A Good Man: The Pete Newell Story

by Bruce Jenkins, Ron Fimrite (Foreword)

Pete Newell is considered one of the finest basketball minds in the sport’s history. His death in 2008 spawned tributes from around the country, including legendary UCLA coach John Wooden and Bob Knight, who considered Newell his mentor. Newell, Knight, and Dean Smith are the only men to coach championships at the Olympics, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and the National Invitational Tournament (NIT), and of the three, only Newell won the NIT at a time when it was considered the nation’s most prestigious tournament. He had a fiercely competitive rivalry with Wooden and won his last eight meetings against Wooden’s UCLA teams before retiring in 1960. Although he retired for health reasons, he continued to teach the game, notably at the famed Big Man’s Camp, for the rest of his life. Based on hundreds of interviews of veterans of the game, A Good Man is Bruce Jenkins’s complete biography of Pete Newell.

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 1999

About the author

Bruce Jenkins, a San Francisco Chronicle columnist twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, is the author of "Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins," "Shop Around: Growing Up With Motown in a Sinatra Household," "North Shore Chronicles: Big-Wave Surfing in Hawaii," and " A Good Man: The Pete Newell Story."

A 1966 graduate of Santa Monica High School, he earned a B.A. in journalistic studies at UC Berkeley in 1971 and has written for the San Francisco Chronicle since 1973, writing a regular sports column since 1989. He has covered 27 World Series and 19 Wimbledons, and been named one of the top 10 sports columnists in the nation by the Associated Press Sports Editors.

Reviews

[James]

Anyone who carefully assesses Pete Newell's life and career will most likely conclude that he had the best and most extensive basketball mind of all time, and that his influence will never be matched. He was the first college coach who coached teams that won the NIT (when it was the dominant basketball tournament), the NCAA tournament, and the Olympics. He was like a second father to Jerry West, and they remained close friends until Pete's death (Jerry was driving to Pete's house at the moment of Pete's death). Pete quit coaching after the Olympic victory in 1960. His doctor warned that the amount of stress that coaching brought could lead to an early grave. The biggest beneficiaryof this decision was John Wooden. In their last eight meetins Cal was 8 -0 vs. UCLA. Cal had dominated the Pacific Coast Conference. Wooden adopted Pete's full court pressure defense, and began to recruit better players with the aid of alumnus Sam Gilbert. Beyond the cheating that occurred, it is still likely that Newell would have continued to outcoach Wooden. In addition Gail Goodrich may have chosen to go to Cal to be coached a more successful coach, who was also a good friend of his parents. Gail sidestepped by saying that it would have been a tough decision. Without Goodrich leading the Bruins to two NCAA championships, it is doubtful that Lew Alcindor would have selected UCLA. Even less likely is Bill Walton attending UCLA--with his father an avid alumnus of Cal and Pete Newell's expertise coaching big men, there is no way Walton would have chosen Wooden and UCLA.
The best argument for Pete's extraordinary coaching talent is to note the quality of the individual Cal players and compare that to their achievements as a team. The only player who managed to play pro ball was Darrell Imhoff--who few fans can remember (except those who know who was guarding Wilt when Chamberlain scored 100). And finally there is the big man camp--for which Pete received no money. Top NBA players sought Pete's expertise.
Pete was responsible for Kareem joining the Lakers--the beginning of their resurgence. He also advised coach "K", and was good friends with Red Auerbach and Bobby Knight. He never ceased his involvement in the sport he loved passionately, and he always responded to anyone's request for help. He was the epitome of "a good man". He deserves to be honored and remembered as having the greatest influence on the game of all time.

[Dale Stonehouse]

Not easy to find, this is one of the best basketball books ever written about one of the best coaches and basketball minds in history. Newell, who coached California to the NCAA title in 1959 and the USA to Olympic Gold in 1960 and then promptly retired in his 40s, continued to influence the basketball world for decades afterward. For basketball purists mostly but a good human story as well.