From Indiana To The Air Force Academy
Popovich was born in East Chicago, Indiana to a Serbian father and mother of Croatian descent. He attended Merrillville High School and graduated in 1970 from the United States Air Force Academy. He played basketball for four seasons at the Academy, and in his senior year was the team captain and the leading scorer. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Soviet Studies, and he underwent Air Force intelligence gathering and processing training. At one point, Popovich considered a career with the Central Intelligence Agency.
Popovich served five years of required active duty in the United States Air Force, during which he toured Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union with the U.S. Armed Forces Basketball Team. In 1972, he was selected as captain of the Armed Forces Team, which won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championship. This earned him an invitation to the 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team trials.
Popovich returned to the Air Force Academy as an assistant coach in 1973 under head coach Hank Egan, a position he held for six years. Egan would later become an assistant coach under Popovich for the San Antonio Spurs, and later an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers under Mike Brown.
During his time with the coaching staff of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Popovich attended the University of Denver and earned his masters degree in physical education and sports sciences. In 1979, he was named the head basketball coach of Pomona-Pitzer's men's team.
During his time as head coach at Pomona-Pitzer, Popovich became a disciple and later a close friend of head coach Larry Brown at Kansas University. Popovich took off the 1985–1986 season at Pomona-Pitzer to become a volunteer assistant Kansas, where he could study directly under Brown. Popovich returned to Pomona-Pitzer and resumed his duties as head coach the next season.
On April 4, 2008, Popovich returned to the Air Force Academy. He was bestowed the Academy's award of Distinguished Graduate. Despite his four NBA titles, Popovich said that the award possibly was the most meaningful award he had ever received.
Read more about this topic: Gregg Popovich
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