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Satch Sanders
Thomas Satch Sanders at NEBBHOF.jpg
Sanders in 2013
Personal information
Born (1938-11-08) November 8, 1938 (age 86)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality American
High school Seward Park
(New York City, New York)
Listed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight 210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
College NYU (1957–1960)
NBA Draft 1960 / Round: 1 / Pick: 8th overall
Selected by the Boston Celtics
Pro career 1960–1973
Coaching career 1973–1978
Career history
As player:
1960–1973 Boston Celtics
As coach:
1973–1977 Harvard
1977–1978 Boston Celtics (assistant)
1978 Boston Celtics
Career highlights and awards
  • 8× NBA champion (1961–1966, 1968, 1969)
  • NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1969)
  • No. 16 retired by Boston Celtics
  • Third-team All-American – UPI (1960)
  • Haggerty Award (1960)
Career statistics
Points 8,766 (9.6 ppg)
Rebounds 5,798 (6.3 rpg)
Assists 1,026 (1.1 apg)

Thomas Ernest "Satch" Sanders (born November 8, 1938) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played his entire professional career as a power forward for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Sanders won eight NBA championships and is tied for third for the most NBA championships. He is also one of three NBA players with an unsurpassed 8–0 record in NBA Finals series. After his playing retirement, he served as a head coach for the Harvard Crimson men's basketball team and the Boston Celtics. Sanders was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2011.

Career

Satch Sander with Boston mayor John F. Collins
Sanders with Boston mayor John F. Collins in the 1960s
Tom sanders celtics
Sanders with the Boston Celtics

After playing at New York University as a stand out collegian, he spent all of his 13 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Boston Celtics. He scored a career-high 30 points to go along with 26 rebounds in a 142-110 win over the Syracuse Nationals on March 13, 1962. He was part of the eight championship teams in 1961–66, 1968 and 1969. In NBA history, only teammates Bill Russell and Sam Jones have won more championship rings during their playing careers (three other teammates, John Havlicek, Tom Heinsohn and K. C. Jones, also won eight championship rings).

Sanders underwent knee surgery in 1970 after he injured his left knee during the last Celtics game for the regular season. This immensely affected his ability to play afterwards. He announced he was ending his playing career in 1973. On March 20, 1968, a housing development group formed by Sanders (called the Sanders Associates) received a $996,000 FHA commitment through the Boston Rehabilitation Program (BURP) for the rehabilitation of 83 units in Roxbury, Massachusetts after local community activists (including Mel King) criticized BURP for a lack of sufficient community control and racial equity.

Following his playing career Sanders became the basketball coach at Harvard University, a position he held until 1977. Sanders became the first African-American to serve as a head coach of any sport in the Ivy League. In 1978, Sanders became the head coach of the Boston Celtics, taking over for former teammate Tommy Heinsohn. Sanders returned the following season; however after a 2–12 record he was replaced by Dave Cowens, who took on the role as a player-coach. In 1986, Sanders founded the Rookie Transition Program - the first such program in any major American sport.

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1960–61† Boston 68 15.9 .420 .670 5.7 0.6 5.3
1961–62† Boston 80 29.1 .435 .749 9.5 0.9 11.2
1962–63† Boston 80 26.9 .456 .738 7.2 1.2 10.8
1963–64† Boston 80 29.6 .417 .761 8.3 1.3 11.4
1964–65† Boston 80 30.7 .429 .745 8.3 1.2 11.8
1965–66† Boston 72 26.3 .428 .764 7.1 1.3 12.6
1966–67 Boston 81 23.8 .428 .817 5.4 1.1 10.2
1967–68† Boston 78 25.4 .428 .784 5.8 1.3 10.2
1968–69† Boston 82 26.6 .430 .733 7.0 1.3 11.2
1969–70 Boston 57 28.4 .443 .880 5.5 1.6 11.5
1970–71 Boston 17 7.1 .364 .875 1.0 0.6 2.3
1971–72 Boston 82 19.9 .410 .816 4.3 1.2 6.6
1972–73 Boston 59 7.2 .315 .657 1.5 0.5 2.0
Career 916 24.2 .428 .767 6.3 1.1 9.6

Playoffs

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1961† Boston 10 21.6 .493 .625 8.4 0.7 8.9
1962† Boston 14 31.4 .431 .806 8.2 1.0 10.1
1963† Boston 13 29.8 .437 .774 7.4 1.5 9.8
1964† Boston 10 30.2 .362 .676 6.8 0.6 9.1
1965† Boston 12 30.4 .421 .721 8.5 1.6 13.3
1966† Boston 17 29.4 .483 .750 6.5 1.6 13.5
1967 Boston 9 16.0 .344 .400 4.8 0.6 4.9
1968† Boston 14 20.6 .505 .762 4.5 0.9 8.3
1969† Boston 15 13.1 .438 .742 3.2 0.5 5.8
1972 Boston 11 16.9 .321 .619 2.4 0.9 4.3
1973 Boston 5 4.8 .556 .000 1.0 0.2 2.0
Career 130 23.5 .436 .716 5.8 1.0 8.8

Gallery

Photos of Sanders

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Tom Sanders para niños

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