Dick Versace

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dick Versace (born April 16, 1940 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina) is a former basketball coach and NBA executive. He is also the first person of Puerto Rican descent to have coached an NBA team.

His parents were Colonel Humbert Joseph Versace and Marie Teresa Rios, a famed Puerto Rican author. The 1960s television sitcom, The Flying Nun was based on one of her books.

He has coached both at the collegiate level and in the NBA. In the early 1980s, he was head men's basketball coach at Bradley University, where he led the team to the NIT championship. He would later serve as an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons, and as head coach the Indiana Pacers for two years, from 1988 through 1990. After leaving the Pacers job, Versace became a sportscaster.

In 1999, Versace was made the director of player-personnel for the then-Vancouver Grizzlies; he remained with the team through the end of the 2004-2005 season.

Versace is the brother of Medal of Honor recipient Rocky Versace, who was executed by the Viet Cong in 1965.

Preceded by:
Joe Stowell
Bradley Head Men's Basketball Coach
19781986
Succeeded by:
Stan Albeck
Preceded by:
George Irvine
Indiana Pacers Head Coach
19881990
Succeeded by:
Bob Hill

[edit] See also

[edit] External links