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Alvin Attles, Warriors coach and NBA legend, dies at age 87

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Updated  August 21, 2024 10:38am PDT
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KTVU FOX 2

National Basketball Association Hall of Famer and Golden State Warriors legend Alvin Attles has passed away, the NBA announced on Wednesday morning. Attles was 87 years old.  

Attles was surrounded by family when he died at his East Bay home on Tuesday. The NBA shared a memorial of his time in the league. 

Attles first stepped into the game in 1960 to join the then-Philadelphia Warriors. His commitment to the team, in various roles, spanned over 60 years--the longest "stint with a single franchise for any one person in NBA history," the NBA said. 

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View of American basketball coach (and former player) Alvin Attles, of the Golden State Warriors, on the sidelines during a game, against the Atlanta Hawks, at the Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California, March 1979.  ((Photo by Janet Fries/Getty Images))

Attles was also the longest-serving coach in the league, according to the NBA. He was only the second Black American in NBA history to hold the Head Coach position, and he did it well. 

Attles led the Warriors to an NBA title in 1975, but he didn't stop there. The next season, his team won 59 games, a career-best for Attles. 

He went on to serve as a General Manager for the team, where he drafted future Hall-of-Famers Robert Parrish and Chris Mullin. Attles was inducted in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. 

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Warriors great Al Attles helps his wife, Willhemina Attles, over the velvet ropes after he uncovered his plaque during a ceremony honoring retired jerseys on the walkway outside the arena before the Golden State Warriors played the Los Angeles Lakers in a pre-season game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, October 5, 2019. (Photo By Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

"He [Attles] played many different roles in the Warriors organization and was always very aware of the job he held and the jobs around him," Mullin told the NBA. "He always understood it was a big responsibility and avoided critiquing what another person was doing. He was always there to support and make the place better."

The Golden State Warriors announced Attles' passing on social media Wednesday morning. Fans and basketball lovers poured into the comments to share their fond memories or appreciate for Attles and his legacy. 

Attles' jersey number, 16, still hangs in the Chase Center rafters.