Robert Joseph Feerick (January 2, 1920 – June 8, 1976) was an American 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, coach and general manager. He was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Playing career

A 6'3" guard from

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic M ...

, Feerick played for the

Washington Capitols The Washington Capitols were a former Basketball Association of America (forerunner of the National Basketball Association) team based in Washington, D.C. from 1946 to 1951. The team was coached from 1946 to 1949 by NBA Hall of Famer Red Auerb ...

from 1946 to 1950, the NBA's first four seasons of existence (the league was known as the

Basketball Association of America The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA absorbed most of National Basketball League (NBL) and rebranded as the National Ba ...

during the first three). Playing under coach

Red Auerbach Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (September 20, 1917 – October 28, 2006) was an American professional basketball coach and executive. He served as a head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), most notably with the Boston Celtics. ...

, he was named to the All-NBA first team in 1947 and 1948 after averaging 16.8 (second in the league behind

Joe Fulks Joseph Franklin "Jumping Joe" Fulks (October 26, 1921 – March 21, 1976) was an American professional basketball player, sometimes called "the first of the high-scoring forwards". He was posthumously enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball ...

's 23.1) and 16.1 points per game respectively. In 1949, the league's first season as the newly formed NBA, the Capitols named Feerick

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 221 games, he scored 2936 points for an average of 13.3 per game.

Coaching career

After his short professional career, Feerick returned to Santa Clara as head coach of its basketball team from 1950 to 1962. Feerick also was

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain (; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center. Standing at tall, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 years and is widely reg ...

's personal coach with the

San Francisco Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Pacific ...

during the 1962–63 season. The franchise had just relocated from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and hired Feerick, the native San Franciscan, to replace

Frank McGuire Frank Joseph McGuire (November 8, 1913 – October 11, 1994) was an American basketball coach. At the collegiate level, he was head coach for three major programs: St. John's, North Carolina, and South Carolina, winning over a hundred games at e ...

, who resigned rather than make the move with the team. The Warriors finished 31–49 for their first year in San Francisco after losing to the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of ...

in each of the previous three Eastern Division finals. The following season,

Alex Hannum Alexander Murray Hannum (July 19, 1923 – January 18, 2002) was a professional basketball player and coach. Hannum coached two National Basketball Association (NBA) teams and one American Basketball Association (ABA) team to league championships ...

replaced Feerick as coach. Feerick later served the Warriors as general manager and director of player personnel. He was a finalist for the

NBA 25th Anniversary Team The NBA 25th Anniversary Team was chosen on December 11, 1971, to honor the 25th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA) as the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1946. It was the first anniversary team i ...

in 1971. He is one of only two members nominated to the team ''not'' in 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 pre ...

BAA/NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Head coaching record

College

Professional

, - , style="text-align:left;", WSC , style="text-align:left;", , 68, , 32, , 36, , .471, , style="text-align:center;", 3rd in Eastern, , 2, , 0, , 2, , .000 , style="text-align:center;", Lost in Eastern Div. Semifinals , - , style="text-align:left;", SFW , style="text-align:left;", , 80, , 31, , 49, , .388, , style="text-align:center;", 4th in Western, , -, , -, , -, , - , style="text-align:center;", Missed Playoffs , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , , , 148, , 63, , 85, , .426, , , , 2, , 0, , 2, , .000

References

External links

Feerick's pro statistics (as a player)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feerick, Bob 1920 births 1976 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from San Francisco Forwards (basketball) Golden State Warriors executives Golden State Warriors head coaches Guards (basketball) Player-coaches San Francisco Warriors head coaches Santa Clara Broncos athletic directors Santa Clara Broncos men's basketball coaches Santa Clara Broncos men's basketball players Washington Capitols players Washington Capitols coaches