Johnny Bach, Basketball player and coach, Died at 91

  Sports

John William “Johnny” Bach was born on July 10, 1924, and died on January 18, 2016.

He was an American professional basketball player and coach.

He was a 6’2″ forward/guard who played collegiately at Fordham University and Brown University.

Johnny was selected by the Boston Celtics in the 1948 Basketball Association of America (BAA) Draft, and played 24 games for the Celtics.

Bach became one of the nation’s youngest head coaches at a major college when he took over the coaching job at Fordham, in 1950

Johnny Bach contributed 18 years there, taking seven Ram teams to post-season tourneys, before starting a long and successful coaching career at Penn State, where he joined three former Brown friends: Rip Engle, Joe Paterno, and Joe McMullen.

Mr.Bach later started to coach the Golden State Warriors for over three years.

Johnny worked as an interim coach briefly in 1980, and then as the full-time coach from 1983 to 1986.

He joined the Chicago Bulls as an assistant, in 1986

Following the team winning three straight championships from 1991 to 1993, Johnny moved on to coaching jobs with the Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, and Washington Wizards.

Johnny Bach returned to the Bulls in 2003 and retired in 2006.

Later after him retiring from basketball, Johnny Bach turned to painting.

In his honor, thirty-two of his watercolors were put on display at the Sevan Gallery in Skokie, Illinois, in 2007.

Johnny Bach passed away at 91 years old.