Armenak Alachachian

Armenak Alachachian

Personal information
Born	(1930-12-25)25 December 1930 Nashchyokovo, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died	4 December 2017(2017-12-04) (aged 87) Perm, Russia
Nationality	Soviet / Russian / Armenian
Career highlights and awards
As player:
Medals Men's Basketball Representing Soviet Union Summer Olympic Games Tokyo 1964 FIBA EuroBasket USSR 1953 Yugoslavia 1961 Poland 1963 USSR 1965

Armenak Alachachian (alternate spellings: Armenak Alajajian or Alatchatchan) (Armenian: Արմենակ Միսակի Ալաջաջյան, December 25, 1930 – December 4, 2017) was an Armenian-Soviet basketball player and coach. A point guard, he reached European stardom with CSKA Moscow and the senior men's Soviet Union national team. He was the first person to ever win a EuroLeague title as both a player and a coach.

Club career

Alachachian helped CSKA lift its first EuroLeague title in 1961. He added a second title in 1963, and reached another final in 1965, before retiring.

National team career

As a player of the senior men's Soviet national team, Alachachian won four gold medals at the 1953, 1961, 1963, and 1965 EuroBasket, as well as a silver medal at the 1964 Summer Olympic Games.

Coaching career

Aleksandar Gomelsky, at the time CSKA's sports director, assigned him at the coach position in the late 1960s, and Alachachian led the Reds to the 1969 Euroleague title, thus becoming the first man to lift the trophy, as both a player and a coach.

2014 Yerevan Youth International Basketball tournament in honor of Armenak Alachachyan

See also

• List of EuroLeague-winning head coaches

References

• FIBA Profile "Armenak Alachachian"
• FIBA Profile "Armenak Alatchatchan"
• Fibaeurope.com Profile
• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Armenak Alachachian". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.
• Euroleague.net - Player nominees for Euroleague's 50 Greatest Contributors
• Armenak Alachachian's obituary