Ex-Nuggets coach Doug Moe dies at 87 after lengthy cancer battle

Former NBA coach Doug Moe died, his son David said on Tuesday. He was 87.

David informed several of the coach’s friends that his father had passed away after a lengthy bout with cancer.

Longtime Denver TV personality Ron Zappolo also confirmed the passing to The Associated Press. Moe was an ABA original and gained fame over a rumpled, irreverent decade as coach of the Denver Nuggets in the 1980s.

In a tribute to Moe posted to social media, the Nuggets remembered him as a “a one-of-a-kind leader and person who spearheaded one of the most successful and exciting decades in Nuggets history.”

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Denver Nuggets head coach Doug Moe pleads with his team in the closing seconds of a game against the Houston Rockets in May 1986. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

In 15 seasons as a head coach, Moe had stints with the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers. He never won a title — his most memorable run came in 1985 when his best Denver team fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals. He was the NBA Coach of the Year in 1988.

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More than for wins and losses, Moe will be remembered for his motion offense and for the equally entertaining shows he put on while prowling the bench during his coaching days. His Denver teams led the league in scoring over five straight seasons in the early 1980s, and he rarely ran a set play.

Former Nuggets head coach Doug Moe stands next to his retired number during the team’s 50th anniversary celebration, Oct. 21, 2017, in Denver, Colorado. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

The Nuggets bench, along with the 10 rows behind it, was no place for children, but within hours, Moe would be at the bar or coffee shop hanging with many of those same players he’d excoriated, often himself wondering where that foul-mouthed man on the sideline had come from.

“Sometimes I think I have a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. I clown around a lot before and after a game, but once a game starts, my emotions just take over,” Moe said in a 1983 interview with The New York Times.

Doug Moe during a game on Nov. 30, 2005 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. (Brian Bahr/Getty Images)

Years before John Elway arrived, Moe was Denver’s biggest sports personality. Zappolo, the sportscaster, said there was a sweet teddy bear behind the game-day bluster.

“I don’t know if there’s ever been a more important sports figure in Denver, not only because of how successful he was, but how colorful he was and how kind he was,” Zappolo said. “There are a lot of people walking around today who feel like they were Doug’s best friend.”

Moe insisted he never wanted a head coaching job — didn’t want to work that hard — but Larry Brown coaxed him into taking a job in San Antonio. With the help of George Gervin, Moe won the division twice and made one conference final in four seasons with the Spurs.

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Moe finished his head coaching career with an unsuccessful stint in Philadelphia that lasted less than a season before returning to Denver in supporting roles, including a return to the bench as George Karl’s assistant.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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