Professional Basketball Player, Coach. He began his lengthy association with the sport during his years at New York City Catholic High School and was a contributor to two city championship teams. He enrolled at Fordham University, however his studies were interrupted while he served with the United States Navy during World War II. Upon his return home, he continued his athletics at Fordham and received team MVP honors in 1948, while attaining his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. He was selected by the Celtics of the Basketball Association of America during the 1948 BBA Draft and played in 34 games at the forward and point guard positions with Boston during the 1948-1949 season. He moved on to a lengthy coaching career, initially with Fordham (1949 to 1968) and guided the Rams to five NIT appearances and two NCAA Tournament berths. He served as head coach at Penn State University from 1968 until 1978. In 1972, he served as Henry Iba's assistant with the US Men's Olympic Basketball Team which controversially lost the gold medal match against the Soviets. It was the first lost in U.S. Olympic basketball history. Bach returned to the NBA level and succeeded Al Attles as head coach of the Golden State Warriors during the 1979-1980 season. He remained as assistant coach when Attles returned the followings season (1980-1981). He succeeded Attles a second time and served as the Golden State Warriors' head coach from 1983 until 1986. Bach served as an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls under Doug Collins and later Phil Jackson. He was part of the staff for three consecutive Bulls' championship titles (1991 to 1993) and was a mentor to Michael Jordan. Additionally, he had stints with the Charlotte Hornets (1994 to 1996), Detroit Pistons (1996 to 1998), Washington Wizards (2000 to 2003) and a second time with the Chicago Bulls (2003 to 2004) before retiring. Bach was inducted into the Fordham University Rams Athletics Hall of Fame in 1974.