Nationality American Name Vince Boryla Positions Basketball positions Pro career 1949–1954 Education University of Denver | Listed weight 210 lb (95 kg) Weight 95 kg Listed height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Role Basketball Player | |
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Born March 11, 1927 (age 97)
East Chicago, Indiana ( 1927-03-11 ) High school Washington (East Chicago, Indiana) College Notre Dame (1944–1946)
Denver (1948–1949) Awards NBA Executive of the Year Award | ||
Remembering Vince Boryla
Vincent Joseph Boryla (March 11, 1927 – March 27, 2016) was an American basketball player, coach and executive. His nickname was "Moose". He graduated from East Chicago Washington High School in 1944. He played basketball at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Denver, where he was named a consensus All-American in 1949. Boryla was part of the U.S team that won the gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
Boryla played for the New York Knicks in the early 1950s. In 1951, Boryla scored nine points in the inaugural NBA All-Star Game and played in the NBA Finals in 1951 and 1953. Boryla did not participate in the 1952 playoffs. He later became the Knicks' coach from 1956 to 1958, and had an 80-85 record with them.
Later in his career, Boryla became the general manager of the American Basketball Association's Denver Nuggets early in their history when they were first the Kansas City ABA team and then the Denver Larks. He was also the general manager of the ABA's Utah Stars. Boryla later rejoined the Nuggets when the franchise joined the NBA. He won the NBA Executive of the Year Award with the Nuggets in 1984.
Boryla was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 1984 into the National Polish-American Hall of Fame. Boryla died in Denver, Colorado on March 27, 2016 from complications of pneumonia, aged 89.