1. Al Attles remained the team's head coach after his playing retirement and led the Warriors to an NBA championship in 1975.
25 Facts About Al Attles
1. 2.
Al Attles stepped down as head coach in 1983 and then served as general manager for the Warriors from 1983 to 1986.
3.
Al Attles was employed by the Warriors for the rest of his life, serving in roles including team ambassador and community relations representative.
4.
Al Attles was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.
5.
Al Attles was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Alvin Sr.
6.
Al Attles was a graduate of Weequahic High School in Newark.
7.
Al Attles initially declined before accepting and going to training camp.
8.
Al Attles was drafted by the then-Philadelphia Warriors in 1960 as a fifth-round selection.
9.
Al Attles moved with the team to the Bay Area at the end of the 1962 season, playing until 1971.
10.
Al Attles was known as "the Destroyer" due to his defensive specialities along with once punching a player in the jaw.
11.
Al Attles was a reserve on the 1964 Warriors team that reached the NBA Finals and lost to the Boston Celtics, four games to one.
12.
Al Attles was one of the first African-American head coaches in the NBA.
13.
Al Attles's team tried to repeat the following season, but they lost to the Phoenix Suns in the conference finals in seven games.
14.
From 1983 to 1986, Al Attles worked as the Warriors' general manager.
15.
Al Attles is the longest-serving coach in Warriors history, and had the most wins in franchise history until being surpassed by Steve Kerr in March 2025.
16.
Al Attles died at his East Bay, California, home on August 20,2024, at the age of 87.
17.
In 2014, Attles was the recipient of the John W Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, an annual basketball award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to an individual who has contributed significantly to the sport of basketball; the award is the Basketball Hall of Fame's highest honor besides enshrinement.
18.
Al Attles was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.
19.
Al Attles was on the Warriors' payroll in one capacity or another for over 60 years, the longest stint of any person for one team.
20.
Al Attles was one of the last living members of the franchise who dates to their time in Philadelphia.
21.
Al Attles was working as a community relations representative at the time of his death.
22.
In 2017, Al Attles was named a recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.
23.
Al Attles married his wife, Wilhelmina Rice, in 1964; his Warriors teammate, Wilt Chamberlain, was his best man.
24.
One of his grandsons, Isaiah Al Attles, played college basketball for the Alcorn State Braves.
25.
In 1983, Al Attles received a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of San Francisco.