Fred_Schaus
Fred Schaus
American basketball player and coach, college athletics administrator (1925–2010)
Frederick Appleton Schaus (June 30, 1925 – February 10, 2010) was an American basketball player, head coach and athletic director for the West Virginia University Mountaineers, player for the National Basketball Association's Fort Wayne Pistons and New York Knicks, general manager and head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, head coach of Purdue University basketball, and a member of the NCAA Basketball Committee. He was born in Newark, Ohio.[1]
 Schaus from The Monticola, 1955 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1925-06-30)June 30, 1925 Newark, Ohio, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Died | February 10, 2010(2010-02-10) (aged 84) Morgantown, West Virginia, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 205 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Newark (Newark, Ohio) | ||||||||||||||
| College | West Virginia (1946–1949) | ||||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 1949: 3rd round | ||||||||||||||
| Selected by the Fort Wayne Pistons | |||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1949–1954 | ||||||||||||||
| Position | Small forward | ||||||||||||||
| Number | 8, 17 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| As player: | |||||||||||||||
| 1949–1953 | Fort Wayne Pistons | ||||||||||||||
| 1953–1954 | New York Knicks | ||||||||||||||
| As coach: | |||||||||||||||
| 1954–1960 | West Virginia | ||||||||||||||
| 1960–1967 | Los Angeles Lakers | ||||||||||||||
| 1972–1978 | Purdue | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
| As player:
As coach:
As executive: | |||||||||||||||
| Career NBA statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Points | 4,070 (12.2 ppg) | ||||||||||||||
| Rebounds | 1,609 (6.0 rpg) | ||||||||||||||
| Assists | 961 (2.9 apg) | ||||||||||||||
Stats  at NBA.com | |||||||||||||||
| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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Schaus played basketball at West Virginia, where he earned the record of first to score 1,000 career points (1,009). He was also selected to the All-American team in 1949.
Schaus left West Virginia to join the Fort Wayne Pistons in the 1949–1950 season. He scored 14.3 points a game and a year later scored a career-best 15.3 points a game. He was selected to play in the first NBA All-Star Game and scored eight points for the West. However, he only averaged 14.1 points per game in 1952, and then in 1953 it dropped to 10.1 points per game.
He was traded to the New York Knicks halfway through the 1954 season and ended his NBA career that season with 7.1 points per game average.
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949–50 | Fort Wayne | 68 | – | .352 | .818 | – | 2.6 | 14.3 |
| 1950–51 | Fort Wayne | 68 | – | .340 | .835 | 7.3 | 2.7 | 15.1 |
| 1951–52 | Fort Wayne | 62 | 41.6 | .361 | .833 | 7.0 | 4.0 | 14.1 |
| 1952–53 | Fort Wayne | 69 | 36.8 | .334 | .821 | 6.0 | 3.6 | 10.5 |
| 1953–54 | Fort Wayne | 23 | 11.8 | .397 | .760 | 2.2 | .9 | 3.8 |
| 1953–54 | New York | 44 | 28.3 | .386 | .793 | 4.9 | 2.0 | 8.8 |
| Career | 334 | 33.5 | .352 | .823 | 6.0 | 2.9 | 12.2 | |
Playoffs
| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Fort Wayne | 4 | – | .364 | .839 | – | 2.8 | 18.5 |
| 1951 | Fort Wayne | 3 | – | .386 | .818 | 5.3 | 3.3 | 14.3 |
| 1952 | Fort Wayne | 2 | 45.0 | .343 | .875 | 7.5 | 7.0 | 15.5 |
| 1953 | Fort Wayne | 8 | 30.5 | .300 | .761 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 8.9 |
| 1954 | New York | 4 | 29.8 | .280 | .933 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 7.0 |
| Career | 21 | 32.4 | .339 | .820 | 5.0 | 2.6 | 11.8 | |
West Virginia
After his retirement from the NBA, Schaus returned to his alma mater to coach the Mountaineers. In his first season, he led the Mountaineers to a 19–11 mark and an NCAA tournament appearance. In the next five seasons, he posted an amazing 127–26 (.831) record, which included five consecutive NCAA tournament berths. The recruitment of Schaus for Jerry West (a native of Chelyan, West Virginia) to play for the Mountaineers was a key factor, with West calling Schaus his "mentor"; West played on the freshmen team in 1957 before playing with Schaus and the varsity team from 1958 to 1960.[2] He led WVU to the NCAA finals in 1959, but lost to Pete Newell's California team, 71–70.[3]
Purdue
After leaving NBA coaching and management in 1972, he returned to the college ranks to coach at Purdue University, taking over for George King. He held a 104–60 overall record as the Boilermaker's head coach, while leading them to the 1974 NIT Championship and a berth in the 1977 NCAA tournament. He then owned the distinction of being the only coach to reach the NIT finals, NCAA finals, and the NBA Finals.
At Purdue, Schaus was the successor to George King, who was Schaus' successor at West Virginia.
After 1981, Schaus returned to WVU to serve as the athletic director.
Los Angeles Lakers
After the 1960 season, he left college coaching for the Los Angeles Lakers and reunited with his former WVU star, Jerry West. Schaus guided the Lakers to seven consecutive playoff appearances, including 4 Western Conference Championships[3] in 5 years (1962, 1963, 1965 and 1966). He labeled the loss in 1966 (a Game 7 loss in Boston) as the “worst disappointment of my pro coaching career....If you don’t win it all, you’re nothing.” In 1967, he moved to the front office to become the Lakers general manager. He rebuilt the Lakers, eventually winning the 1972 NBA title. Not long after, Schaus was contacted by his friend George King (who had succeeded Schaus at West Virginia in 1960) about joining him at Purdue, as King wanted to focus on being the athletic director rather than being director and coach. Schaus accepted.[4]
College
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Virginia Mountaineers (Southern Conference) (1954–1960) | |||||||||
| 1954–55 | West Virginia | 19–11 | 9–1 | 1st | NCAA first round | ||||
| 1955–56 | West Virginia | 21–9 | 10–2 | T–1st | NCAA first round | ||||
| 1956–57 | West Virginia | 25–5 | 12–0 | 1st | NCAA University Division First Round | ||||
| 1957–58 | West Virginia | 26–2 | 12–0 | 1st | NCAA University Division First Round | ||||
| 1958–59 | West Virginia | 29–5 | 11–0 | 1st | NCAA University Division Runner-up | ||||
| 1959–60 | West Virginia | 26–5 | 9–2 | 2nd | NCAA University Division Regional Third Place | ||||
| West Virginia: | 146–37 (.798) | 63–5 (.926) | |||||||
| Purdue Boilermakers (Big Ten Conference) (1972–1978) | |||||||||
| 1972–73 | Purdue | 15–9 | 8–6 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1973–74 | Purdue | 21–9 | 10–4 | 3rd | NIT Champion | ||||
| 1974–75 | Purdue | 17–11 | 11–7 | T–3rd | NCIT Semifinals | ||||
| 1975–76 | Purdue | 16–11 | 11–7 | 3rd | |||||
| 1976–77 | Purdue | 20–8 | 14–4 | 2nd | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||
| 1977–78 | Purdue | 16–11 | 11–7 | T–4th | |||||
| Purdue: | 104–60 (.634) | 65–35 (.650) | |||||||
| Total: | 250 – 97 (.720) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
Professional
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win–loss % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win–loss % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAL | 1960–61 | 79 | 36 | 43 | .456 | 2nd in Western | 12 | 6 | 6 | .500 | Lost in Western Div. Finals |
| LAL | 1961–62 | 80 | 54 | 26 | .675 | 1st in Western | 13 | 7 | 6 | .538 | Lost in NBA Finals |
| LAL | 1962–63 | 80 | 53 | 27 | .663 | 1st in Western | 13 | 6 | 7 | .462 | Lost in NBA Finals |
| LAL | 1963–64 | 80 | 42 | 38 | .525 | 3rd in Western | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | Lost in Western Div. Semifinals |
| LAL | 1964–65 | 80 | 49 | 31 | .613 | 1st in Western | 11 | 5 | 6 | .455 | Lost in NBA Finals |
| LAL | 1965–66 | 80 | 45 | 35 | .563 | 1st in Western | 14 | 7 | 7 | .500 | Lost in NBA Finals |
| LAL | 1966–67 | 81 | 36 | 45 | .444 | 3rd in Western | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | Lost in Western Div. Semifinals |
| Career | 560 | 315 | 245 | .563 | 71 | 33 | 38 | .465 |
He is the father of Southern Conference Commissioner and former Ohio University and Wichita State University athletic director Jim Schaus.[5]
Schaus died in Morgantown, West Virginia, on February 10, 2010. He was 84.[6]
- Basketball-reference.com page Accessed February 11, 2010
- "Fred Schaus dies at 84; first L.A. Lakers head coach". Los Angeles Times. March 7, 2014. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
- Stavro, Barry (February 12, 2010), "Fred Schaus dies at 84; first L.A. Lakers head coach", The Los Angeles Times
- "Good guy Fred Schaus passes away". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
- "JIM SCHAUS". Southern Conference.[permanent dead link]
- Fred Schaus, Coach of Lakers in First Los Angeles Years, Dies at 84. The New York Times. February 13, 2010.