TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Dave Strack, the former University of Arizona athletic director who hired the first black basketball coach at a major university, has died. He was 90.
Arizona said Sunday that Strack died Saturday.
Before going to Arizona, Strack coached basketball at Michigan. His 1965 team lost the NCAA championship game to John Wooden’s UCLA squad, 91-80.
Strack was Arizona AD from 1972 to 1982.
Shortly after taking the job, he hired Fred Snowden as the first black basketball coach at an NCAA Division I school. Strack also oversaw the opening of McKale Center in 1973 and Arizona’s move from the WAC to what became the Pac-10 in 1978.
Strack resigned as Arizona AD several months after it was disclosed the department had operated a slush fund for employees.
