Bucky Buckwalter
{{Short description|American basketball player, coach, and executive}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox basketball biography
| name = Bucky Buckwalter
| image = Bucky Buckwalter.jpeg
| image_size =
| caption = Buckwalter, {{circa}} 1967
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1933|11|22}}
| birth_place =
| nationality = American
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 3
| weight_lbs =
| high_school = La Grande (La Grande, Oregon)
| college = Utah (1953–1956)
| draft_year = 1956
| career_start =
| career_end =
| career_position =
| career_number =
| cyears1 = {{nbay|1972|full=y}}
| cteam1 = Seattle SuperSonics (assistant)
| cyears2 = {{nbay|1972|end}}
| cteam2 = Seattle SuperSonics (interim)
| cyears3 = 1974–1975
| cteam3 = Utah Stars
| cyears4 = {{nbay|1979|start}}–{{nbay|1985|end}}
| cteam4 = Portland Trail Blazers (assistant)
| highlights =
}}
Morris B. "Bucky" Buckwalter (born November 22, 1933) is an American former professional basketball coach and executive. He played college basketball for the Utah Utes. Buckwalter served as an assistant coach and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as well as a head coach in the American Basketball Association.
Buckwalter grew up in La Grande, Oregon, and played high school basketball at La Grande High School. Buckwalter played college basketball at Utah, where his team advanced to the quarterfinals of the 1956 NCAA basketball tournament before losing to the eventual champions, the Bill Russell-led San Francisco Dons.{{cite news|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19970907/2558927/blazers-buckwalter-retires-with-countless-tales-to-tell|title=Blazers' Buckwalter Retires With Countless Tales To Tell and will be inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.|access-date=2008-06-23|date=1997-09-07|last=Baum|first=Bob|work=Seattle Times}}
He served briefly as head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics in 1972 (on an interim basis), and later served as the head coach of the Utah Stars of the ABA, replacing Joe Mullaney.
While with the Stars, Buckwalter was known for signing Moses Malone out of high school. He was a scout for the Portland Trail Blazers when the team passed on Michael Jordan and selected Kentucky's Sam Bowie as the second pick in the 1984 NBA draft. He served as vice-president of Basketball Operations for the Portland Trail Blazers. In 1991, he won the NBA Executive of the Year Award, as the Blazers posted a league-best 63–19 record. He retired from the Blazers in 1997.
Head coaching record
=College=
{{CBB Yearly Record Start | type = | conference = | postseason = | poll = }}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Seattle Chieftains
| conference = Independent
| startyear = 1967
| endyear = 1971
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Entry
| season = 1967–68
| name = Seattle
| overall = 14–13
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Entry
| season = 1968–69
| name = Seattle
| overall = 20–8
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason = NCAA University Division first round
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Entry
| season = 1969–70
| name = Seattle
| overall = 15–10
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Entry
| season = 1970–71
| name = Seattle
| overall = 12–14
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Seattle Chieftains
| conference = West Coast Athletic Conference
| startyear = 1971
| endyear = 1972
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Entry
| season = 1971–72
| name = Seattle
| overall = 17–9
| conference = 10–4
| confstanding = 3rd
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Seattle
| overall = {{Winning percentage|78|54|record=y}}
| conference = {{Winning percentage|10|4|record=y}}
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record End
| overall = {{Winning percentage|78|54|record=y}}
| legend = no
}}
=NBA/ABA=
{{NBA coach statistics legend}}
{{NBA coach statistics start}}
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|Seattle
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1972}}
| 37||13||24||{{Winning percentage|13|24}}|| style="text-align:center;"|4th Pacific||—||—||—||—
| style="text-align:center;"| Missed playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|Utah*
| style="text-align:left;"|1974–75
| 56||24||32||{{Winning percentage|24|32}}|| style="text-align:center;"|Left mid-season||—||—||—||—
| style="text-align:center;"|
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career
| 93||37||56||{{Winning percentage|37|56}}|| ||—||—||—||—||
{{s-end}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|Biography}}
- [https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/buckwbu99c.html BasketballReference.com: Bucky Buckwalter]
- [https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/morris-buckwalter-2.html College playing statistics]
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{{S-start}}
{{succession box | title=Utah Stars head coach | before=Joe Mullaney | years=1974–1975 | after=Tom Nissalke }}
{{S-end}}
{{Seattle Redhawks men's basketball coach navbox}}
{{Oklahoma City Thunder coach navbox}}
{{Portland Trail Blazers general manager navbox}}
{{NBA Executive of the Year Award}}
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckwalter, Bucky}}
Category:American men's basketball players
Category:Basketball coaches from Oregon
Category:Basketball players from Oregon
Category:College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Category:People from La Grande, Oregon
Category:Portland Trail Blazers assistant coaches
Category:Portland Trail Blazers executives
Category:Seattle Redhawks men's basketball coaches
Category:Seattle SuperSonics head coaches
Category:Utah Utes men's basketball players
Category:Western Basketball Association coaches
Category:20th-century American sportsmen
{{US-basketball-coach-stub}}