{"id":182863,"date":"2026-02-18T11:38:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/182863\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T11:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:38:25","slug":"doug-moe-who-brought-life-to-the-nba-as-a-coach-in-the-1980s-dies-at-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/182863\/","title":{"rendered":"Doug Moe, who brought life to the NBA as a coach in the 1980s, dies at 87"},"content":{"rendered":"

By EDDIE PELLS<\/p>\n

DENVER (AP) \u2014 Doug Moe, who won an ABA title with the Oakland Oaks<\/a> as a player and later gained fame over a rumpled, irreverent and sometimes R-rated decade as coach of the Denver Nuggets in the 1980s, died Tuesday. He was 87.<\/p>\n

Moe\u2019s son, David, notified several of the coach\u2019s friends that his father had died after a long bout with cancer, Ron Zappolo, a longtime Denver TV personality and good friend of Moe\u2019s, told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets, in a social media post<\/a>, called Moe \u201ca one-of-a-kind leader and person who spearheaded one of the most successful and exciting decades in Nuggets history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moe went 628-529 over 15 seasons as a head coach, including stints with the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers. He never won a title \u2014 his most memorable run coming in 1985 when his best Denver team fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals. He was the NBA Coach of the Year in 1988.<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/a>FILE \u2013 Former Denver Nuggets head coach Doug Moe pleads with his team during a timeout in the closing seconds of a NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets in May 1986. (AP Photo\/Ed Andrieski, File)\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than for wins and losses, Moe will be remembered for his motion offense and for the equally entertaining shows he put on while prowling the bench during his coaching days.<\/p>\n

His Denver teams led the league in scoring over five straight seasons in the early \u201880s, and he rarely ran a set play.<\/p>\n

He called the people he liked the most \u201cstiffs,\u201d (or worse) and used more colorful language to drive points home to some of his favorite foils \u2014 Kiki VanDeWeghe, Danny Schayes and Bill Hanzlik stood out.<\/p>\n

The coach stalked the sidelines in one of his well-worn sports coats, usually without a tie (he had a small stash of \u201cemergency suits\u201d in his closet for bigger events), his hair a mess and his overtaxed voice barely at a croak by the end of most games.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets bench, along with the 10 rows behind it, was no place for children, but within hours, Moe would be at the bar or coffee shop hanging with many of those same players he\u2019d excoriated, often himself wondering where that foul-mouthed man on the sideline had come from.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I think I have a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. I clown around a lot before and after a game, but once a game starts, my emotions just take over,\u201d Moe said in a 1983 interview with The New York Times.<\/p>\n

Years before John Elway arrived, Moe was Denver\u2019s biggest sports personality. Zappolo, the sportscaster, said there was a sweet teddy bear behind the game-day bluster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if there\u2019s ever been a more important sports figure in Denver, not only because of how successful he was, but how colorful he was and how kind he was,\u201d Zappolo said. \u201cThere are a lot of people walking around today who feel like they were Doug\u2019s best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

A legend in Brooklyn and North Carolina before a pro career in the ABA<\/p>\n

Douglas Edwin Moe was born Sept. 21, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York. As a teen he became well-known in New York basketball circles, where he would sometimes head to gyms using fake names to play on teams he wouldn\u2019t otherwise be eligible for.<\/p>\n

He paired with good friend Larry Brown at North Carolina, where as a 6-foot-5 small forward he twice earned All-America honors. But Moe\u2019s college career was terminated early because of a point-shaving scandal for which he received $75 to fly to a meeting; he refused to throw games.<\/p>\n

After a few years in Europe, Moe again became a package deal with Brown, as they winded their way through the new and fledgling ABA. One of those deals landed the pair with the Oakland Oaks, for the 1968-69 season. The Oaks were sold and moved to Washington D.C. after that season, but not before Oakland became the first West Coast basketball team to win a major professional championship.<\/p>\n

Moe averaged 19 points and 8.2 rebounds during his lone season with the Oaks and was an All-Star. Even with star Rick Barry injured for the playoffs, the Oaks went from last to first by defeating the Indiana Pacers in five games. During the deciding Game 5, Moe made a pair of free throws late in overtime to help the Oaks hold on for a 135-131 victory.<\/p>\n

\"Oakland<\/a>Oakland Oaks Doug Moe (1969 photo\/Ron Riesterer)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moe was a three-time All-Star over a five-year career that ended early because of his perpetually ailing knees.<\/p>\n

His playing days done, he teamed again with Brown, working as his assistant with the Carolina Cougars, and then with the Nuggets toward the end of the franchise\u2019s ABA days.<\/p>\n

Moe insisted he never wanted a head coaching job \u2014 didn\u2019t want to work that hard \u2014 but Brown coaxed him into taking a job in San Antonio. With the help of George Gervin, Moe won the division twice and made one conference final in four seasons with the Spurs.<\/p>\n

Moe\u2019s next stop was Denver, where he took over after another of his Carolina buddies, Donnie Walsh, got fired in 1980. The ensuing 10 seasons marked a golden era for the Nuggets, who played in rainbow uniforms and rewrote record books but never climbed out from the shadows of the Lakers and Celtics dynasties of the era.<\/p>\n

Moe coached the top-scoring duo in NBA history and in its highest-scoring game<\/p>\n

Alex English and VanDeWeghe finished 1-2 in scoring in the 1982-83 season, a feat no teammates have accomplished since. The Nuggets lost a 186-184 game to the Pistons in 1983 that remains the highest-scoring game in NBA history. Moe won 432 games with the Nuggets, and the franchise retired that number, with Moe\u2019s name attached.<\/p>\n

It took more than 30 years after Moe retired and moved back to San Antonio for the Nuggets to break through and become NBA champions.<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 Denver Nuggets head coach Doug Moe argues a call by the refs during a game against the LA Lakers in Denver on May 20, 1985. (AP Photo\/Ed Andrieski, File)\n<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 Former Denver Nuggets head coach Doug Moe pleads with his team during a timeout in the closing seconds of a NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets in May 1986. (AP Photo\/Ed Andrieski, File)\n<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 Denver Nuggets head coach Doug Moe, center, directs his team from the bench during an NBA basketball game against the Phoenix Suns on April 21, 1982, in Denver. (AP Photo\/JC, File)\n<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 Retired Denver Nuggets head coach Doug Moe stands next to his retired number during the team\u2019s 50th anniversary celebration before the second half of an NBA basketball game, Oct. 21, 2017, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski, File)\n<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl, left, chats with assistant coaches Doug Moe, center, and Adrian Dantley during a time out against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first quarter of an exhibition NBA basketball game in Denver on Oct. 9, 2007. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski, File)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 5<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 Denver Nuggets head coach Doug Moe argues a call by the refs during a game against the LA Lakers in Denver on May 20, 1985. (AP Photo\/Ed Andrieski, File)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Oddly enough, one of Moe\u2019s most colorful coaching coups came at the expense of the Nuggets on the last day of the 1977-78 season when he was with the Spurs. In an early game, Denver, coached by Brown at the time, fed David Thompson on the way to a 73-point outburst against Detroit that briefly put him ahead of Gervin in a neck-and-neck battle for the scoring title.<\/p>\n

So, that night, Moe told the Spurs to get out of \u201cIce\u2019s\u201d way. Gervin scored 63 against the Jazz to win the title by .07.<\/p>\n

Moe\u2019s coaching peak, however, came with the Nuggets, where his teams got considerably better when Fat Lever and Calvin Natt came via a trade in 1984. But both were injured during that 1985 conference final against the Lakers. The Nuggets dropped the last three games in a 4-1 series loss, and Moe never got closer.<\/p>\n

Though the focus of the Nuggets was offense, Moe spent ample time preaching defense \u2014 insisting it, not the team\u2019s scoring ability, would make the difference between winning and losing.<\/p>\n

Once, incensed at the lack of effort during a blowout loss at Portland, he commanded his team to stop trying on defense and to let the Blazers make layups at will over the final minutes to set the franchise scoring record for a single game. That earned him a fine and suspension, only weeks after he was fined for throwing water on an official.<\/p>\n

For the most part, though, Moe made a career out of not taking himself too seriously \u2014 a wryly wrinkled counterbalance to the slicked-down Pat Riley and the Laker Showtime teams that dominated the NBA\u2019s Western Conference over the decade.<\/p>\n

Moe even punctuated one of his lowest moments \u2014 his firing by the Nuggets in 1990 \u2014 by wearing a Hawaiian shirt and popping open champagne at the news conference while his wife, whom he called \u201cBig Jane,\u201d looked on. A day to celebrate, he insisted, because he would now be getting paid to do nothing.<\/p>\n

Moe finished his head coaching career with an unsuccessful stint in Philadelphia that lasted less than a season before returning to Denver in supporting roles, including a return to the bench as George Karl\u2019s assistant.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I\u2019m stupid, or something like that,\u201d Moe said when asked to explain why he was coaching again.<\/p>\n

Far from it.<\/p>\n

And despite his insistence that he did little more than throw a ball out there, there was a well-honed, much-practiced method behind what looked like the madness of his always-in-overdrive passing game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will never be another sports figure like Doug Moe,\u201d Zappolo said. \u201cHe really was one of a kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n

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