BERKELEY, Calif., Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Basketball Hall of Fame member Pete Newell, who coached an NIT champion, NCAA champion and Olympic champion, died Monday at 93.
The University of California, which Newell led to the national title in 1959, announced his death. Newell coached for 15 years at San Francisco, Michigan State and California before coaching in the 1960 Olympics. He led the U.S. team -- which included Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and Jerry Lucas -- to a gold medal in Rome.
Newell won the 1949 NIT championship while at San Francisco and captured the 1959 NCAA crown with the Cal Bears. He won four straight Pac 8 titles from 1957-1960 and was named the National Coach of the Year in 1960.
"Coach Newell was one of the most beloved and revered coaches in the game influencing the careers and success of so many others -- including many contemporary coaches now elected to the Hall of Fame," said Basketball Hall of Fame President and Chief Executive Officer John Doleva. "His wit and wisdom will be missed but certainly not forgotten."
Newell was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in 1979.
