2007, Pete Newell's Tall Women's Basketball Camp

July 23-25, 2007

By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions

The legendary basketball coach won an NIT title in 1949 at USF, an NCAA championship in 1959 at Cal and an Olympic gold medal in 1960 with a U.S. team that featured Oscar Robertson and Jerry West.

But 90-year-old Pete Newell, one of the great teachers of the game’s fine points, is still a modern-day man. After Newell's Big Man's camp launched the careers of several struggling NBA players, he added a Tall Women’s Camp in this age of women's sports.

This year the long-time Rancho Santa Fe resident has moved his Tall Women’s Camp from the Bay Area to La Jolla Country Day School. The camp is July 23-25.

Newell’s basketball career has included stops as an NBA general manager with the old San Diego Rockets, when they played at the Sports Arena from 1968-69 to 1970-71, and later with the Los Angeles Lakers. He engineered the trade that brought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from the Milwaukee Bucks to L.A.

Newell is respected in coaching circles from Bobby Knight to Michigan State coach Tom Izzo as being one of the game’s all-time bright minds. Newell retired from coaching prior to his 45th birthday following Cal’s 1960 season, which ended with the defending national champion Bears falling to Ohio State in the NCAA final. At the time, Newell’s Cal teams owned an eight-game winning streak against John Wooden and UCLA.

Newell’s camps emphasize footwork and body balance, fundamentals of shooting, passing and receiving, individual offense and defense and post offensive and defensive moves.

The camp instruction also features Ann Meyers, a four-time All-American at UCLA and a 1976 Olympic team member.

For camp registration information, vist the camp website: www.PeteNewellTallWomensBasketball.com.

Bill McClintock, the camp director and former player for Newell at Cal, can be contacted at 831-394-4472 or bmcc42@gmail.com

Tom Shanahan can be contacted at 619-699-2334 or toms@sdhoc.com.