WCCO: Former Gophers Honor John Kundla For 100th Birthday

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John Kundla made his name coaching the Minneapolis Lakers to titles in professional basketball. After he left the Lakers, he signed on to coach the Gophers.

On Sunday, Kundla turns 100 years old. His former Gophers threw him a little party, and WCCO’s Mike Max was there.

They came to celebrate with the coach. They’re known as John Kundla’s Gophers. He played there long before he was a coach, and he’s stacked up a lot of basketball memories the past century.

“So many memories. I just can’t say enough for them,” Kundla said.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/06/28/former-gophers-honor-john-kundla-for-100th-birthday/

Go Gophers!!
 

He was Gopher Coach when I first started following the Gophers.....1964.

Happy B-Day.
 

n the ocean of pro basketball history, Kundla’s name remained unrivaled during the NBA Finals in June. When Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in seven games, Kundla maintained his spot as the only coach to win NBA titles in the first two seasons on the bench.

Kundla won the 1949 title in the Basketball Association of America, the NBA’s predecessor, and followed it up with an NBA title in 1950. After falling short in the 1950-51 season, Kundla became the first coach to win three consecutive NBA titles, from 1952-54, and was later joined in the three-peat club by Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson.

Nowadays, Kundla’s stories can meander from subject to subject. While his recollections can be hazy and hearing faint, his spirit remains strong.

“This is unbelievable,” said former Gophers player Al Nuness, 70. “He’s got the same smile and the same enthusiasm when he sees his old players. It’s just a joy.”...
 

COURAGE AT UMN INTEGRATION

In 1959, Kundla took over as coach at his alma mater Minnesota, where he won a Big Ten championship in 1937. In 1963, he awarded scholarships to Lou Hudson, Archie Clark and Don Yates.

“All are Negroes,” wrote Sports Illustrated in December 1963. “No Negro has ever before played varsity basketball at Minnesota.”

“The nasty letters I got …” Kundla said of responses to the integration.

At Monday’s party, Nuness, an African-American, said Hudson called him and highly recommended Minnesota over Nuness’ first choice, Iowa.

“They certainly paved the way,” Nuness said.

But Nuness recalled further potholes along the path. Nuness said a holiday tournament at Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 1968 was rife with racial tension.

“We were scheduled to play (Mississippi), and the Ole Miss team had to get permission from (their school chancellor) to play us because we had African-Americans,” Nuness said. “It infuriated me as an African-American, and coach Kundla really had to calm us down and get us to understand what we were actually about to do.”
 

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Charley Walters on Kundla

Johnny Kundla’s hall of fame Lakers and Gophers basketball coaching careers have been well chronicled leading to his 100th birthday on Sunday in Minneapolis. But what is little known about Kundla is that in 1967, as top assistant for the USA Pan American Games team, he also coached some of basketball’s greatest players of that era at the University of Minnesota’s Williams Arena during the trials.

Included were Elvin Hayes, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Wes Unseld and Jo Jo White. Hayes and Monroe, although they were individual stars, didn’t make the team because they weren’t the all-around players Kundla and head coach Hal Fischer wanted for finals competition in Winnipeg, where the USA finished 5-0.

Yep, they cut Elvin Hayes and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe.
 

Reusse: Basketball legend John Kundla's ultimate underdog tale reaches 100

John and his mother moved around the city, so much so that he went to three high schools in Minneapolis: Edison, West and finally Central...

“I didn’t want to leave Minneapolis,” Kundla said. “A man named Eddie Cohen got me a job at the YMCA Downtown, and I had a room at the Field Hotel.”

John smiled and leaned forward in the wheelchair that he uses to get around the Catholic Eldercare complex.

“Later, the Field Hotel became the Society for the Blind,” Kundla said. “When I was coaching the Lakers and we got some bad calls, I’d yell at the ref, ‘Did they find you at the Field Hotel?’ I  never got a technical for that because the ref didn’t know what I was talking about.”

http://www.startribune.com/minnesot...rdog-tale-reaches-the-century-mark/385323491/
 

John's grandkids, the Dahlmans, sure made an impact on Minnesota high school basketball. Three of them played division 1 ball and they led Braham to three titles and numerous state title appearances.
 

Great stuff. Great player. Great coach. Happy 100th!
 



I was a young kid when we went to see the Lakers when Elgin Baylor was a rookie. They also had added former Furman great Frank Selvy whose career was revitalized with the Lakers, first in Minneapolis and then L.A. Selvy became my favorite player as a young hoopster.
 

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