 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1937-10-26)October 26, 1937 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.[1] |
| Died | September 16, 2011(2011-09-16) (aged 73) nearRumford, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| Basketball | |
| 1959–1960 | Dartmouth |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Basketball | |
| 1960–1962 | Worcester Academy (assistant) |
| 1962–1966 | Providence (assistant) |
| 1966–1967 | Dartmouth (assistant) |
| 1967–1969 | Dartmouth |
| 1969–1979 | Providence |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1971–1982 | Providence |
| 1979–1990 | Big East (commissioner) |
| 1990–1994 | Boston Celtics (CEO) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 209–84 |
| Tournaments | 5–6 (NCAA University Division / Division I) 6–4 (NIT) |
| Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006 (profile) | |
| College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006 | |
David Roy Gavitt (October 26, 1937 – September 16, 2011) was an Americancollege basketball coach and athletic director atProvidence College inProvidence, Rhode Island. He was also well known as the first commissioner of theBig East Conference and as part of the committee which created the1992 Olympic basketball "Dream Team".
Raised inWesterly, Rhode Island andPeterborough, New Hampshire, Gavitt graduated fromDartmouth College in 1959, where he was a member of the 1959–1960 varsity basketball team, the last Dartmouth basketball team to win the Ivy League championship. While an undergraduate at Dartmouth in 1958, Gavitt playedsummer collegiate baseball for theOrleans Cardinals of theCape Cod Baseball League (CCBL).[2] He later became player-manager of the CCBL'sHarwich Mariners, then returned to Orleans as manager in 1963–64 and 1966–67.[3][4]
Gavitt spent two years as an assistant basketball coach atWorcester Academy before becoming an assistant coach at Providence under the legendaryJoe Mullaney in 1962. He left in 1966 to become assistant coach and then head coach at his alma mater before taking over for Mullaney at Providence in 1969.
Under his ten-year tenure, the Friars advanced to the postseason eight straight years (1971–78; five NCAA appearances, 1972–'74, '77–'78, and three NIT appearances, 1971, '75, 76). In 1973, Gavitt's team made it to the Final Four for the first time in school history. He also served as director of athletics at PC from 1971 to 1982, and was at that position when the school's women's athletics programs were started as a result ofTitle IX.
In 1979, Gavitt, along with several other college athletics administrators, helped to form the Big East Conference as a means to better compete with the major schools in the country. He became the conference's first commissioner, from 1979 to 1990.[5] Under his direction, the Big East steadily expanded and was an almost immediate success, as several schools became basketball powerhouses (culminating in the 1985 Final Four, in which three schools from the conference –Georgetown,Saint John's, and eventual championVillanova – were present).
During his tenure, six of the conference's schools (Georgetown, Villanova, Saint John's, Providence,Seton Hall andSyracuse) participated in the Final Four, and all nine teams made it to the NCAA tournament at least once. His contributions are memorialized in the Dave Gavitt Trophy, given to the winner of the Big East's men's basketball tournament, which he was responsible for not only creating, but its annual use of Madison Square Garden. Also, from 1982 to 1984, he was chairman of the NCAA Division I Basketball Committee. It was under his guidance that the tournament expanded to 64 teams, in order to provide better opportunity for small conference teams to participate. He was also responsible for the playing of Final Four games in larger venues such as domed stadiums, and the first full contract with a television network to provide universal coverage of the tournament, further adding to the tournament's popularity and prestige.
Gavitt has also been involved in Olympic basketball. In 1980, he was selected as the head coach of the Olympic basketball team, only to lose out on the opportunity due to the boycott of theMoscow games by the United States. He would also go on to serve on the Olympic governing body, including a presidency from 1988 to 1992. It was during his tenure that he developed the concept of the "Dream Team," an Olympic basketball team composed of theNBA's best.
Besides these responsibilities, Gavitt was CEO of theBoston Celtics from 1990 to 1994, President of the NCAA Foundation from 1995 to 1997, and Chairman of the Board of theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame until 2003. He is a member of the Providence College Athletic Hall of Fame (1984), National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame (2000), and the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame (2000). Gavitt was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on September 8, 2006. He became the third former member of the Friar athletic program (afterJohn Thompson andLenny Wilkens), and the first native ofRhode Island to be enshrined. The Providence Friars' court at the Dunkin' Donuts Center is named after Gavitt.[6]
Gavitt died on September 16, 2011, from congestive heart failure[5] in a hospital near his hometown of Rumford, Rhode Island. He was 73.[7][8]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dartmouth Indians(Ivy League)(1967–1969) | |||||||||
| 1967–68 | Dartmouth | 8–18 | 6–8 | T–4th | |||||
| 1968–69 | Dartmouth | 10–15 | 4–10 | 6th | |||||
| Dartmouth: | 18–33 | 10–18 | |||||||
| Providence Friars(NCAA University Division / Division I independent)(1969–1979) | |||||||||
| 1969–70 | Providence | 14–11 | |||||||
| 1970–71 | Providence | 20–8 | NIT Quarterfinal | ||||||
| 1971–72 | Providence | 21–6 | NCAA University Division First Round | ||||||
| 1972–73 | Providence | 27–4 | NCAA University Division Fourth Place | ||||||
| 1973–74 | Providence | 28–4 | NCAA Division I Regional Third Place | ||||||
| 1974–75 | Providence | 20–11 | NIT Runner-up | ||||||
| 1975–76 | Providence | 21–11 | NIT Fourth Place | ||||||
| 1976–77 | Providence | 24–5 | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||||
| 1977–78 | Providence | 24–8 | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||||
| 1978–79 | Providence | 10–16 | |||||||
| Providence: | 209–84 | ||||||||
| Total: | 209–84 | ||||||||