Warriors Hall of Famer Al Attles, one of NBA’s first Black head coaches, dies at 87

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Al Attles, a Hall of Famer who coached the 1975 NBA champion Warriors and spent more than six decades with the organization as a player, general manager and most recently team ambassador, has died.

He was 87. The Warriors announced Wednesday that Attles had died in his East Bay home on Tuesday surrounded by family.

Nicknamed “The Destroyer” for his physical style of play, the Warriors were his love and his only team after they selected him in the fifth round of the 1960 draft. It marks the longest stint with a single franchise for one person in league history.

Attles, one of the first Black head coaches in the NBA, was witness to some of the greatest games spanning different eras. He played in Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game for the Philadelphia Warriors in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on March 2, 1962. Attles made all eight of his field-goal tries for 17 points.

He also coached Hall of Famer Rick Barry the day he scored 64 against Portland on March 26, 1974, then watched Klay Thompson drop 60 points over three quarters in December 2016.

“My heart is heavy today with the loss of my mentor and friend. Al was my roommate during my rookie season in the league. He taught me valuable lessons on being a professional that couldn’t be learned on the court,” Barry said in a statement released by the Warriors. “Later, as our coach during the 1975 championship season, he exemplified leadership, togetherness and a keen strategic ability that enabled us to succeed at the highest level.”

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This is another heartbreaking blow for the Bay Area sports community after the recent deaths of Giants baseball Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda.

Attles coached the Warriors to their first championship since moving West in 1975, then Golden State finally won again 40 years later in 2015. His 557 coaching wins are most in franchise history.

Attles never compared all the great performances he cherished getting to see up close. Different basketball times, different challenges. So many special milestones to celebrate and appreciate, he insisted.

“I’ve seen a 100-point game,” Attles said from his seat during a late timeout on Thompson’s big night. “Rick was such a great player and he cared about winning. In order to score the number of points he scored you have to have help from your teammates. I try to look at them individually because once you start comparing, someone is always going to be No. 2. Let’s give him his credit.”

Attles would joke how he passed to Chamberlain for all those points. He actually had six assists, while Guy Rodgers had 20 of the team’s 39 overall in the 169-147 win against the Knicks.

“I think 50,” Attles said with a chuckle of his assists total in the record-setter. “I don’t know. Guess what? We won the game. That’s all that matters.

“Because I played with Wilt, people always ask, ‘What do you think about Wilt scoring 100 points?’ I say, ‘Give him credit for what he did then.’ It’s like apples and oranges. They’re both good fruit. It’s a matter of what you like. I was very close to Wilt, but you have to enjoy what they did that night. I enjoy any great performance.”

As a player, Attles averaged 8.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 11 seasons with the Warriors.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame honored him with the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

Then, in the months leading up to his Hall of Fame enshrinement as part of the Class of 2019, Attles remained his usual modest self. He always preferred to give out the compliments, not accept credit for his own accomplishments.

“They made a mistake,” Attles joked with a big grin, still showing that quick wit. “They haven’t caught up to me yet.”

Long known for his fashionable suits on the sidelines and even later once watching in the stands, Warriors coach Steve Kerr once paid tribute to Attles by wearing one.

“He’s the face of the franchise,” Kerr said. “He’s been so for 60 years, so he’s an incredible presence.”

After missing games for most of the 2018-19 season — his smiling face had been such a reliable part of the team’s former Oracle Arena — Attles returned for Game 4 of the 2019 NBA Finals against Toronto to cheers and fanfare.

It wasn’t the same when Attles was away.

Former center Clifford Ray considered Attles a “father figure to all of us,” and noted that Black NBA players often felt more comfortable learning from the coach because of their similar cultural background.

“He made things easy and simplified things,” Ray said. “He also didn’t inundate us with a lot of technical things and paper work. It was very structured. We knew what we were doing.”

Born on Nov. 7, 1936, in Newark, New Jersey, Attles was a co-recipient of the 2017 National Basketball Coaches Association’s Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award and he also joined the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.

“Alvin’s name has become synonymous with the Warriors franchise after dedicating his entire adult life to our organization, dating clear back to our final seasons in Philadelphia,” Warriors owner Joe Lacob said upon Attles’ Hall of Fame announcement. “He has flourished in every role and responsibility over the last 60 years, from player to coach to general manager and, most recently, as an ambassador. And, he’s done it with an incredible amount of class and humility.”

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