Bill Ficke is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and scout. Before the 1982–83 season, Ficke hired by the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

of the

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

(NBA) to be an assistant coach. He returned to the team for the

1983–84 NBA season The 1983–84 NBA season was the 38th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Boston Celtics winning the NBA Championship, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 3 for the second time since 1969 in the NBA Fin ...

. ''

Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in the Denver metropolitan area. it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 mil ...

'' sports writer Terry Frei recalled that Ficke would bring his golden retriever to practice with him. Ficke served as head coach of the Nuggets during a game against the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

on March 22, 1983, because Denver head coach

Doug Moe Douglas Edwin Moe (born September 21, 1938) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. As a head coach with the Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he was named the NBA Coach of the Year in 1988. Ea ...

was out with

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

. Denver won the game 131–117 with Nuggets forward

Kiki Vandeweghe Ernest Maurice "Kiki" VanDeWeghe III (born August 1, 1958) is a German-born American-Canadian former professional basketball player, coach and executive who is an advisor for the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a player, he was a two-ti ...

, who led all scorers with 29. Moe was suspended for ordering the Nuggets to not play defense during a game against the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

on November 22, 1983. As a result, Ficke was forced to serve as head coach of the team during their next two games on November 30 and December 3. Denver lost the first game against the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

, 156–115. Ficke was dismissed from his position of assistant coach of the Denver Nuggets by general manager

Vince Boryla Vincent Joseph Boryla (March 11, 1927 – March 27, 2016) was an American basketball player, coach and executive. His nickname was "Moose". He graduated from East Chicago Washington High School in 1944. He played basketball at the University of ...

in July 1984. Allan Bristow succeeded Ficke as Denver's assistant coach. During the

1984–85 NBA season The 1984–85 NBA season was the 39th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning the NBA Championship, beating the Boston Celtics 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals. This was David Stern's fi ...

Ficke served as a scout for the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

and

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

. On July 20, 1985, Ficke was hired by the fledgling Kansas City Sizzlers

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA) franchise as head coach and director of basketball operations. His contract was not renewed following the Sizzlers 25–23 season. John Killilea succeeded Ficke as the Sizzlers head coach. In 1975 Ficke opened an independent

footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serve the purpose of protective clothing, protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from rough ground; stability on slippery ground; and temperature. *Shoes and si ...

retail store at the Aurora Mall (now known as Town Center at Aurora) in

Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, Arapahoe, Adams County, Colorado, Adams, and Douglas County, Colorado, Douglas List of counties in Colorado, counti ...

. Initially Ficke was looking for a short-term lease in case the business floundered, however, he ended up taking a 15-year lease. This worked in his favor as his competitor's rent costs increased over the 15-year span. After 20 years Ficke shuttered his "Fleet Feet" retail store. He now operates a

pizzeria A pizzeria is a restaurant focusing on pizza. A pizzeria may offer take-away, where the customer orders their food either in advance or at the restaurant and then takes the prepared food with them in a pizza box. A pizzeria may deliver food to ...

Centennial, Colorado Centennial is a home rule city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,418 at the 2020 United States census, making Centennial the 11th most populous municipality in Colorado. Centennial is a principal ...

—known as "Big Bill's New York Pizza"—which was opened in 1995. Ficke runs a fundraiser known as the “

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

Day of Giving” in which the proceeds from the pizzeria go to cancer research foundations in Colorado. Ficke and his son, Dan Ficke, run the JoAnn B. Ficke Cancer Foundation which was established following the death of JoAnne Ficke from

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ficke, Bill American basketball scouts Continental Basketball Association coaches Denver Nuggets assistant coaches Indiana Pacers scouts Los Angeles Clippers scouts People from Long Island Living people Year of birth missing (living people)