Otten and Cal Bowdler are the others). On December 26, 1950, Hannum received seven personal fouls in a game against the Boston Celtics.

Baltimore Bullets (1951–1952)

On July 14, 1951, Hannum was traded by the Syracuse Nationals with Fred Scolari to the Baltimore Bullets for Red Rocha. Hannum played in 35 games for the Bullets during the 1951-1952 season. His 27.4 minutes per game and 7.7 points per game were career highs.

Rochester Royals (1952–1954)

On January 18, 1952, Hannum's player rights were sold by the Bullets to the Rochester Royals. Hannum finished the 1951-52 season with the Royals, and played for them through the 1953-54 season.

Milwaukee / St. Louis Hawks (1954–1956)

On December 10, 1954, Hannum's player rights were sold by the Rochester Royals to the Milwaukee Hawks. Hannum played for the Milwaukee / St. Louis Hawks from 1954 to 1956. The Hawks had moved from Milwaukee to St. Louis after the 1954-55 season.

Fort Wayne Pistons (1956)

Hannum signed and played for the Fort Wayne Pistons in 1956, but was released by the team on December 12, 1956.

Return to St. Louis Hawks (1956–1957)

On December 17, 1956, Hannum signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Hawks. Hannum played for the St. Louis Hawks from 1956 to 1957, his last season as a player.

Coaching career

St. Louis Hawks (1956–1958)

Midway through the 1956–57 season, Hannum was named player-coach of the St. Louis Hawks. He was actually the Hawks' third head coach that year. Red Holzman had been fired on January 7, 1957 in favor of Hannum's teammate, Slater Martin. However, Martin did not want to be a coach and a player, and delegated coaching authority to Hannum (his roommate) after one game, and gave up the reins after only eight games. Hannum was hired as head coach on January 21, 1957. Hannum led the team to a 15–16 record for the rest of the season. Despite a losing overall record, the West was so weak that year (no team finished with a winning record) that the Hawks actually won the division title. They advanced all the way to the NBA Finals and lost to the

in seven games, losing by only two points in Game 7, in double overtime. Hannum retired as a player after that season. A year later, led by Bob Pettit (a hall of famer and member of the

NBA 75th Anniversary Team The NBA 75th Anniversary Team, also referred to as the NBA 75, was chosen in 2021 to honor the 75th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was the fourth and most recent anniversary team in the league. S ...

Cliff Hagan Clifford Oldham Hagan (born December 9, 1931) is an American former professional basketball player. A 6′ 4″ forward who excelled with the hook shot, Hagan, nicknamed "Li’l Abner", played his entire 10-year National Basketball Association, ...

, and Martin, the Hawks went 41–31 and won another division title before advancing to the Finals to play the

. They upset the Celtics by two points in Boston for Game 1. Boston evened the series in Game 2, before going back to St. Louis. In Game 3, Celtics star Bill Russell severely sprained his ankle as the Hawks prevailed 111–108. Boston evened the series in Game 4, but the Hawks won a narrow Game 5 to force a clinching game back home. Pettit scored 50 points, with 19 of them being among the final 21 scored by the Hawks, who won 110–109. Between the 1956-57 season and the 1965-66 season, this was the only NBA championship the Celtics lost. Coincidentally, the only two seasons in Russell's 13-year career in which the Celtics' center did not win an NBA championship were the direct result of losing to a team coached by Hannum (the 1957-58 Hawks and the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers). It currently (as of 2024) is the only NBA Championship for the Hawks and it was also the last game coached by Hannum, who was not retained by owner Ben Kerner, whose interference irked Hannum. When he wanted a two-year deal, Kerner did not budge from wanting a one-year deal. Kerner replaced Hannun with Andy Phillip for the 1958–59 season (who in turn was replaced by Ed Macauley early in the season). Hannum coached the Wichita Vickers of the AAU National Industrial Basketball League in the 1958–59 and 1959–60 season.

Syracuse Nationals (1960–1963)

Hannum returned to the NBA in 1960 with the Syracuse Nationals, advancing to the Eastern Finals in his first season and losing in the first round two years in a row. He then left the team after the 1962–1963 season, the final one played in Syracuse prior to the relocation of the team to Philadelphia, which would be coached by Dolph Schayes, who was a future hall of fame player under Hannum for the Nationals.

San Francisco Warriors (1963–1966)

Hannum had expressed interest in coaching the San Francisco Warriors when the team had moved to the region from

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in 1962. Eddie Gottlieb, the operator of the team before selling to Franklin Mieuli (prior to departing fully in 1964), had stated that Hannum was his third choice in mind next to Frank McGuire (who had coached the team the previous season in Philadelphia) and Bob Feerick. McGuire elected to resign rather than move to the West Coast and Feerick went 31–49 in the 1962–63 season before being fired. As such, Hannum was hired to coach the team for the 1963-1964 season. That year, the Warriors, bolstered by rookie Nate Thurmond to go with Wilt Chamberlain, went 48–32 and advanced all the way to the NBA Finals, losing to the

. Hannum was named NBA Coach of the Year after the season ended. The following year was a disaster, as the Warriors won just 17 games while trading Chamberlain to the Philadelphia 76ers at the All-Star break. Despite the arrival of draft pick Rick Barry in 1965, the Warriors went 35–45 and missed the playoffs by one game. Hannum was fired after the season ended.

Philadelphia 76ers (1966–1968)

In 1966, Hannum was named the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. That team had moved from Syracuse three years earlier. He succeeded Dolph Schayes, who had been named coach after the move from Central New York but was fired despite winning NBA Coach of the Year because of his strained relationship with Chamberlain. Hannum, now with a team that had players who had played under him in Syracuse such as Hal Greer and Chet Walker, and Chamberlain who he coached with the Warriors, were receptive to Hannum when he addressed the team's strengths and weaknesses. Hannum placed emphasis on changing the offense to rely on scoring in movement, while slowing the game down and playing half court. He wanted Chamberlain to facilitate the other players on offense instead of being the central scorer. This would see the reigning MVP Wilt Chamberlain score a career-low 24.1 points per game but also shoot 68.3% on his field goal attempts. Hannum had convinced Chamberlain that focusing more on defense and passing would bring the team greater success. Chamberlain was third in the league with 7.8 assists per game (behind only hall of fame point guards Guy Rodgers and Oscar Robertson), and it was the first year he averaged less than 33 points per game. Under Hannum the following season he averaged 8.6 assists per game (second behind Robertson), with the most total assists. During his first season as coach, the 76ers had a record setting season as they started 46–4,nba.com/history
Top 10 Teams in NBA History
, accessed January 16, 2007 en route to a record of 68–13, the best record in league history at the time. After a 129–103 win over the Pistons on March 3, 1967, he joined Red Auerbach as the only coaches to have won 60 games in a season at that period. Hannum led the Sixers towards the 63rd victory, breaking the NBA-record for most wins in a single season, in an OT win over the Boston Celtics. On March 14, 1967, he became the first coach to have won 65 games in a season. Chamberlain would be awarded the MVP for the second straight season. Hannum then coached the Wilt Chamberlain-led Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA championship, ending the eight-year title streak of the

. The 1967 Championship made him the first of only three head coaches in NBA history to win championships with two different teams (the other two are Phil Jackson and Pat Riley). The following year, the 76ers won 62 games for another division title and advanced all the way to the Eastern Division Finals, but the loss of Billy Cunningham due to a broken wrist in the Semifinals victory came to hinder the team, as the 76ers lost to the Celtics in seven games after having won three of the first four games. It was the first time in NBA playoff history that a team had lost a playoff series after being up 3-1. Hannum left the team after the season to coach the Oakland Oaks in the newly created

Oakland Oaks (1968–1969)

On May 3, 1968, Hannum signed a deal to become the head coach and executive vice president of the Oakland Oaks of the

, as owned by singer Pat Boone along with S. Kenneth Davidson and Dennis A. Murphy. He took the offer over coaching the Warriors because of the offer of an ownership stake and a "special relish to competing against Mieuli", who he called a promoter of himself first. The team would have the services of Rick Barry, who sat out a year rather than play it out with the Warriors when he tried to jump to the Oaks (who also offered Barry a stake in the team just like Hannum) the previous year. Tasked with improving the worst team in the ABA the previous season, Hannum coached the Oaks to 60 wins (jumping out to a 25–4 start) even with the loss of Barry to a knee injury that saw him play 35 games. While fans were not particularly plentiful in Oakland, the Oaks had a 16-game winning streak occur at one point during the year. Warren Jabali (the ABA Rookie of the Year that season) delivered the 1969 ABA Championship over the Indiana Pacers with a performance that saw him named Playoffs MVP, which he closed out with a 39-point performance in clinching Game 5. The Oaks point guard was Larry Brown and backup small forward Doug Moe (who started in the finals), both of whom would go on to long coaching careers, and the Hall of Fame in Brown's case. With the win (the first basketball championship by a West Coast team), Hannum became the first of two coaches to win championships in both the NBA and ABA, the other being his USC teammate Bill Sharman. Hannum won the ABA Coach of the Year honors the same season. Hannum left after the season ended as the Oaks relocated to become the Washington Caps under new management by Earl Foreman.

San Diego Rockets (1969–1971)

Hannum was hired to be the head coach of the San Diego Rockets 26 gamed into the 1969–1970 season to replace Jack McMahon. The third-year franchise won 27 games that year before improving to 40 the following year, but a seven-game winning streak at the end of the season was all for naught as they narrowly finished one game behind San Francisco for second place in the Pacific Division, which would have meant a playoff spot. One of Hannum's players in San Diego was future Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley. On April 8, 1971, less than three weeks after the end of season, Hannum left the team, which soon relocated to

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. The Rockets first coach in Houston, succeeding Hannum, was Tex Winter, Hannum's old USC teammate.

Denver Rockets (1971–1974)

Hannum left his position as head coach of the San Diego Rockets of the NBA to become president, general manager and head coach of the ABA's Denver Rockets (later the Denver Nuggets) on April 8, 1971. It was Hannum who instituted changes to the color scheme of the team from orange and black to columbine blue and yellow. In his first season, 1971-1972, the Rockets lost their opening playoff match to the Indiana Pacers in a seven game series. Once again, Larry Brown was Hannum's point guard. On June 13, 1972, Hannum bought control of the Rockets with A.G. "Bud" Fischer and Frank M. Goldberg. On October 26, 1972, Hannum engaged in an unusual strategy. He instructed his players to foul any player of the Virginia Squires that was taking a shot in the fourth quarter. The result was a 155–111 victory that saw Virginia score 74 free throws while Denver had seven players foul out. The records for that quarter were later expunged and the game was declared a forfeit. Hannum said he was conducting an experiment because of “the trend of pressure defense...I wanted to see how far you could go without hurting your team's chances." In the 1972–73 season, Hannum coached the Rockets to the 1973 ABA Playoffs where they again lost in the first round of the Western Division playoffs to the Indiana Pacers, 4 games to 1. Hannum returned the Rockets to the 1974 ABA Playoffs where they lost to the San Diego Conquistadors in a one-game tie-breaker playoff. On April 30, 1974, Hannum was dismissed as president, general manager and head coach of the Rockets (rebranded to Nuggets after the season ended) for Larry Brown, who had played for Denver in the 1971–72 season before being a head coach with Carolina. Hannum never coached again. Hannum's combined record (NBA and ABA), was 649–564 (.535) with a 61–46 record (.570) in the playoffs on 11 trips in 16 seasons.

Honors

Hannum was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. At least fourteen Hall-of-Famer players played for Hannum. In addition to Pettit, Chamberlain and Barry, he had also coached Cliff Hagan, Ed Macauley, Slater Martin, Dolph Schayes, Nate Thurmond, Billy Cunningham, Hal Greer, Elvin Hayes, Calvin Murphy, Chet Walker, and Guy Rodgers (for the Warriors). In addition, future hall of fame coaches Pat Riley and Larry Brown played under Hannum, as did Hall-of-Famer Al Attles (for the Warriors), who contributed to the team as a player, coach and executive over six decades.

Personal life

Hannum, a native of Los Angeles, and graduate of the University of Southern California, died at the age of 78 in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

Career statistics

Playing

NBA

Source

=Regular season

=Playoffs

Head coaching record

, - , style="text-align:left;", St. Louis , style="text-align:left;", , 31, , 15, , 16, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Western, , 10, , 6, , 4, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in

, - style="background:#FDE910;" , style="text-align:left;", St. Louis , style="text-align:left;", , 72, , 41, , 31, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Western, , 11, , 8, , 3, , , style="text-align:center;", Won

, - , style="text-align:left;", Syracuse , style="text-align:left;", , 79, , 38, , 41, , , , style="text-align:center;", 3rd in Eastern, , 8, , 4, , 4, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost Division finals , - , style="text-align:left;", Syracuse , style="text-align:left;", , 80, , 41, , 39, , , , style="text-align:center;", 3rd in Eastern, , 5, , 2, , 3, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost Division semifinals , - , style="text-align:left;", Syracuse , style="text-align:left;", , 80, , 48, , 32, , , , style="text-align:center;", 2nd in Eastern, , 8, , 4, , 4, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost Division semifinals , - , style="text-align:left;",

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, style="text-align:left;", , 80, , 48, , 32, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Western, , 8, , 4, , 4, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in

, - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 80, , 17, , 63, , , , style="text-align:center;", 5th in Western, , —, , —, , —, , — , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 80, , 35, , 45, , , , style="text-align:center;", 4th in Western, , —, , —, , —, , — , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - style="background:#FDE910;" , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 81, , 68, , 13, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Eastern, , 15, , 11, , 4, , , style="text-align:center;", Won

, - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 82, , 62, , 20, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Eastern, , 13, , 7, , 6, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost Division finals , - style="background:#FDE910;" , style="text-align:left;", Oakland , style="text-align:left;", , 78, , 60, , 18, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Western, , 16, , 12, , 4, , , style="text-align:center;", Won ABA Finals , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 56, , 18, , 38, , , , style="text-align:center;", 7th in Western, , —, , —, , —, , — , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 82, , 40, , 42, , , , style="text-align:center;", 3rd in Pacific, , —, , —, , —, , — , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - , style="text-align:left;",

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, style="text-align:left;", , 84, , 34, , 50, , , , style="text-align:center;", 4th in Western, , 7, , 3, , 4, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost Division semifinals , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 84, , 47, , 37, , , , style="text-align:center;", 3rd in Western, , 5, , 1, , 4, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost Division semifinals , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 84, , 37, , 47, , , , style="text-align:center;", 4th in Western, , —, , —, , —, , — , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 1,213, , 649, , 564, , , , , , 107, , 61, , 46, ,

References

External links

Basketball Reference statistics (as a coach)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hannum, Alex 1923 births 2002 deaths Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Baltimore Bullets (1944–1954) players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from Los Angeles Centers (basketball) Denver Rockets head coaches Fort Wayne Pistons players Indianapolis Jets draft picks Milwaukee Hawks players Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees NBA championship–winning head coaches Oakland Oaks executives Oakland Oaks head coaches Oshkosh All-Stars players Philadelphia 76ers head coaches Basketball player-coaches Power forwards Rochester Royals players San Diego Rockets head coaches San Francisco Warriors head coaches St. Louis Hawks head coaches St. Louis Hawks players Syracuse Nationals head coaches Syracuse Nationals players USC Trojans men's basketball players