MIAMI, June 19 The National Basketball Coaches Association announced today that HEAT President Pat Riley is the recipient of the Associations 2012 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award. The award commemorates the memory of Hall of Famer Chuck Daly, who over an outstanding NBA coaching career set a standard of integrity, competitive excellence and tireless promotion of NBA basketball.
Ive known Chuck Daly for thirty years, first as competitors, then as friends, said Riley. I always felt that Chuck was the quintessential pro coach, not only as a head coach of a world championship team, but also being named coach of the greatest team of all-time, the Dream Team. He had an incredible way about him that rubbed off on all of us in the profession. He was classy, competitive and dignified. He was a fierce competitor and a modern day coach. I learned a lot from him, especially from a defensive standpoint. He was simply one of the greatest coaches of all-time and this is a great honor to receive this lifetime achievement award.
Riley, a 2008 Hall of Fame inductee, is widely recognized as one of the most successful coaches and team executives in NBA history. He has captured five NBA Championships as a head coach while compiling a 1,210-694 (.636) NBA coaching record. During the 1996-97 season, Riley was named as one of the Top 10 Coaches of All-Time and has been honored as the NBA Coach of the Year on three occasions, the only coach in NBA history to receive the award with three different teams. His 21 postseason appearances as a head coach are tops in league history and his 19 consecutive postseason appearances as a head coach from 1982-2001 set an NBA record for consecutive postseason appearances. Riley has also served as a head coach in nine NBA All-Star games.
Along with his wife, Chris, Riley has been involved with numerous charity and community service projects throughout his career. They founded The Miami HEAT Charitable Fund in 1997 which has raised over $15 million for the South Florida community and whose primary beneficiaries include Jackson Memorial Foundations Guardian Angels which benefits Jacksons Center for Maternity and Babies at Holtz Childrens Hospital; SafeSpace, which is a domestic violence shelter for women and their children; the Miami Coalition for a Safe and Drug-Free Community; and most recently created Home Strong, an on-going program that salutes and honors the courageous men and women in uniform for their dedication to the United States Armed Forces. The Rileys are also involved in the Pediatric AIDS Foundations Kids for Kids organization and the YMCA in Los Angeles, New York, and Miami.
The National Basketball Coaches Association Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award winner is selected by the Award Selection Committee, comprised of a cross section of NBA insiders. Prior winners include Lenny Wilkens, 2011; Tex Winter and Jack Ramsay, 2010; and Tommy Heinsohn, 2009.