Professional Basketball Player, Professional & College Basketball Coach. He is remembered for his guiding of the Los Angeles Lakers to two consecutive trips to the NBA Finals (1968 & 1969), in addition to his helming of collegiate teams to NCAA Berths. Born Willem Hendrik van Breda Kolff, he was raised in Pennsylvania, he attended the Hill School prior to enrolling at New York University where he played collegiate basketball. His studies were interrupted while he served with the United States Marine Corps during World War II. Following his return home, he returned to the collegiate level at Princeton University. For four-seasons (1946 to 1950), he played at the guard and forward positions in the National Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball Association with the New York Knicks. In 175 career regular season games, he totaled 826 points. After retiring as a player, he began his lengthy coaching career initially on the collegiate level at Lafayette (1951 to 1954) and guided the Leopards to a conference tournament championship in 1952. He coached at Hofstra University from 1955 to 1962 and Princeton University from 1962 to 1967. The latter, he guided to four Ivy League titles. He returned to the professional ranks as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers (1967 to 1969) and guided them to two consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals. He will be remembered for choosing to sit legend Wilt Chamberlain down in the closing minutes of the championship-clinching game which cost the Lakers the series to the Boston Celtics. Under pressure from team ownership, van Breda Kolff was forced to resign. He had further coaching stints with the Detroit Pistons (1979 to 1972), Phoenix Suns (1973 to 1972), Memphis Tams of the American Basketball Association and New Orleans Jazz (1974 to 1977). He returned to the collegiate level and served as head coach at the University of New Orleans and had second stints at Lafayette and Hofstra before retiring in 1994. His son Jan van Breda Kolff became a professional basketball player and college basketball coach.