Despite originating all the way in Philadelphia, the Golden State Warriors have had a connection to San Francisco since their very first day. Howie Dallmar was a San Francisco native who won a national title at Stanford, won the first NBA championship ever with the Warriors and went on to long coaching career at Penn and Stanford. This is his story.
The Early Years
Howie Dallmar was born in San Francisco on May 4, 1922. After graduating from Lowell High School in 1940, he accepted a basketball scholarship to Stanford University. As a sophomore in the 1941-1942 season, he and led the Indians on a memorable run in the NCAA Tournament, beating Rice and Colorado in the opening rounds to set up a clash with Dartmouth in the national championship. His 15 points led Stanford to a 53-38 victory and he was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
After his junior season, Dallmar was drafted into the navy where he was shipped off to Philadelphia for pre-flight training. While there, he grew accustomed to the environment and an idea began to form in his mind. When the war ended, Howie Dallmar transferred to the University of Pennsylvania for his final year of college eligibility. He proved to be a good fit for the Ivy's and was named an All-American to finish off his college career. As Dallmar strode across the stage at graduation, little did he know of the unique opportunity just around the corner.
The Warriors
The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was founded in June 1946 with 11 teams all along the East Coast. After graduating from Penn, Howie Dallmar signed with the new team in town, the BAA's Philadelphia Warriors. He was never much of a scorer as a professional, leaving most of the heavy lifting to Joe Fulks. Still, his 8.8 points and 1.7 assists per game were enough to give the Warriors the boost they needed as the 60 game season got underway.
With 35 wins, the Warriors finished second in the Eastern Division to the Washington Capitals' 49 and were primed for the BAA's first playoff run. They beat the St. Louis Bombers 2-1 in the first round and swept the New York Knicks 2-0 in the semi-final to set up a championship clash with the Chicago Stags.
The Warriors beat the Stags 84-71 in Game 1 at the Philadelphia Arena and won Game 2 as well by the score of 85-74, invigorated by Howie Dallmar's 18 points. They then traveled by train to the Chicago Arena for the next two games where a 28-26 advantage in the fourth quarter proved to the the deciding factor in a 75-72 Game 3 win.
The Warriors stumbled early and often in Game 4, but came alive with a late 21-9 run. Alas, it wasn't enough as they lost to the Stags 74-73. Although Howie Dallmar only scored seven points, he managed to score the winning basket in an 83-80 Game 5 triumph to clinch the first BAA championship.
The Player, the Coach and Later Years
Shortly after winning the championship, Howie Dallmar was offered the head coaching jobs for both basketball and baseball at his alma mater, Penn. In those days, professional players hardly made any real money so he was thrilled to take a second job, despite the long hours it would surely entail. In fact, on one weekend, he led a practice at Penn on Friday morning, flew to Boston to play the Celtics that night, returned to Philadelphia to coach Penn against Princeton on Saturday and took a train to Providence to catch up with his Warriors teammates on Sunday.
It was exhausting work and he hardly ever slept or practiced with his Warriors teammates, but still, he managed to be named an All-Star in 1947-1948 after averaging 12.2 points and 2.5 assists per game. By the end of the following year, he had had enough and stepped down as a player to devote himself full-time to the coaching profession.
It took some work, but by 1953, Howie Dallmar's squads were ready for primetime. They finished the regular season 22-5 and went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever. The school was ecstatic, even after losing to Notre Dame in the first round. All that mattered to the Quakers was that they were relevant in the eye's of the nation. In addition to his basketball team's excellence on the court, Dallmar's baseball team tied for the EIBL (precursor for the Ivy League) title just months later.
A year later, he was offered the coaching job at the place that first took a chance on him: Stanford. Dallmar did not want to leave Penn as he had grown fond of the university and the Ivy League prestige. Still, Stanford's offer was just too good to pass up, so he bid Pennsylvania adieu and traveled across America right back to where his basketball journey had first begun.
Howie Dallmar coached Stanford from 1954 through 1975. In that time, his teams reached the AP's top 20 three times. His best stretch was from 1961 through 1963 when his teams posted consecutive 16-9 records and made all the way to seventh in the nation. But alas, in the early days of March Madness, the NCAA tournament was not nearly as expansive as it is today. As a result, Dallmar's Stanford teams would never make it to the postseason. The 1974-1975 season looked promising as Stanford made it as high as 15th in the AP poll. But the team crumbled down the stretch and finished a disappointing 12-14. Dallmar retired from the court shortly after the season. He died on December 19, 1991.
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