If you are a basketball fan, you know about Michael Jordan. To many, Jordan is considered the all-time GOAT when it comes to basketball. He won 5 regular season MVP’s, 6 finals MVP’s, and 6 NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls. While most have know about Michael, few probably know about Michael’s connection to Knox College in Galesburg.
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| Coach Sam Berry |
In 1918, Knox College hired a graduate of Madison HS (Wis) and Lawrence University to be the Knox athletic director, head football coach, head basketball coach, head baseball coach, head track coach, and biology professor.
In his four years at Knox, Berry’s ‘19 football team was a perfect 8-0, his basketball teams won two conference title and won .64% of their games, track won the conference all four years, and baseball had two undefeated teams.
Berry’s success at Knox landed him a job at the University of Iowa in 1922. While at Iowa, as head basketball coach, his ‘23 and ‘26 teams won the Big Ten titles. He also served as assistant football coach and defensive coordinator. The Hawkeye football squad won the Big Ten title in ‘22, and would not win another Big Ten title until ‘56.
In 1929, Sam Berry moved to Los Angeles to coach at the University of Southern California. During his time at USC, he served as head basketball coach, head baseball coach, and assistant coach in football. His 1940 basketball team went to the Final Four before losing to Phog Allen’s Kansas team. As defensive coordinator for the football team, they won three National Titles. As baseball coach, his team was the ‘48 National Champions.
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| One of Berry’s players at USC, Alex Hannum won Two NBA titles with ‘76er’s. |
So as a coach, he won a National Championship in two sports and went to the Final Four in the third sport.
In basketball, he was a major influence in the adoption of the 10 second rule, the center line (over and back), and eliminating the center jump after made ft’s and baskets.
In 1929, he was the author of one of the major basketball coaching resources. He wrote the book, “Basketball: Individual Play and Team Play.” By 1950, the LA Times described that Coach Berry and Coach Phog Allen were the major influencers in shaping the sport of basketball.
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| Bill Sharman (Berry’s player at USC) Won NBA title with the Lakers. |
Berry’s USC basketball teams included four players who would go onto become great coaches- Jack Gardner (2x Final Fours at Utah), Bill Sharman (NBA title with Lakers, ABA title with Utah), Alex Hannum (2x NBA titles with ‘76er’s), and Tex Winter (2x Final Fours at Kansas St, 9x NBA titles as assistant with Phil Jackson in Chicago and Los Angeles). Berry, Gardner, Hannum, Sharman, and Winters are all in the Naismith Basketball HOF. The NBA has also established the Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award.
Much of Sam Berry’s success is attributed to his innovative offense that he called the Center Option Offense. Today we know this offense as the Triangle Offense.
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| Tex Winter (player for Berry at USC) was Phil Jackson’s offensive coach. |
Berry’s former player, Tex Winter became the guru of the Triangle Offense as both a college and pro coach. Coach Berry’s offense became the foundation the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan’s 6 NBA championships and Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers’ 3 NBA championships from 2000-2. Berry’s Triangle Offense was so important to those championships that the Lakers 2002 championship rings had a series of triangles on the face of the ring.
So it is fair to say that Michael Jordan’s and Kobe Bryant’s great championship runs started back in 1918 at Knox College as Coach Sam Berry developed his coaching philosophy and strategy, and formulated the Triangle Offense.
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| 2002 Laker championship ring with the Triangles as a nod to the offense designed by Knox College’s Coach Sam Berry. |
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