Henry Iba

Henry Payne “Hank” Iba (August 6, 1904 – January 15, 1993) was an American basketball coach and college athletics administrator.

He served as the head basketball coach at Northwest Missouri State Teacher's College, now known as Northwest Missouri State University, from 1929 to 1933; the University of Colorado Boulder from 1933 to 1934; and the Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, known as Oklahoma A&M prior to 1957, from 1934 to 1970, compiling a career college basketball coaching record of 751–340.

After coaching stints at Maryville Teachers' College (now Northwest Missouri State University) and the University of Colorado, Iba came to Oklahoma A&M College in 1934.

Additionally, Iba coached OSU's baseball team from 1934 to 1941.

Iba is thought to be one of the toughest coaches in NCAA history.

He was a very methodical coach who expected things to be done perfectly.

His teams were a reflection of his personality.

They were methodical, ball-controlling units that featured weaving patterns and low scoring games.

Iba's "swinging gate" defense (a man-to-man with team flow) was applauded by many, and is still effective in today's game.

He was known as "the Iron Duke of Defense."

Iba was also the athletic director at Oklahoma A&M / Oklahoma State from 1935 to 1970 and the school's head baseball coach from 1934 to 1941, tallying a mark of 90–41.

He led Oklahoma A&M to consecutive NCAA basketball tournament titles, in 1945 and 1946.

Iba's Aggies became the first to win consecutive NCAA titles (1945 and 1946).

His 1945–46 NCAA champions were led by Bob Kurland, the game's first seven-foot player.

They beat NYU in the 1945 finals and North Carolina in the 1946 finals.

He was voted coach of the year in both seasons.

His 1945 champions defeated National Invitation Tournament champion, DePaul, and 6'10" center George Mikan in a classic Red Cross Benefit game. A&M/State teams won 14 Missouri Valley titles and one Big Eight title, and won 655 games in 36 seasons.

In 1951, T. Boone Pickens, a graduate of OSU with a degree in petroleum geology, was looking for a job and asked Iba for help.

Iba set the young graduate up with two interviews for high-school basketball coaching jobs and although Pickens didn't end up becoming a coach, the favor Iba did for him was the impetus behind his decision 50 years later to make a $165 million donation to Oklahoma State University's athletic program.

He stayed at Oklahoma A&M, renamed Oklahoma State University in 1957, for 36 years until his retirement after the 1969–70 season.

For most of his tenure at A&M/OSU, he doubled as athletic director.

Iba's tenure crested in 1958.

That year, the Cowboys joined (or rejoined, depending on the source) the Big Eight and promptly won the conference title, advancing all the way to the Elite Eight.

As head coach of the United States men's national basketball team, he led the U.S. to the gold medals at the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics.

Iba coached the United States Olympic basketball team in 1964, 1968 and 1972.

He is the first coach in U.S. Olympic basketball history to coach two gold medal-winning teams (1964 in 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics and 1968 in 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics).

However, after that season, his Cowboys only finished higher than fourth two more times in Big Eight play, one of which was another Elite Eight appearance in 1965.

All told, in 40 years of coaching, he won 767 games—the second-most in college basketball history at the time of his retirement.

As OSU's athletic director, he built a program that won 19 national championships in 5 sports (basketball, wrestling, baseball, golf, cross-country) over the years.

After his retirement, "Mr. Iba" (as he is still called at OSU) frequently showed up at practices, often giving advice to young players.

Iba was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1969.

Iba was born and raised in Easton, Missouri.

He played college basketball at Westminster College, where he became a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

The basketball court at Westminster is now named in his honor.

At his third Olympics in charge in 1972, Iba led his team to another gold medal game, which resulted in a highly controversial 50–51 loss to the Soviet Union, breaking Team USA's 63-game winning streak in Olympic competition.

In 1987, OSU's home arena, Gallagher Hall, was renamed Gallagher-Iba Arena in Iba's honor.

A seat in the southeast concourse level of the arena is known as "Mr. Iba's Seat," and it is maintained without a fan having sat in it.

Iba was elected to the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the Missouri Hall of Fame, the Helms Foundation All-Time Hall of Fame for basketball, The Westminster College (MO) Sports Hall of Fame, National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (in 2006), FIBA Hall of Fame (in 2007) and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (in 1969) at Springfield, Massachusetts.

Iba was indirectly responsible for a $165 million donation to the Oklahoma State University athletic program.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski became the second in 2012.