Darrall Imhoff

Darrall Imhoff
The Oregonian
Player information
Full name	Darrall Tucker Imhoff
birthday	October 11, 1938
place of birth	San Gabriel , California , United States
date of death	June 30, 2017 at the age of 78 years and 262 days
Place of death	Bend , Oregon , United States
size	208 cm
Weight	100 kg
position	center
High school	Alhambra High School
college	University of California, Berkeley (1957-1960)
NBA draft	1960 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3 / New York Knicks
Jersey number	18, 17, 14, 22, 30, 35
Clubs as active
1960–1962 New York Knicks 1962–1964 Detroit Pistons 1964–1968 Los Angeles Lakers 1968–1970 Philadelphia 76ers 1970–1971 Cincinnati Royals 1971–1972 Portland Trail Blazers
National team
000001960	United States

Darrall Tucker Imhoff (born October 11, 1938 in San Gabriel , California - † June 30, 2017 in Bend , Oregon ) was an American basketball player who played on the position of a center .

His twelve year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) brought him to six different teams. He took part in the basketball tournament of the 1960 Summer Olympics as a player at the University of California, Berkeley , and won the gold medal at this major tournament in Rome with his home country . He came under Pete Newell , who already trained him at the university and who had just been hired as a coach of the US national team, to use.

As part of the US national basketball team of 1960, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984; the team of 1960 expired on Dream Team of 1992 as the best in the history of US basketball.

life and career

High school and college basketball in California

Darrall Imhoff was born on October 11, 1938 in the small town of San Gabriel, a northeastern suburb of Los Angeles , and attended, among other things, the Alhambra High School in the city of Alhambra, which is adjacent to San Gabriel . After he was already there as a basketball player, but mostly only had to take on an extra role, he made his breakthrough as a basketball player when he moved to the University of California, Berkeley . The men's basketball team of the California Golden Bears , the name of the university sports department at UC Berkeley, he belonged to in the seasons 1957/58, 1958/59 and 1959/60. He developed into a top player, especially in his last two seasons. After he had made it with the team in the 1957/58 season to the final game of the West Region, one of four seasons of the NCAA University Division Basketball Tournament , and there with 62:66 the Seattle University trained by John Castellani , which then the The team made it into the round of the best four, lost and triumphed in the following season 1958/59 .

The squad , which has been trained by Pete Newell since 1954, made it into the top four after a clear 71:53 semi -final victory in the West Region against the University of Utah and an equally clear 66:46 final victory over Saint Mary’s . This was also only the second time in the history of the men's basketball team at UC Berkeley that the team had made it this far. After a 64:58 victory over the University of Cincinnati in the national semifinals, the California Golden Bears were in the season-defining final for the first time in their existence. This subsequently ended in a narrow 71:70 victory over West Virginia University and thus meant the first title win for the UC Berkeley basketball men trained by Pete Newell and his assistant Rene Herrerias . For his achievements, Imhoff was elected to the First-Team-All-AAWU ( Athletic Association of Western Universities ) this year.

The subsequent NCAA University Division Basketball Tournament 1960 was no less successful for the California Golden Bears. After three clear victories in the final series of the western region, the team easily made it into the top 4 of the tournament; there UC Berkeley made it to the final game after a 77:69 win over Cincinnati, but lost in this clearly with 75:55 against Ohio State, which had already been overpowering for the entire season . At this point in time, they had NBA guarantors like John Havlicek , Jerry Lucas and Larry Siegfried or players like Mel Nowell , Joe Roberts or Bob Knight in their ranks and were trained by the successful coach Fred Taylor , who later became a Hall-of-Famer. Also this year Darrall Imhoff was elected to the First-Team-All-AAWU , as well as this time to the Consensus First-Team All-American . That means that he was unanimously voted First-Team All-American by the Associated Press , USBWA , NABC , UPI , NEA , as well as the Weekly .

1960 Summer Olympics basketball tournament

Through his college trainer Pete Newell, who was appointed US Olympic trainer for the basketball tournament of the 1960 Summer Games because of his success with the California Golden Bears , Imhoff made the leap into the US Olympic squad due to his achievements in previous years. At this major tournament in Rome , the national basketball team of the United States was largely unrivaled. After three clear victories over Italy , Japan and Hungary in the preliminary round, the team in Pool II of the semifinals also won clear victories against Yugoslavia , Uruguay and the USSR . In the final group against Italy, Brazil and the USSR, the Americans could also clearly prove themselves and won against Italy with 112: 81 and against Brazil with 90:63; Furthermore, the results from the direct semi-final duels of the finalists (in the case of the USA, the 81:57 victory over the USSR) were also included. The Americans won Olympic gold in basketball for the fifth time in a row; Imhoff formed a congenial duo with Walt Bellamy over the entire course of the tournament and was able to prove himself especially against the tall Soviets. Of the twelve amateur players at the time, ten made it into the NBA. Four players were inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for their achievements in the "Player" category (Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West ) and the two coaches Pete Newell and Dutch Lonborg in the "Coach" category recorded.

Change to the NBA

Darrall Imhoff was one of the ten future NBA players of the 1960 Olympic team. He was drafted as the third pick in the first round for the New York Knicks in the 1960 NBA draft and was already considered the most widely advertised draft pick of the year. At the time of his move to the Knicks, Richie Guerin and Willie Naulls were already two All-Stars in the squad, with Imhoff being viewed as a potential All-Star contender in the largest city in the league. He made his professional basketball debut in the first game of the season, a 105: 113 defeat by the Cincinnati Royals on October 20, 1960, where he was only able to contribute two points with a field goal. In the further course of the season he could not withstand the pressure of the competition in his position and at the end of the season was mostly only a substitute in his traditional position at the center. By the end of the 1960/61 season , he made 62 of 79 league games that had been possible and the Knicks clearly missed entry into the season-closing play-offs with only 26.6% won games.

In the historic 1961/62 season , Imhoff was used more regularly and was used in 76 of the 80 championship games by the end of the year. On March 2, 1962, he joined the New York Knicks in the infamous game against the Philadelphia Warriors , when the then star player of the NBA, Wilt Chamberlain , contributed 100 points in the 169: 147 victory of his team; a record that still exists today (as of July 2017). The defeat and the amount of points achieved by Chamberlains is sometimes attributed to Imhoff's teammate Phil Jordon , who did not play in this game because he was officially ill with flu and therefore could not play. What was officially considered the flu was widely referred to as a hangover in public because Jordon had gotten drunk the day before and was therefore unable to participate in the game. With Darrall Imhoff, the Knicks had only one great player in the squad who was supposed to defend Chamberlain, which only succeeded occasionally. With 36.3% won games, the New York Knicks again failed to make it into the play-offs and ended the season again in last place in the Eastern Division .

Time with the Detroit Pistons

In the summer break before the 1962/63 season , Imhoff was handed over to the Detroit Pistons by the Knicks in exchange for their all-star guard Gene Shue and an unspecified transfer fee . After he was still used relatively often at the Knicks under player-coach Carl Braun and later under Eddie Donovan , it brought significantly fewer minutes under Dick McGuire at the Pistons. Under the seven-time NBA All-Star, he was only used in 45 of 80 championship games and averaged just 10.2 minutes per game. The Detroit Pistons then made it in the final standings of the regular time with 42.5% won games and ranked fourth of six places in the Western Division in the subsequent play-offs. In the semifinals of the Western Division, the St. Louis Hawks emerged victorious from three of four games and the Detroit Pistons were eliminated from the play-offs early on. The early departure also resulted in the departure of the coach, who was then replaced for the 1963/64 season by Charles Wolf , who had previously coached the Cincinnati Royals for three seasons. But even under Wolf, Darrall Imhoff did not become a regular player, but was able to record 58 of 80 possible league appearances by the end of the season and achieved an average playing time of 15 minutes per game.

Prestigious reserve with the LA Lakers

On April 16, 1964, Imhoff was sold by the Detroit Pistons to the Los Angeles Lakers. With Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and others, they already had some high-class players in their ranks, with Imhoff being regarded from the start as a respected reservist who also made regular appearances. He also contributed to the success of the team this season and was used by coach Fred Schaus in 76 of 80 possible championship games of the regular time . With the Lakers he finished the regular season with a record of 49:31 in first place in the Western Division and came in the subsequent play-offs via the division finals, which were won against the Baltimore Bullets with a series of 4-2 , into the season-defining NBA finals . In these, the Lakers lost in five games 1: 4 against the Boston Celtics , who had dominated for years and were coached by the legendary Red Auerbach .

Also in the 1965/66 season Imhoff came regularly to his missions, with the center running up in 77 of 80 possible league games and was mostly in use right from the start. With the Lakers, with whom he was one of four players in the center position alongside Gene Wiley , Tom Hoover and LeRoy Ellis , he again reached first place in the Western Division at the end of regular time. With a balance of 45:35 from the 80 league games, the result was a little more modest than in the previous season. The real success was, as in previous years, due to the achievements of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, who were still among the best players in the league or their generation. The season-closing play-offs ended in a narrow defeat for the Los Angeles Lakers. After they had defeated the St. Louis Hawks 4: 3 in a best-of-seven series in the division finals, they were then defeated in the NBA finals with 3: 4 in a best-of-seven series the once again dominating Boston Celtics. After playing in all eleven play-off games of his team the year before, Schaus also used him in all 14 play-off games in 1965/66.

Regular player in Los Angeles

In the 1966/67 NBA season , Imhoff let his potential flash when he averaged 12 points, 13 rebounds , 3 assists and 2 blocks per game. At the same time, he was the only player in the LA Lakers and one of only 16 players in the entire league who had made it to appearances in all 81 championship games this season. With the team he finished the regular time in third place behind the St. Louis Hawks (second) and the San Francisco Warriors (first). In the subsequent Western Division semifinals, the team was eliminated after three defeats in a row against the Warriors from San Francisco . Because of his achievements he was used on January 10, 1967 in the NBA All-Star Game 1967 and came under his trainer Fred Schaus, who coached the selection of the Western Division, in about six minutes of play. He was the only player in this encounter without points, but was able to record seven rebounds in the relatively short time. This game was also the last official game of Red Auerbach, who oversaw the Eastern Division selection, as a coach.

After Fred Schaus retired from the coaching position at the end of the season at the age of 41 and switched to the administrative department of the franchise, where he subsequently appeared as general manager , Darrall Imhoff also came to his assignments as a regular under the new coach Butch van Breda Kolff and starters. Also in the 1967/68 season Imhoff was again one of the most frequently used players in the league, with only John Tresvant, who was constantly from franchise to franchise , able to make more appearances in the regular championship. Imhoff, on the other hand, was one of a total of 25 players who were again on the field in all 82 championship games. The Lakers completed a successful season this time and finished second in the Western Division four games behind the St. Louis Hawks. In the subsequent play-offs, the Californians came after a 4-1 in the Western Division semi -final series over the Chicago Bulls and a clear 4-0 in the Western Division final series over the San Francisco Warriors in the all-important NBA Finals. In these, the Lakers were again subject to the Boston Celtics, this time coached by Bill Russell , a player who was still active at the time and Imhoff's long-time rival.

Chamberlain comes, Imhoff has to go

Even before the start of the 1968/69 season , the athletic leadership of the Los Angeles Lakers tried to make a big deal around GM Fred Schaus. After the exceptional player Wilt Chamberlain had fallen out with the owner of his team ( Philadelphia 76ers ), the millionaire and businessman Irv Kosloff , the year before and then put the 1967/68 season behind him without a care, but was nevertheless elected MVP for the third time in a row Chamberlain threatened the club's leadership. If he is not immediately sold to another team within the NBA, he would switch to the ABA that exists parallel to the NBA . On July 9, 1968, the change took place and Wilt Chamberlain switched to the Lakers in exchange for Darrall Imhoff, Jerry Chambers and Archie Clark , who at that time were still two of the best players in the NBA with Elgin Baylor and Jerry West Had rows. Never before had three such high-profile players been on a team together in the history of the NBA. Under the previous college basketball coach Jack Ramsay , who only made his coaching debut in the NBA this year, Imhoff was still employed as a regular and was in all 82 championship games of the 76ers in action. With only two games behind the Baltimore Bullets trained by Gene Shue , the Philadelphia 76ers finished the season in second place in the final standings of the regular time and were defeated by the Boston Celtics 1: 4 in the Eastern Division semifinals. Here, too, Imhoff was used in all five play-off games of his team and was the third-best Philadelphia scorer with 91 points in the play-offs behind Archie Clark (97 points) and Billy Cunningham (122 points).

Also in the following season he acted under Jack Ramsay as a support and starter of the 76ers. This season, the 76ers were only one of six teams that managed to show a positive record at the end of the regular championship. As fourth place in the Eastern Division, the franchise made it into the play-offs and, as in the previous year, was eliminated in the Eastern Division semifinals - this time against the Milwaukee Bucks with the young Lew Alcindor . In terms of individual performance, this was Imhoff's most successful season of his entire career as a professional player. He scored an average of 5.2 field goals per game with around 10.1 field goal attempts per game. In addition, he scored an average of 5.4 two-point points in 10.1 two-point attempts per game, and an average of 2.7 free throws per game in 4.2 free-throw attempts per game. The 13.6 points he averaged per game were also the highest number of points in his career. In the season of these career bests, the 31-year-old was used in 79 of 82 league games that were possible and in all five play-off games of the Philadelphia franchise.

Career finale with the Cincinnati Royals and the Portland Trail Blazers

Before the start of the 1970/71 NBA season , Imhoff was shipped to Cincinnati along with a two-round draft pick for the 1971 NBA draft ; In return, the veteran Connie Dierking and Fred Foster, who was still at the beginning of his career, moved to the Philadelphia 76ers. Subsequently, Imhoff started at the Cincinnati Royals under coach Bob Cousy and General Manager Joe Axelson as a regular player, but retired at the end of the year after a cartilage damage in the knee, a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and a subsequent surgery for the rest of the season out. He played his last game on December 30, 1970 in a 115: 119 away defeat against his former employer, the Detroit Pistons. By then he had been used in 34 league games of the 1970/71 season. In this season, in which the NBA expanded to 17 teams and the league was divided into two conferences with two divisions each, the Cincinnati Royals reached third place in the final classification of the regular time in the Central Division and thus did not make it into the season-closing division Play-offs.

After his injury became acute again at the beginning of the 1971/72 season , Imhoff was put on the waivers list by Axelson, as one could now do without the permanently injured Imhoff. After only nine completed league games for the Royals, he moved as a free agent on December 3, 1971 to the Portland Trail Blazers , who had only started their game operations in the previous season. There he was used in five games in December under the then coach Rolland Todd and was only used regularly from January 1972, but mostly only played from the bench. After Todd was kicked out as a trainer on February 2, 1972, he came under the subsequent interim coach Stu Inman , who had only appeared as a basketball coach at high schools and colleges up to this point. A 109:13 home defeat to the Houston Rockets on March 26, 1972 was the last official NBA game that Imhoff played, where he contributed only three points as the weakest player on the field. After his team landed by a considerable margin in last place in the Pacific Division and the combined Western Conference, he ended his active career as a basketball player after 801 regular championship games and 54 play-offs. In January 1973, he underwent an operation that restored his anterior cruciate ligament, but continued to prevent him from continuing his professional career.

Life after an active sports career

As part of the US national basketball team of 1960, Imhoff was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984; the team of 1960 expired on Dream Team of 1992 as the best in the history of US basketball.

The Phi Kappa Tau member was inducted into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988; In 2005 he was inducted into the Pac-10 Hall of Honor . On February 14, 2009, Imhoff's jersey number 40 was withdrawn during a game between the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University and thus suspended for eternity. This number will therefore never again be given to a California Golden Bears basketball player.

Because of his NBA career, he had only dropped out of college six units before he graduated from college, so he made up for it 33 years later and received his bachelor's degree in the early 1990s . His motivation was that his coach at the time, Pete Newell, was able to say that every player on his former championship team had made it.

After retiring from professional sports, Imhoff first lived in Hillsboro , Oregon, before moving to the more southerly university town of Eugene , Oregon. On June 30, 2017, Imhoff, 78 , died of a heart attack in the city of Bend , Oregon. As an alumnus , he was a member of the Portland Trail Blazers Ambassador Program until his death . He was also Vice President of Sales and Marketing at the United States Basketball Academy (USBA) in Blue River , Oregon, until his death . He was also temporarily a broadcaster for the Portland Trail Blazers, mainly appearing on the radio. He was survived by his wife, Susan, his five children, and various grandchildren.

successes

Darrall Imhoff's withdrawn jersey number 40, never to be awarded again by the California Golden Bears, on the ceiling of the Haas Pavilion ; next to it the withdrawn number 13 of the player Colleen Galloway

With the California Golden Bears

• 1 × NCAA Division I Basketball Championship winner : 1959

With the Los Angeles Lakers

• 3 × winners of the Western Division of the NBA : 1964/65 , 1965/66 and 1967/68
• 3 times runner-up in the NBA: 1964/65, 1965/66 and 1967/68

With the Philadelphia 76ers

• 1 × runner-up in the Eastern Conference of the NBA : 1968/69

With the United States

• 1 × Olympic champion in basketball : 1960

Individual successes

• NCAA Men's Basketball All-American : 1960
• NBA All-Star : 1967
• 2 × First-Team-All-AAWU ( Athletic Association of Western Universities ): 1959 and 1960
• Induced into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame: 1988
• Induction into the Pac-10 Hall of Honor: 2005
• withdrawn jersey number 40 from University of California, Berkeley: 2009

literature

• Dave Blevins: The Sports Hall of Fame Encyclopedia. Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, 2 volumes . 1st edition. The Scarecrow Inc. ( Rowman & Littlefield ), Lanham , Maryland 2012, ISBN 978-0-8108-6130-5 , pp. 1 .

Web links

• Darrall Imhoff - player profile on basketball-reference.com
• Darrall Imhoff in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Former Great Darrall Imhoff to Have No. 40 Jersey Retired ( Memento January 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed July 19, 2017
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Darrall Imhoff, Center on Cal's NCAA Title Team, Dies ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed July 19, 2017 
3. ^ Former Great Darrall Imhoff to Have No. 40 Jersey Retired ( January 22, 2009 memento on the Internet Archive ), accessed July 8, 2017
4. ↑ Darrall Imhoff, a Decorated Basketball Center, Dies at 78 , accessed July 8, 2017
5. ↑ Darrall Imhoff, former Cal, Olympic, NBA center, dies at 78 , accessed on July 19, 2017
6. ↑ CAL GREAT DARRALL IMHOFF PASSES AWAY , accessed on July 19, 2017
7. ↑ ALUMNI & AMBASSADORS (English), accessed on July 8, 2017