Topic: Pat Riley

Patrick (Pat) James Riley (born March 20, 1945) is a former American professional basketball player and then head coach in the NBA. Currently, he is team president of the Miami Heat. Widely regarded as one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time, Riley has served as the head coach of five championship teams and an assistant coach to another. He most recently won the 2006 NBA Championship with the Miami Heat. Prior to his tenure in Miami, he served as head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks. He was named NBA Coach of the Year three times (1989–90, 1992–93 and 1996–97, as head coach of the Lakers, Knicks and Heat, respectively). He was head coach of the NBA All-Star Game teams nine times: eight of the Western team (1982, 1983, 1985–1990, all as head coach of the Lakers) and once of the Eastern team (1993, as head coach of the Knicks). In 1996 he was named one of 10 Greatest Coaches in the NBA history. As a player he played for the Los Angeles Lakers' championship team in 1972, bringing his personal total to seven NBA titles.

Riley was born in Rome, New York, and raised in Schenectady. His father, Leon Riley, played twenty-two seasons of minor league baseball as an outfielder and first baseman, and appeared in 4 games for the 1944 Philadelphia Phillies.

Riley played for Linton High School in Schenectady, New York under head coach Walt Przybylo and his assistants Bill Rapavy and Ed Catino. Linton High School's 74–68 victory over New York City's Power Memorial on December 29, 1961, is remembered mostly for its two stars: Power Memorial's Lew Alcindor (who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar); and his future coach with the Los Angeles Lakers, Linton's Riley. In 1991, Riley called it, "One of the greatest games in the history of Schenectady basketball."