Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

281 results found

basketball

(Encyclopedia)basketball, game played generally indoors by two opposing teams of five players each. Basketball was conceived in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a physical education instructor at the YMCA college in Spr...

Summit, Pat

(Encyclopedia)Summit, Pat (Patricia Sue Summit), 1952–2016, American basketball player and coach, b. Clarksville, Tenn., as Patricia Sue Head. She played basketball at the Univ. of Tennessee at Martin, and upon g...

Wilkens, Lenny

(Encyclopedia)Wilkens, Lenny (Leonard Randolph Wilkens), 1937–, American basketball player and coach, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. After playing at Providence College, he joined the St. Louis Hawks of the National Basketbal...

Smith, Dean Edwards

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Dean Edwards, 1931–2015, American college basketball coach, b. Emporia, Kans. After playing basketball at the Univ. of Kansas (grad. 1953), Smith joined (1954) the Air Force and became an ass...

Krzyzewski, Mike

(Encyclopedia)Krzyzewski, Mike (Michael William Krzyzewski) shəshĕvˈskē [key], 1947–, American basketball coach, b. Chicago. He attended West Point (grad. 1969), where he played basketball under Bobby Knight....

Barkley, Charles Wade

(Encyclopedia)Barkley, Charles Wade 1963–, American basketball player, b. Leeds, Ala. After starring at Auburn Univ., he joined the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1984. Shorter...

Malone, Karl Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Malone, Karl Anthony, 1963–, American basketball player, b. Summerfield, La. He played basketball at Louisiana Tech Univ. and joined the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association in 1985. A p...

Rupp, Adolph Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Rupp, Adolph Frederick, 1901–77, American college basketball coach, b. Halstead, Kans. He attended the Univ. of Kansas (grad. 1923), and began coaching at the Univ. of Kentucky in 1930, leading the ...

West, Jerry

(Encyclopedia)West, Jerry (Jerome Alan West), 1938–, American basketball player, b. Cheylan, W.Va. One of the game's great shooting guards, he led West Virginia Univ. to the 1959 National Collegiate Athletic Asso...

Johnson, Magic

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Magic (Earvin Johnson, Jr.), 1959–, African-American basketball player, b. Lansing, Mich. After winning the national championship with Michigan State Univ. (1979), he joined the Los Angeles...