Lester Habegger

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Basketball player
Lester Habegger
Player information
Full name Lester Noah Habegger
Nickname Les
birthday November 13, 1924
place of birth Berne , Indiana , United States
date of death 6th July 2017
Place of death Spokane , Washington , United States
college Wheaton
Clubs as coaches
1954-1956 NWC Eagles ( AC ) 1956-1976 SPC Falcons 1976-1984 Seattle SuperSonics ( AC ) 1984-1987 Seattle SuperSonics ( GM ) 1987 Milwaukee Bucks ( AC ) 1987-1991 Steiner Bayreuth 1994-1995 Steiner Bayreuth ( GM ) 1995 Steiner BayreuthUnited StatesUnited States
United StatesUnited States
United StatesUnited States
United StatesUnited States
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GermanyGermany
GermanyGermany
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Lester "Les" Habegger (born November 13, 1924 in Berne , Indiana ; † July 6, 2017 in Spokane , Washington ) was an American basketball coach who was successful in the NCAA , as an assistant and general manager in the NBA professional league and in the German basketball league has worked. His greatest successes are his NBA championship with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979 and his championship title with Steiner Bayreuth in 1989, combined with two cup wins in 1988 and 1989.

Life

youth

Habegger came from an Amish family of Swiss German origin from Indiana. In 1943 he was called up for military service, served in a medical unit in Europe and saw the end of the Second World War in Germany. After the war he first studied near Saint Paul (Minnesota) at Northwestern College, a Christian college that was presided over by Billy Graham during Habegger's student days . The talented basketball player then moved to Wheaton College near Chicago in the US state of Illinois in 1952 . He graduated from the college, which was also private and evangelical, in 1954.

Basketball coach (university)

After graduation, he returned to Northwestern College as an assistant coach. After two years, he moved to Seattle Pacific College (now: Seattle Pacific University ) on the Pacific coast in 1956 . The Methodist embossed college is like Wheaton College member of the Christian College Consortium . After a year Habegger became the head coach of the Falcons and stayed there for 17 years. The greatest success was in 1965 reaching the quarterfinals of the Elite Eight in the NCAA championship . According to other sources, Habegger worked for the college for 20 years.

Trainer and Manager (NBA)

In the mid-seventies, Habegger became an assistant coach at the Sonics professional club in Seattle . Under head coach Lenny Wilkens succeeded in 1979 the championship in the NBA. In 1984 Habegger became General Manager of Sonics and remained so until 1987. That year he was once again active as an assistant coach at the Milwaukee Bucks, assisting Don Nelson . Nelson resigned at the end of the season and Habegger received an offer from Germany , a country whose language he understood due to his family origins, but which he originally did not want to return to because of his World War II experience.

Trainer, Sports Director (BBL)

1987 Habegger came to the Franconian Bayreuth and coached the local club in the German Bundesliga. The club, which was successful in the early 1980s when it reached the final of the Korać Cup , had meanwhile been relegated to the 2nd basketball league and rose again in 1985 after Steiner joined the company as a sponsor. Habegger should lead the club to the national top, which he initially succeeded. In his first year you won the trophy with players like Calvin Oldham and the young Michael Koch . In the year Habegger brought the tricky American Bo Dukes from Sweden and, in addition to winning the cup again, the championship followed in a dramatic final series, when after two defeats they won the remaining three finals and celebrated the championship. In the following year, Habegger was already struggling with back problems and in terms of sport, the Bayreuth team had nothing to counter the incipient dominance of Bayer Leverkusen , which they had narrowly defeated in the final series the year before, so that Leverkusen under coach Dirk Bauermann was seven years old constant triumph in the final series for the German championship. Habegger, who had already taken a leave of absence for a few games during the 1989/90 season due to his back problems , left Bayreuth and was initially accepted by the University of Washington in the coaching staff of the huskies . After Bayreuth had already changed coach three times in the main round of the 1990/91 season , Habegger returned for the play-offs of the season, failed with the team again at Leverkusen in the semifinals. Because of persistent back problems, Habegger supposedly returned to the USA for good before the start of the 1991/92 season .

After a weak start to the season, Tom Schneeman , who had previously also worked in Seattle, returned to the Bayreuth coaching bench, who had led the club to the quarter-finals of the Korać Cup in 1983 and also gained promotion in 1985. Despite his respectable performance, the impulsive snowman was fired in 1994, so that Habegger was brought back to Bayreuth as sports director from the USA. The 1994/95 season did not go according to the wishes of the club, which is why they parted ways with coach Aaron McCarthy at the end of the season and Habegger returned to the coaching bench in Bayreuth. However, the team did not live up to the high expectations of the coach and club. Due to a lack of income, cuts had to be made, so Habegger resigned before the turn of the year and now finally returned to the USA. His long-time successful player Calvin Oldham, who had meanwhile become an assistant coach in Bayreuth, took over as coach.

retirement

Habegger spent his old age in Arizona , he died on July 6, 2017 at the age of 92 in Spokane .

literature

  • Doris H. Pieroth: We Still Call Him Coach: The Life and Legacy of Les Habegger . Cross Training Pub, 2008, ISBN 978-1-929478-67-5 , pp. 208 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Lester Habegger in the Munzinger archive , accessed on December 15, 2009 ( beginning of article freely available)
  2. ↑ a b Seattle Times, January 25, 2009: Book Review | Coaching biography goes back to Seattle's hoop roots , by Jayda Evans, book review of Habegger's biography, accessed December 15, 2009.
  3. ^ Library of Congress: Veterans History Project: Lester Habegger Collection , accessed December 15, 2009.
  4. ↑ Trailblazers (WorldWar2) - 70th Infantry Division Association: Accounts -274th - Les Habegger , accessed December 15, 2009.
  5. ↑ NW College: NWC History 1933-73 ( Memento of the original from February 23, 2010 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), History of Northwestern College, accessed December 15, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nwc.edu
  6. ^ Wheaton College Athletics: Men's Basketball History: The Lee Pfund Era - The Golden Years , accessed December 15, 2009.
  7. ↑ a b Seattle Times, July 13, 1990: Habegger Is UW's 65-Year-Old Recruit - Ex-Sonic Coach, GM To Be Husky Assistant (English), by Sarah Smith, accessed December 15, 2009.
  8. ^ NBA History: Forever Linked , Bullets-Sonics Finals 1978 and 1979, accessed December 15, 2009.
  9. ^ NBA.com: Significant transactions in Bucks history - 1987 , Personal changes in the history of the Bucks, accessed December 15, 2009.
  10. ↑ Seattle Times, August 28, 1994: Habegger Planting Seeds For Basketball In Germany , by Glenn Nelson, accessed December 15, 2009.
  11. ↑ BBC Bayreuth: BBC history: 30 years of basketball ( memento of the original from April 21, 2009 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. , Text by Dr. Peter-Michael Habermann, accessed December 15, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bbc-bayreuth.de
  12. ↑ BBC Bayreuth: BBC History: The double is perfect  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Text by Dr. Peter-Michael Habermann, accessed December 15, 2009.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bbc-bayreuth.de  
  13. ↑ a b BBC Bayreuth: BBC History: Conductors of History - Les Habegger, the Master Makers ( Memento of the original from May 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Text by Dr. Peter-Michael Habermann, accessed December 15, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bbc-bayreuth.de
  14. ↑ Torsten Ernstberger: Les Habegger is dead. In: Nordbayerischer Kurier. July 7, 2017. Retrieved July 9, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Former SPU men's basketball, Sonics assistant coach Les Habegger dies at 92. KIRO 7, July 6, 2017, accessed on July 9, 2017 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Habegger, Lester
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Habegger, Les
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American basketball coach
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Berne (Indiana) , Indiana, United States
DATE OF DEATH 6th July 2017
Place of death Spokane