David "Dave" Gavitt (b. October 26, 1937, Westerly, Rhode Island) was a college basketball coach and athletic director at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. He is also well known as the first commissioner of the Big East Conference and as part of the committee which created the 1992 Olympic Basketball "Dream Team." October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Westerly, founded in 1669 by John Babcock, is a beachfront community on the south shore of Washington County, Rhode Island. ... Sara Giauro shoots a three-point shot, FIBA Europe Cup for Women Finals 2005. ... Providence College is a Catholic college in Providence, Rhode Island, the states capital city. ... Nickname: Beehive of Industry, The Renaissance City Location in Rhode Island Coordinates: Country United States State Rhode Island County Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline (D) Area    - City 20. ... The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of seventeen universities in the northeastern, southeastern and midwestern United States. ...

Coaching Career

Dvaid Gavitt graduated from Dartmouth College in 1959. He spent two years as an assistant basketball coach at Worcester Academy before becoming an assistant coach at Providence under the legendary Joe Mullaney in 1962. He left in 1966 to be head coach at his alma mater before taking over for Mullaney at Providence in 1969. Dartmouth College is a private academic institution in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. ... Joseph A. Mullaney (born November 17, 1925 in Long Island, New York – died March 8, 2000) was a successful basketball player and coach. ...

Under his ten-year tenure, the Friars advanced to the postseason eight straight years (1971-78; five NCAA appearances, 1972-'74, '77-'78, and three NIT appearances, 1971, '75, 76). In 1973, Gavitt's team made it to the Final Four for the first time in school history. He also served as director of athletics at PC from 1971 to 1982, and was at that position when the school's women's athletics programs were started as a result of Title IX. State (formally known as the Opportunitrtyurt76uy in Education Act) is an Act of Congress666 focusing on equality in sports opportunities and called for the increase of college scholarships of women 666to ensure parity with male athletes. ...

The Big East, USA Basketball and beyond

In 1979, Gavitt, along with several other college athletics administrators, helped to form the Big East Conference as a means to better compete with the major schools in the country. He became the conference's first commissioner, from 1979 to 1990. Under his direction, the Big East steadily expanded and was an almost immediate success, as several schools became basketball powerhouses (culminating in the 1985 Final Four, in which three schools from the conference - Georgetown, Saint John's, and eventual champion Villanova - were present). The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of seventeen universities in the northeastern, southeastern and midwestern United States. ... Georgetown University is a private university in the United States, located in Georgetown, a neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is both the oldest Roman Catholic and oldest Jesuit university in the United States, having been founded on January 23, 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. ... St. ... Villanova University is a private, Catholic university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia on the Pennsylvania Main Line. ...

During his tenure, six of the conference's schools (Georgetown, Villanova, Saint John's, Providence, Seton Hall, and Syraucse) participated in the Final Four, and all nine teams made it to the NCAA tournament at least once. His contributions, in fact, are memorialized in the Dave Gavitt Trophy, given to the winner of the Big East's men's basketball tournament, which he was responsible for not only creating, but its annual use of Madison Square Garden. Also, from 1982 to 1984, he was chairman of the NCAA Division I Basketball Committee. It was under his guidance that the tournament expanded to sixty-four teams, in order to provide better opportunity for small conference teams to participate. He was also responsible for the playing of Final Four games in larger venues such as domed stadiums, and the first full contract with a television network to provide universal coverage of the tournament, further adding to the tournament's popularity and prestige. For other uses of the name Seton Hall see Seton Hall Seton Hall University is a Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, 14 miles (23 km) from New York City. ... Syracuse University (SU) is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York. ...

Gavitt has also been involved in Olympic basketball. In 1980, he was selected as the head coach of the Olympic basketball team, only to lose out on the opportunity due to the boycott of the Moscow games by the United States. He would also go on to serve on the Olympic governing body, including a presidency from 1988 to 1992. It was during his tenure that he developed the concept of the "Dream Team," an Olympic basketball team composed of the NBA's best. 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Badge, released in the USSR The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, were held in Moscow in the Soviet Union. ... Location of NBA teams, conferences and divisions NBA redirects here. ...

Besides these responsibilities, Gavitt was CEO of the Boston Celtics from 1990 to 1994, President of the NCAA Foundation from 1995 to 1997, and Chairman of the Board of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame until 2003. He is a member of the Providence College Athletic Hall of Fame (1984), National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame (2000), and the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame (2000). Gavitt was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on September 8th, 2006. He became the third former member of the Friar athletic program (after John Thompson and Lenny Wilkens), and the first native of Rhode Island to be enshrined. The Boston Celtics are a professional basketball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. ... The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame honors players who have shown exceptional skill at basketball, all-time great coaches and referees, and other major contributors to the game. ... John Thompson is the name of: // Academics Sir John Eric Sidney Thompson (1898–1975), English archeologist and Mayan scholar John G. Thompson (b. ... Lenny Wilkens with the Portland Trail Blazers Leonard Randolph Wilkens (born October 28, 1937, in Brooklyn, New York, USA) is a former National Basketball Association player, as well as the NBAs career leader in coaching wins and losses. ... Official language(s) None Capital Providence Largest city Providence Area  Ranked 50th  - Total 1,214* sq mi (3,144* km²)  - Width 37 miles (60 km)  - Length 48 miles (77 km)  - % water 32. ...

Sources

• "Dave Gavitt To Be Inducted Into The Basketball Hall of Fame" (from Friars.com)
• "Gavitt, Auriemma Named Members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame" (from BigEast.org)
• 2005-2006 Providence College Men's Basketball Media Guide. Attleboro, MA: Colonial Lithograph Inc., 2005.