Biographical details | |||||||||||||||
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Born | Clyattville, Georgia | February 19, 1928||||||||||||||
Died | September 20, 2020 Ball Ground, Georgia | (aged 92)||||||||||||||
Playing career | |||||||||||||||
Basketball | |||||||||||||||
1948–1950 | North Georgia | ||||||||||||||
Coaching career ( HC unless noted) | |||||||||||||||
Basketball | |||||||||||||||
1956–1966 | Oglethorpe | ||||||||||||||
Accomplishments and honors | |||||||||||||||
Awards | |||||||||||||||
Oglethorpe Athletic Hall of Fame Georgia Sports Hall of Fame | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Garland Folsom Pinholster (February 19, 1928 – September 20, 2020) was an athletic director as well as college basketball, baseball, and tennis coach, elected to the Oglethorpe Athletic Hall of Fame in its inaugural year of 1962. [1] He is also a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. [2]
Pinholster was born in Clyattville, Georgia. He served in the United States Army and was commissioned a lieutenant. He was a basketball player for North Georgia College, a member of a team that won a state title in 1950. [3]
Pinholster most notably coached at Oglethorpe University from 1956 to 1966.
He compiled a 181–67 record as a basketball coach. Pinholster developed the wheel offense, an offensive strategy developed in the late 1950s. [4] It is a kind of continuity offense in which players move around in a circular pattern to create good scoring opportunities. The wheel offense is a popular offensive play, frequently used by teams from middle school to college levels because it can effectively work against any defense, including zone defense and man-to-man defense. [5] He is one proposed inventor for the foul-line huddle. [6] His teams were notable for their defense. [7]
He wrote several books on the sport, including Coach's Guide to Modern Basketball Defense .
He coached the United States men's national basketball team including a gold medal finish at the 1963 Pan American Games and fourth-place finish in the 1963 FIBA World Championship. The 1963 team included Willis Reed. Former coach Gary Colson once said "Garland Pinholster, for a period of time, was the best coach in the United States." [8]
After his days at Oglethorpe, he became one of Atlanta's most successful business men. [2]
Pinholster served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1990 to 2002 and was a Republican. [9] [10] Pinholster became chairman of the minority caucus of the Georgia House of Representatives and was elected to the Georgia State Board of Transportation. [2]
He died on September 20, 2020, in Ball Ground, Georgia at age 92. [11]