Sports Heroes Who Served is a series that highlights the accomplishments of athletes who served in the U.S. military.
In 1995, Lenny Wilkins became the National Basketball Association's all-time leader in coaching victories — 939 wins in 22 seasons.
Wilkins also served in the Army as a second lieutenant from 1961 to 1962.
Wilkens served at Fort Lee, Virginia, playing for the St. Louis Hawks on weekends. On the installation, he was a company executive officer and later became company commander.
In a 1999 interview with the Basketball Hall of Fame, he said that he learned a lot from his senior noncommissioned officers, who provided guidance for him.
"I think the military was good for people at the time because it taught discipline, and it taught that we had to work together to be successful. The other thing it taught me was organization, too. It helped. Whatever organizational skills I had, they just were enhanced because of being in the military," he said.
Prior to coaching, Wilkins was a basketball player, first at Providence College in Rhode Island, where he was a two-time All-American in 1959 and 1960. In 1996, his No. 14 jersey was retired by the college.
In 1960, Wilkins made his foray into the NBA, drafted by the St. Louis Hawks. He remained with the Hawks until 1968. That year, he placed second to Wilt Chamberlain in most valuable player balloting.
For the next four years, Wilkins played for the Seattle SuperSonics and was an All-Star in three of those seasons. During his second season with the SuperSonics, he was named head coach of the team and also continued to play at point guard.
In 1972, he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers for two seasons and then with the Portland Trail Blazers from 1974 to 1975, where he was a player-coach and in 1976, as coach.
Following his coaching job with the Trail Blazers, he coached full time with the SuperSonics (1977-1985), Cavaliers (1986-1993), Atlanta Hawks (1993-2000), Toronto Raptors (2000-2003) and the New York Knicks (2004-2005).
In 1979, he coached the Seattle SuperSonics to the NBA championship.
In 1994, he was named NBA Coach of the Year.
Today, Wilkins is considered one of the top 10 coaches in NBA history. He's also a three-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee: in 1989 as a player, in 1998 as coach and 2010 as a member of the Dream Team.
In 1992, he was assistant coach with the Dream Team, which won Olympic gold and in 1996, he was head coach of the U.S. men's team, which also brought home Olympic gold.
Wilkins is the founder of the Lenny Wilkens Foundation for Children. He lives in Medina, Washington.