Last week I read of the passing of Willem Hendrik “Butch” van Breda Kolff at age 84. It was way back in 1957 when I first received a call from Butch, who was then the basketball coach at Hofstra, asking about a player that I coached in the summer league. He wanted to know if he could talk to him about attending Hofstra University. What occurred was the player brought a friend and the two of them played Butch and I two on two. They never had a chance but Butch signed the player anyway. Butch was 6’3” and was the basketball and soccer captain at Princeton following his World War II service in the Marines. He played four seasons of pro basketball with the New York Knicks, averaging a bit less than 5 points a game.
Butch was a head coach 13 times (never an assistant) and even took a coaching job at a high school when no one wanted to hire him: Lafayette twice (1951-1955 & 1984- 1988); the aforementioned Hofstra (1955-1962 & 1988-1994) where he went 23-1 in 1959-1960. He coached Bill Bradley at Princeton (1962-1967) and won four Ivy League titles there. He coached the University of New Orleans men (1977-1979) & also the Woman’s Professional League team there (1979-1981). I remember when he was interviewed about the difference between coaching men and women he stated “During the time outs the women smell much nicer.” That was classic Butch. When he attended my 50th birthday party he showed up in a warm-up suit with a 6 pack of Miller beer: “I don’t drink wine.”
He coached for 10 seasons in the pros: The Lakers (1967-1969) with Wilt, Jerry West & Elgin Baylor. He took them twice to the NBA finals but will always be remembered for keeping Wilt Chamberlain out of the final minutes of the seventh game because Wilt complained about a minor injury when he took himself out. He never returned, even when he said he was fine, and the Lakers lost by 2 points. My ex-wife worked for Playboy Magazine & the coach would come over to our Chicago apartment when the Lakers were in town bringing several players if my ex would bring some of her Playboy “friends” (none for him). Besides the Lakers trio of all time greats Butch also coached the Detroit Pistons (1969-1972) with Dave Bing and the expansion New Orleans Jazz (1974-1977) and Pistol Pete Maravich.
We kept in touch after he stopped coaching at age 71 as he had a house on the Jersey Shore. I spent many summers nearby. One day he joined me at the local school yard and we played some high school kids. He played the way he coached as the New York Times said “he was animated, non-stop-gesticulating, chair-kicking, sideline-pacing, expletive-spewing Butch.”
In 1966-1967 he was coaching at Princeton and there was a final game for the Ivy League championship. Columbia, where I graduated in 1956 and served on the Basketball Advisory Committee, was playing an away game versus Princeton. I was living in Chicago and came to New York on business. I wanted to see the game and called the Columbia coach. There were no seats available, he told me. I called Butch and he invited me for dinner and to sit on the Princeton bench since there really were no seats. Jack Rohan, the Columbia coach did not speak to me for several years after he saw me on the Princeton bench. By the way Columbia beat Princeton forcing a playoff which they also won and triumphed in two games in the NCAA tournament. Jim McMillian was the star of that team and played for both the Lakers and the Knicks.
Butch was his own person. There was nothing phony about him. He enjoyed drinking beer, yet I never saw him drunk. Once I drove from Kansas City to St. Louis to watch the Lakers play. After the game we went out to dinner. I drank wine; he beer. He told me that there was a journeyman player that he traded for several times even though he rarely played. That player enjoyed beer and kept Butch company.
I know you are running plays in heaven dear friend.