Lapchick: the life of a legendary player and coach in the glory days of basketball

LAPCHICK encapsulates Joe Lapchick’s fifty-year career that mirrors the framework of basketball in America. Coach Lapchick, twice enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame, experienced a life in basketball that places him with a handful of the pioneers of the game. The book uses Joe Lapchick as a lens through which the rise and development of basketball is clearly understood. Lapchick began a professional career that led him in the 1920s to the famous Original Celtics where he became the game’s most successful big man. After a successful professional career, he turned to coaching where he spent more than twenty years coaching at St. John’s University [1936-1947, 1956-1965] only separated by nine years with the New York Knickerbockers. His record was among the nation’s best, both as a collegiate and professional coach, winning four NITs. During his second stint at St. John’s, Gus had the pleasure of playing for Coach Lapchick. The experience was so riveting that he later was motivated to write his coach’s biography. Alfieri conducted more than 250 interviews, including ones with Lou Carnesecca, Wilt Chamberlain, Bobby Knight, and John Wooden. Read more