After the Navy, Holzman joined the NBLRochester Royals, which won the NBL championship in Holzman's first season, and he was named Rookie of the Year in 1944–45.[7] In 1945–46 and 1947–48 he was on the NBL's first All League team; in the interim year he was on its second team.[8] Holzman stayed with the team through their move to the NBA and subsequent NBA championship in 1951.
Milwaukee Hawks (1953–1954)
In 1953, Holzman left the Royals and joined the Milwaukee Hawks as a player-coach, eventually retiring as a player in 1954 but continuing as the team's head coach.[3][4]
Coaching career
Milwaukee / St. Louis Hawks (1953–1957)
During the 1956–1957 season, Holzman led the Hawks (then in St. Louis, Missouri) to 19 losses during their first 33 games, and was subsequently fired.[3][4]
Leones de Ponce (1963–1967)
Holzman coached Leones de Ponce from 1963 to 1967.
New York Knicks (1967–1977, 1978–1982)
Holzman then became a scout for the New York Knicks for the next ten years, till 1967, whereupon he became the team's head coach for the most part until 1982.[3] Holzman's former player, Willis Reed, replaced him as Knicks head coach in 1977, but Holzman returned near the start of the 1978–1979 season. During this 15-year span as Knicks' coach, Holzman won a total of 613 games, including two NBA championships in 1970 and 1973.[3]
In 1969, Holzman coached the Knicks to a then single-season NBA record 18-game win streak, breaking the 17-game record first set back in 1946. For his efforts leading up to the Knicks' 1970 championship win, Holzman was named the NBA Coach of the Year for that year. He won his second NBA championship as the Knicks won the 1973 NBA Finals against the Lakers.[9] He was one of very few individuals to have won an NBA championship as both player and coach. As a coach, his final record was 696 wins and 604 losses. At the time of his retirement in 1982, he had the second most career victories as a head coach in NBA history.[10]
Holzman lived with his wife in a home they bought in Cedarhurst, New York in the 1950s. Following his lengthy NBA coaching career, Holzman was diagnosed with leukemia and died at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York in 1998.[3] In 2000, a clock tower was erected in his honor at the intersection of Central Avenue and Cedarhurst Avenue in Cedarhurst as part of “Operation Downtown,” a project started by Nassau County presiding officer Bruce Blakeman and mayor Andy Parise.
Holzman, Red (1987). Red on Red: The Autobiography of Red Holzman. Bantam Books. ISBN978-0-553-27316-8.
Holzman, Red (1991). Holzman on Hoops: The Man Who Led the Knicks Through Two World Championships Tells It Like It Was. Taylor Publishing Company. ISBN978-0-878-33745-3.
Holzman, Red; Lewin, Leonard (1993). My Unforgettable Season 1970 (1st ed.). Tor Books. ISBN978-0-312-85453-9.