Paul Silas spent most of his life as a basketball player/coach…and what a life it was. At McClymonds High School he went 68-0 and was named 2nd-team Parade All-American as a senior. At Creighton he set an NCAA record for most rebounds in a 3-year career and was named a 2nd-team All-American in 1964. During his 16-year NBA career he was a 2-time All-Star, a 5-time member of the All-Defensive Team, and won 3 rings in a 6-year span from 1974-1979. He later became an NBA coach and made the playoffs 4 straight years from 2000-2003. Paul died last year but HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Paul’s college teammate Tom Apke about all of his amazing accomplishments. Today marks the 1-year anniversary of Paul’s passing on December 10, 2022, so we take this time to honor his memory.
Paul was your teammate at Creighton where he averaged 20.5 PPG/21.6 RPG and was named an All-American in 1964: was he as dominant in college as his stats seems to indicate? Paul was as dominant a player during that era as much as anyone we played against. I was 1 year behind him and could not play on the varsity as a freshman but we got to sit with the radio guys and keep stats: I kept stats the night that Paul had 38 REB vs. Centenary. 1 of the opponents that night was Riley Wallace, who later became head coach at Hawaii: I joked with him about that many years later.
He led the nation in rebounding during both his sophomore/junior seasons and remains top-25 in NBA history with 12,357 career REB: what made him such a great rebounder? People assumed that he was a fantastic athletic leaper…but he was not. I saw some old video recently of him as a sophomore: he was thin but very mobile. They faced Cincinnati in the NCAA tourney and Paul Hogue pushed Silas around the court. The following summer he stayed in Omaha, worked at an ice cream factory(!), and put on some more weight. He has a tremendous sense of timing and will to “go get it”. 1 time in practice he snatched the ball out of our teammate’s hands: the teammate said, “I had it”, and Paul responded, “Then go get it!”
In the spring of 1964 he was drafted 12th overall by St. Louis (2 spots behind Willis Reed): did he see that as a validation of his college career, or the realization of a lifelong dream of reaching the NBA, or other? He was expecting to be drafted high: he had been high school player of the year in California so he always expected to play at the next level. He stepped in and was an immediate contributor from Day 1.
In 1974 he was inducted into the Creighton Athletic Hall of Fame: where did that rank among the highlights of his career? 1 of the neat things about my career is that I was head coach/athletic director that year so I got to be the emcee at his ceremony: it was a great evening. A lot of people now forget the key contributors from years ago: even at Creighton people think the modern era started with Coach Dana Altman…but Paul was the most important player in school history. He enabled us to become competitive with all of the national powerhouses that our coach scheduled. Without Paul, we might not have attained all of our accomplishments since then.
He won 3 NBA titles during a 6-year span in the 1970s (2 with Boston and 1 with Seattle): what did it mean to him to be a 3-time champ? Paul did a lot of the little things but was not a prolific scorer and did not have a great jump shot. His teammates/coaches appreciated his defense/rebounding. He did not need 20 shots/game to be happy: his intangibles translated into his team’s success.
He was a 5-time all-defensive team selection: what made him such a great defender? He was a great competitor and doggedly determined that his opponent’s life would be as miserable tonight as he could make it. He was not a great leaper but had very quick feet so he could react quickly by rebounding misses and prevent his opponents from getting around him.
He played 16 years in the NBA and his 1254 career games remains in the top-40 all-time: what was the secret to his longevity? There was a lot of wear and tear back then and no corporate jets that flew you 1st-class overnight: they had to take the 1st-available commercial flight the next morning. He did not have the proper rest/nutrition that today’s players enjoy.
After retiring he spent almost 3 decades as an assistant/head coach in the NBA: since you later spent more than 2 decades as a coach at Creighton/Colorado/Appalachian State, how difficult is the transition from player to coach? He was still playing when San Diego offered him a player/coach role. He decided that to do it correctly he could not do both at the same time: he could have played another 1-2 years but decided to coach the team he inherited in earnest. I was coaching at Creighton at the time and he invited me to become 1 of his assistants. I could not afford to do so financially (due to the salary/cost of living) and am unsure whether I could have done it emotionally either.
You later did some radio/TV work in Charlotte while Paul was head coach of the Hornets and you 2 spent some time together in retirement: how did your friendship evolve over the decades since you 1st met as college teammates? I retired to Charlotte and we began spending a lot of time together. I got to interview him a few times on TV/radio and knew the leading questions to ask him that would elicit both a laugh and a good answer! I knew how to get him to open up/express himself. He was young for his high school graduating class and San Francisco was a major power: they wanted him to go to junior college for a year but he chose to go to Creighton instead. Our birthdays were only a few days apart in July and it was a common thing that brought us closer: I have pictures from our combined 75th birthday together with our families.
He passed away in 2022 due to cardiac arrest: when people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? Most people today remember him as an NBA coach: he never won a title or was named COY so they assume that he was not a good coach, but that is not the truth. I covered a lot of his games and he had an uncanny ability to bring out the best in many of his players. I remember him telling 1 of his young players to take a shot, which blew the kid’s mind! Players today often pout about minutes but he was an extraordinary coach and as good a person as he was a player.