MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Coe alumnus Bill Fitch, '54, is one of 12 honorees to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts in September.

The announcement of the 2019 Hall of Fame class was made in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the site of the 2019 NCAA Men's Final Four April 6.

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame release

Born in Davenport, Iowa and a graduate of Cedar Rapids' Wilson High School, Fitch came to Coe in 1950 where he played basketball and baseball. He averaged 15.4 points as a senior and led the team to a second place finish at the NAIA regional tournament in 1954. He also excelled on the baseball diamond where he hit over .300 while playing catcher for the Kohawks.

After graduating from Coe in 1954, Fitch served in the Army for two years before attending graduate school at Creighton University where he started his coaching career as an assistant. He returned to Coe in 1958 as an assistant professor of physical education and coached the Kohawk men's basketball team. He compiled a 44-40 record over four years in his first collegiate head coaching job. He moved on to stops at the University of North Dakota, Bowling Green State University, and the University of Minnesota. He led North Dakota to three NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament appearances and Bowling Green to the 1968 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.

Perhaps his greatest coaching successes came at the professional level. Fitch coached for 25 years in the National Basketball Association. He is third on the all-time list in games coached (2,050) and 10th all-time in wins (944). The two-time NBA Coach of the Year (1976, 1980) directed the Boston Celtics to the 1981 NBA championship and guided the Houston Rockets to the 1986 NBA Finals.

Fitch started his pro coaching career in 1970 with the expansion Cleveland Cavaliers. In the team's sixth year of existence, Fitch led Cleveland to a Central Division championship and to the Eastern Conference Finals. He moved on to Boston in 1979 where he compiled a 242-86 record in four seasons with the Celtics. He is the second coach in NBA history to lead a team to three straight 60-win seasons. He made later professional stops with the Houston Rockets (1983-88), New Jersey Nets (1989-92) and Los Angeles Clippers (1994-98).

Fitch is a 1998 inductee to the Kohawk Hall of Fame.