2024 Hall of Fame Class: Dan Peterson

MIES (Switzerland) - A legendary coach of Italian and European basketball, American Dan Peterson, is in the FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2024.

Peterson, born and raised in Illinois and educated at Northwestern University, always had the makings of a coach. He tried his hand at it after being encouraged to do so by the long-time coach at Evanston Township High School, Jack Burmaster.

Peterson led youth teams at the Evanston YMCA before getting his degree in education at Northwestern. He also obtained a master's in sports administration at the University of Michigan before officially launching his coaching career in 1962, as an assistant at NAIA McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois.

He then made the jump to the NCAA and worked as an assistant at Michigan State (1963-1965) and (1965-1966) before getting his first job as head coach in college basketball with the Delaware Blue Hens, a team he held the reins of from 1966 to 1971 and led to 69 wins in 118 games overall.

His first taste of international basketball followed when he took over Chile's national team. The experience had a profound impact on him.

He took Chile on tour, including to the United States, where it played many friendly games. Peterson gained notoriety as well. 

His next move was to Italy, where he achieved legendary status first as the coach of Virtus Bologna and then at the helm of Olimpia Milano, where he became one of the top coaches in Europe.

"The job I did in Chile was the main reason for my Italian success," Peterson once said: "First of all, I brought the same kind of training in Bologna and Milan. That experience changed my sensibility. I learned a lot about people, culture and basketball outside of the US."

After Virtus Bologna came calling in 1973, he emphasized defense and fundamentals, and won games. A lot of them.

 

He guided Virtus to Coppa Italia glory in 1974, and to the domestic league title in 1976. Next, he took over at Milano in 1979, and coached the team to four domestic titles and a couple of Coppa Italia triumphs.

His Tracer Milano teams also reached the top in Europe. In 1985, it won the FIBA Korac Cup and in 1987, Milano prevailed in the European Champions Cup.

He stopped coaching in 1987 but returned briefly to the helm of Milano in 2011. His success in coaching and popularity in Italy opened the door for the loquacious Peterson, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of basketball, to work as a television commentator in the sport for many years.

He is being enshrined in the Class of 2024 which includes Miao Lijie (China), Reggie Miller (USA), Danira Nakic-Bilic (Croatia), Romain Sato (Central African Republic), Skaidrite Smildzina-Budovska (Latvia), Predrag Stojakovic (Serbia), and Kirk Samuel Penney (New Zealand).

FIBA