Hannum, Alexander M.
Basketball
b. July 19, 1923, Los Angeles, CA
d. Jan. 18, 2002
Hannum went to the University of Southern California on a basketball scholarship in 1941. After serving in the Army from 1943 to 1946, he returned to school and graduated in 1948. During three seasons on the varsity, he averaged 9.2 points a game.
The 6-foot-7, 225-pound Hannum played for the Oshkosh All-Stars of the National Basketball League in 1948-49 and then joined the NBA's Syracuse Nationals. His playing career ended in 1956-57, when he went to the St. Louis Hawks as player-coach in mid-season.
Hannum guided the Hawks to two consecutive division championships and the 1958 NBA title, then left coaching for a year. He returned to Syracuse in 1960 and went to the San Francisco Warriors for the 1963-64 season, when they won the Western Division title.
The Syracuse franchise moved to Philadelphia in 1964 and became known as the 76ers. Hannum took over that team in 1966 and directed it to a 68-13 regular season record and the NBA championship.
After coaching Philadelphia to a 62-20 record and an Eastern Division title in 1967-68, Hannum went to the Oakland Oaks of the ABA. Led by Rick Barry, Oakland won the league championship, making Hannum the only coach ever to win titles in both the NBA and the ABA.
He returned to the NBA with the San Diego Clippers during the 1969-70 season and brought the team from seventh to third place, then became general manager and coach of the ABA's Denver Nuggets. He retired from coaching after the 1973-74 season to devote all his time to his construction business in California.
As a professional player, Hannum scored 3,443 points in 578 regular season games, a 6.0 average. As a coach, he had a 649-564 record in regular season play and a 61-46 record in the playoffs.