# Al Brightman

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**Horace Albert Brightman** (September 22, 1923 – June 10, 1992) was an American professional [basketball](/source/Basketball) player and coach.

Brightman played for the [Boston Celtics](/source/Boston_Celtics) of the [Basketball Association of America](/source/Basketball_Association_of_America) during the [1946–47 season](/source/1946%E2%80%9347_BAA_season). He served as a [player-coach](/source/Player-coach) for the Seattle Athletics of the [Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League](/source/Pacific_Coast_Professional_Basketball_League) during the 1947–48 season.

Brightman was the head coach of the [Seattle Redhawks](/source/Seattle_Redhawks_men's_basketball) from 1948 to 1956. He took the team to national prominence and attained a 180–68 record. Brightman unexpectedly left his role following an altercation with [UCLA Bruins](/source/UCLA_Bruins) coach [John Wooden](/source/John_Wooden) during a 1956 game and struggled to return to the collegiate ranks. He had brief stints as a head coach in the [American Basketball League](/source/American_Basketball_League_(1961-1963)) and the [American Basketball Association](/source/American_Basketball_Association) during the 1960s before retiring permanently from coaching. Brightman spent the rest of his life as an apartment manager until his death in 1992.

## Early life

Brightman was born in [Eureka, California](/source/Eureka,_California).[1] He attended [Woodrow Wilson Classical High School](/source/Woodrow_Wilson_Classical_High_School) in [Long Beach, California](/source/Long_Beach,_California).[1] Brightman averaged a city-record 22.7 points per game and was selected as the [California Interscholastic Federation](/source/California_Interscholastic_Federation) Player of the Year in 1941.[1] He had a short stint playing [baseball](/source/Baseball) as a [catcher](/source/Catcher) with the [Cleveland Indians](/source/Cleveland_Indians) organisation as a 17-year-old before his career was ended when he injured his shoulder.[1]

## Playing career

Brightman played [college basketball](/source/College_basketball) for Morris Harvey College (now [University of Charleston](/source/University_of_Charleston)) during the 1945–46 season.[1][2] He averaged 22 points per game.[2]

Brightman played 58 games for the [Boston Celtics](/source/Boston_Celtics) of the [Basketball Association of America](/source/Basketball_Association_of_America) (BAA) during the league's inaugural [1946–47 season](/source/1946%E2%80%9347_BAA_season).[1] He averaged 9.8 points per game and was the first Celtics player to score 20 points in a regular season game.[1]

Brightman relocated to [Seattle](/source/Seattle) with his wife after making a visit there to see his parents.[1] He joined the Seattle Athletics of the [Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League](/source/Pacific_Coast_Professional_Basketball_League) as a [player-coach](/source/Player-coach).[3][4] Brightman was the team's leading scorer and only All-League selection;[1] the league went defunct in 1948.[3]

From 1950 to 1952, Brightman played for the Madigan Generals, an independent semiprofessional basketball team.[1]

## Coaching career

### Seattle Chieftains

On August 21, 1948, Brightman was hired by Seattle University as head coach of the Chieftains basketball team.[1] He recorded 12–14 and 12–17 records during his first two seasons.[1] Brightman saw an improvement when he recruited the O'Brien twins, [Johnny](/source/Johnny_O'Brien) and [Eddie](/source/Eddie_O'Brien_(baseball)), after playing them in a semiprofessional baseball game in [Wichita, Kansas](/source/Wichita,_Kansas), in 1950.[1] Brightman and the O'Briens led the Chieftains to a 90–17 record in three seasons and turned the team into a nationally recognised program.[1][3] The Chieftains notably defeated the [Harlem Globetrotters](/source/Harlem_Globetrotters) 84–81 in a 1952 game.[1][3]

Brightman was ahead of his time by eschewing the methodical pace used by most collegiate teams and encouraging his players to perform at an ultra-fast tempo.[3] He did not create scouting reports about his opponents.[3] Brightman's teams made four appearances in the [NCAA tournament](/source/NCAA_Division_I_men's_basketball_tournament) and one in the [National Invitation Tournament](/source/National_Invitation_Tournament) (NIT).[1] At the age of 29, he became the youngest collegiate coach to achieve 100 wins.[3]

On March 19, 1956, the Chieftains played the [UCLA Bruins](/source/UCLA_Bruins_men's_basketball) in the [1956 NCAA basketball tournament](/source/1956_NCAA_basketball_tournament).[1] The game was a physical affair that involved frequent fouling of Chieftains players by the Bruins.[1] Brightman, upset over the Bruins' treatment of his players, confronted Bruins head coach, [John Wooden](/source/John_Wooden), on the sidelines with a "wordy battle."[1] The Chieftains lost 94–70; Brightman was reported as trying to start a fight with Wooden after the game.[1] Three days later, Brightman abruptly resigned from his $8,000 per year role as Seattle's head basketball and baseball coach.[1] He denied any link to his incident with Wooden but instead indicated that he had secured a deal to coach a semiprofessional baseball team in Canada.[1] It was revealed years later that Brightman had not resigned but had been provided with "an opportunity to resign"; he never revealed the reason for his departure.[1] [Elgin Baylor](/source/Elgin_Baylor), who was to join the Chieftains the following season, alleged that Brightman was drunk during the game and forced to resign.[3] Brightman amassed a 180–68 record during his eight seasons with the Chieftains.[3]

### Coaching hiatus

Brightman applied for coaching positions at other colleges but was overlooked because he had failed to obtain a college degree.[1] He was hired as a television host on [Channel 13](/source/KCPQ) in Seattle six weeks after leaving Seattle University and became a local television celebrity.[1][3] Brightman started on weekday afternoon shows before being moved to early morning programming including hosting a pre-dawn cooking show titled *Al's Cellar Café*.[1] Brightman left the job by late 1956 and moved to [Long Beach, California](/source/Long_Beach,_California), to run a restaurant and then worked at a [Douglas Aircraft Company](/source/Douglas_Aircraft_Company) plant.[1] He unsuccessfully applied for the head coaching position of the [Washington State Cougars](/source/Washington_State_Cougars_men's_basketball) in 1958 but was beaten by his former Madigan Generals teammate, [Marv Harshman](/source/Marv_Harshman).[1] The loss motivated Brightman to attain a bachelor's degree in English from [Long Beach State University](/source/Long_Beach_State_University).[1]

### Return to coaching

Brightman coached basketball at [Garden Grove High School](/source/Garden_Grove_High_School) and sold automobiles to make an income while earning his degree.[1] He was named head coach for the [San Francisco Saints](/source/San_Francisco_Saints_(ABL)) of the [American Basketball League](/source/American_Basketball_League_(1961%E2%80%9362)) (ABL) for the 1961–62 season.[1] Brightman returned to Long Beach the following season to coach the [Long Beach Chiefs](/source/Long_Beach_Chiefs) before the ABL folded at the end of 1962.[1] He stated in an interview after losing his position: "I have died every year for six years since I left the Chieftains."[1]

Brightman coached high school and [Amateur Athletic Union](/source/Amateur_Athletic_Union) (AAU) basketball until 1967.[1] He was appointed head coach for the [Anaheim Amigos](/source/Anaheim_Amigos) of the [American Basketball Association](/source/American_Basketball_Association) (ABA) for the 1967–68 season. He was fired after attaining a 12–24 record.[1]

## Later life

Brightman never coached basketball again.[1] He was a longtime operator of a California resort owned by [Chuck Connors](/source/Chuck_Connors) who was his teammate on the Boston Celtics.[1] Brightman relocated to [Maitland, Florida](/source/Maitland,_Florida), in 1971 and worked for a property management business for two years.[1] He moved to [Portland, Oregon](/source/Portland,_Oregon), and spent the remainder of his working life managing apartment houses.[1]

Brightman was diagnosed with [pancreatic cancer](/source/Pancreatic_cancer) in 1992.[1] He died on June 10 of that year at the age of 68.[1][5] Brightman was survived by his wife and seven children.[1]

## Legacy

Brightman was inducted into the Seattle University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011.[6]

## BAA career statistics

Legend GP Games played FG% Field-goal percentage FT% Free-throw percentage APG Assists per game PPG Points per game

### Regular season

Year Team GP FG% FT% APG PPG 1946–47 Boston 58 .256 .627 1.0 9.8 Career 58 .256 .627 1.0 9.8

## Head coaching record

### ABA

|- | style="text-align:left;"|[ANA](/source/Anaheim_Amigos) | style="text-align:left;"| |36||12||24||.333|| style="text-align:center;"|5th in Western||-||-||-||- | style="text-align:center;"|Missed Playoffs |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:left;"|**Career** | ||36||12||24||.333|| ||-||-||-||-

## References

1. Eskenazi, David & Rudman, Steve (November 1, 2012). ["((Wayback Machine: Odd Saga Of Al Brightman))"](https://www.sportspressnw.com/2140616/2012/wayback-machine-odd-saga-of-al-brightman). *Sportspress NW*. Retrieved December 14, 2021.

1. ["Men's Basketball Records"](https://web.archive.org/web/20211215095844/https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/ucwvathletics.com/documents/2020/8/25/Men_s_Basketball_Records_FINAL.pdf). *Charleston University*. p. 13. Archived from [the original](https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/ucwvathletics.com/documents/2020/8/25/Men_s_Basketball_Records_FINAL.pdf) on December 15, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2021.

1. Hanson, Scott (March 10, 2019). ["The legend of Seattle U coach Al Brightman: A brilliant career cut short"](https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seattle-university/the-legend-of-seattle-u-coach-al-brightman-a-brilliant-career-cut-short/). *The Seattle Times*. Retrieved December 14, 2021.

1. Kenyon, J. Michael. ["Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League 1946-47 to 1947-48"](http://www.apbr.org/pcpbl.html). Accessed on June 14, 2017.

1. Rockne, Dick (June 11, 1992), ["Brightman, Former Su Coach, Dies -- Basketball Innovator Put Seattle In National Spotlight"](https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20060207/booth07m/ex-governor-backs-initiative-to-legalize-assisted-suicide), *[The Seattle Times](/source/The_Seattle_Times)*

1. ["Seattle University Athletics Hall of Fame"](https://goseattleu.com/sports/2017/4/10/211555424.aspx). *Seattle U Athletics*. Retrieved December 15, 2021.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Al Brightman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Brightman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Brightman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.