Vince Boryla

{{Short description|American basketball player, coach, and executive (1927–2016)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Vince Boryla

| image = Vince Boryla.jpg

| width =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|03|11}}

| birth_place = East Chicago, Indiana, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2016|03|27|1927|03|11}}

| death_place = Denver, Colorado, U.S.

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 5

| weight_lb = 210

| high_school = Washington (East Chicago, Indiana)

| college =

• Notre Dame (1944–1946)
• Denver (1948–1949)

| draft_year =

| draft_round =

| draft_pick =

| draft_team =

| career_start = 1949

| career_end = 1954

| career_position = Forward

| career_number = 19, 12

| years1 = {{nbay|1949|start}}–{{nbay|1953|end}}

| team1 = New York Knicks

| cyears1 = {{nbay|1955|start}}–{{nbay|1957|end}}

| cteam1 = New York Knicks

| highlights =

As player:

• NBA All-Star (1951)
• Consensus first-team All-American (1949)
• Second-team All-American – True (1946)

As executive:

• NBA Executive of the Year (1985)

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalSport|Men's basketball}}

{{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }}

{{MedalGold|1948 London | Team competition}}

}}

Vincent Joseph Boryla (March 11, 1927 – March 27, 2016) was an American basketball player, coach and executive. His nickname was "Moose". He graduated from East Chicago Washington High School in 1944. He played basketball at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Denver, where he was named a consensus All-American in 1949.{{citation |last=Weber |first=Bruce |title=Vince Boryla, an N.B.A. Jack of All Trades, Dies at 89 | newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 29, 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/sports/basketball/vince-boryla-89-dies-held-several-nba-positions.html}} Boryla was part of the U.S. team that won the gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/bo/vince-boryla-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418093648/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/bo/vince-boryla-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 18, 2020 |title=Vince Boryla Olympic Results |access-date=June 14, 2018}}

File:Vince_Boryla_UD.jpg

Boryla played for the New York Knicks in the early 1950s. In 1951, Boryla scored nine points in the inaugural NBA All-Star Game and played in the NBA Finals in 1951 and 1953. Boryla did not participate in the 1952 playoffs. He later became the Knicks' coach from 1956 to 1958, and had an 80–85 record with them.

Later in his career, Boryla became the general manager of the American Basketball Association's Denver Nuggets early in their history when they were first the Kansas City ABA team and then the Denver Larks. He was also the general manager of the ABA's Utah Stars, where the team won the 1971 ABA Championship under his management.https://newspaperarchive.com/ogden-signpost-may-21-1971-p-13/ Boryla later rejoined the Nuggets when the franchise joined the NBA. He won the NBA Executive of the Year Award with the Nuggets in 1985.

His son Mike was a quarterback in the National Football League; Vince served as his agent.{{cite news|last=Forbes|first=Dick|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49811640/bengals-think-clark-can-do-the-job/|title=Bengals Think Clark Can Do The Job|newspaper=The Cincinnati Enquirer|via=Newspapers.com|date=March 9, 1974|access-date=April 29, 2020}}

Boryla was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 1984 into the National Polish-American Hall of Fame.{{cite web |url=http://polishsportshof.com/inductees/basketball/vince-boryla/ |title=Vince Boryla « National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame and Museum |publisher=Polishsportshof.com |date=May 31, 1984 |access-date=November 6, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021092340/http://polishsportshof.com/inductees/basketball/vince-boryla/ |archive-date=October 21, 2013 }} Boryla died in Denver, Colorado, on March 27, 2016, from complications of pneumonia, aged 89.{{Cite web |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/news/former-nba-player-coach-gm-vince-boryla-dies-235824884--nba.html |title=(AP via Yahoo! News, former NBA player coach and GM Vince Boryla dies at 89 |access-date=January 15, 2017 |archive-date=March 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306222334/https://sports.yahoo.com/news/former-nba-player-coach-gm-vince-boryla-dies-235824884--nba.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/sports/basketball/vince-boryla-89-dies-held-several-nba-positions.html|title=Vince Boryla, an N.B.A. Jack of All Trades, Dies at 89|work=New York Times.com|access-date=April 1, 2016|date=March 29, 2016}}