Bill Fitch

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Lore & Background

Fitch was the first head coach of the expansion Cleveland Cavaliers, leading them to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1976, where they lost to the Boston Celtics. He also coached the Boston Celtics to the 1981 NBA championship and later led the Houston Rockets to the 1986 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Celtics.

In Their Own Story

The air inside Richfield Coliseum was thick with tension as Bill Fitch paced the sideline during the fourth quarter of Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals. His eyes scanned the hardwood, tracking every defensive rotation, shouting instructions that cut through the roar of the crowd. He had built these men from nothing, demanding perfection in a city that had never seen a championship team before. As the clock wound down and his players held off the Philadelphia 76ers to secure their spot in the Finals, Fitch's stern expression finally softened into a look of quiet vindication. The impossible was done; he had forged a legend.

Reader's Guide

Fitch coached at four universities: the University of Minnesota, Bowling Green State University, the University of North Dakota, and his alma mater, Coe College. He won the NBA Coach of the Year Award twice (1976 and 1980) and the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.

Did You Know?

• Fitch was a former drill instructor in the U.S. Marine Corps.
• He ranks second in all-time NBA coaching losses with 1,106.
• He died on February 2, 2022, at the age of 89 in Lake Conroe, Texas.