Alexander Gomelsky

From Hoopedia

Alexander Yakovlevich Gomelsky (Russian: Александр Яковлевич Гомельский) (born January 18, 1928 in Kronstadt (near Leningrad, now St. Petersburg), USSR, died August 16, 2005 in Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet Union and Russian basketball coach.

The 5'5" future Hall of Famer began coaching in 1945 at the age of 17, following two years as a star player at Leningrad High School #79. He was an All-Star three years running at the Coaches' College in Leningrad.

Gomelsky became the coach of LGS Spartak in Leningrad in 1948. In 1953 he became the coach of ASK Riga, a Soviet Army club, leading the team to five Soviet league titles and three consecutive European Cups from 1958 to 1960.

In 1969 he was appointed coach of CSKA Moscow until 1980, leading the club to nine Soviet Union national league championships (1970-74, 1976-79), two Soviet Union national cups (1972-73) and one European Champions Cup title in 1971, leading the club to two more European Cup finals in 1970 and 1973.

Gomelsky coached the Soviet Union National Team for almost 30 years, leading them to seven European Championship {EuroBasket) titles (1959, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1979, and 1981); two World Championships titles (1967, 1982); and the Olympic gold medal in basketball at the 1988 Olympics.

He was the Soviet national team coach in 1972, and was expected to coach the team at the 1972 Olympics, but the KGB (Soviet secret police) confiscated his passport, fearing that, since Gomelsky was Jewish, he would defect to Israel. The Soviet team, with Vladimir Kondrashin as coach, won their first Olympic gold medal that year, in the most controversial basketball game in Olympic history against the United States team.

In his later years, he was president of the CSKA Moscow club. He also coached in Spain, France and the United States.

The Euroleague's annual Coach of the Year award is named in his honor. He was part of the inaugural class to be enshrined into the FIBA Hall of Fame. In 1995 he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach.

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