Larry Brown

At a shade under 5-10 (1.78), Larry Brown shares with Sam Balter the distinction of being the shortest U.S. Olympic basketball players. Brown played his college ball at North Carolina and then played two years of AAU hoop with the Akron Goodyears. At his height, and with his deadly outside shot, he was far better suited for the ABA with its 3-point goals, and from 1967-1972 he played in that league as a steady performer. In 1969 he played with the champion Oakland Oaks and led the league in assists that year. After retiring as a player, Larry Brown became one of the game’s best, and most peripatetic, coaches. He started with the Carolina Cougars of the ABA and moved in 1974 to the Denver Nuggets. He has since coached multiple teams in the NBA and Division I college. He is the only person to have coached an NCAA Champion, the University of Kansas in 1988, and an NBA Champion, the Detroit Pistons in 2004, and the only coach to take seven NBA teams to the play-offs. His coaching odyssey includes: University of North Carolina briefly as an assistant, in the ABA, the New Orleans Buccaneers (1967-68), Oakland Oaks (1968-69), Washington Caps (1969-70), Virginia Squires (1970-71), and Denver Rockets (1971-72), the NBA’s Denver Nuggets (1975-79), UCLA (1979-81), taking them to the NCAA finals, back in the NBA with the New Jersey Nets (1981-83), back in college with Kansas (1983-88), and finally in the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks.