Pedro Ferrāndiz was the 'Red' Auerbach of Europe, setting records that still stand or were only recently surpassed. He retired early, at the age of 49, having already conquered all he surveyed. He then founded the WABC, World Association of Basketball Coaches, together with Hall of Fame coach Cesare Rubini of Italy. At the same time, he started his Pedro Ferrāndiz Foundation, a structure dedicated solely to basketball: library, research and, soon, home of the European Basketball Hall of Fame. The complex is a wonder of beauty and architecture.

'Don' Pedro holds every coaching record in Spain: 12 national titles and 11 Spanish Cups, called the King's Cup, all with his legendary 'Whites' of Real Madrid, so called for the color of their uniforms, home or away. It should be mentioned that the Spanish Cup is a competition of huge importance in Spain and winning it is often considered the equivalent of winning the playoff title itself.

Ferrāndiz also dominated Europe. He set two incredible records: seven European Cup finals and four European Cup titles. Those records have since been broken but only after the turn of the Third Millennium. At the time, under the old format, they were considered untouchable. But, as the NCAA expanded from its original 8 teams to its present 65, so has the European League, as it is now called. Under the old format, with just one team, the defending champion, from each nation participating, those records would, indeed, have lasted forever. His marks were eventually tied by Hall of Fame coach Aleksandar Gomelsky of ASK Riga and CSKA Moscow, and were light years ahead of all other competition.

Pedro Ferrāndiz was one of three revolutionary coaches in Europe: Robert Busnel of France brought the screen to Europe in the early 1950s, using that technique to take the 'Blues' to second in the 1948 Olympics; Pedro Ferrāndiz brought the fast break to the Continent in the 1960s, nearly doubling previous record point averages in Spain and in Europe; and Hall of Fame coach Aleksandar Nikolic of Yugoslavia brought method and organization into practice teaching and game preparation.

The impact of Ferrāndiz's up-tempo style was overwhelming. It's enough to say that he simply forced the hand of every opposing coach in Spain and in Europe. If you could not run with Real Madrid, you were out of business, and in a hurry. In the 1950s, a high-scoring game in Spain or in the European Cup might have been something like 61-57. It was like the USA in the 1930s or 1940s, before 'Firehouse Basketball' took over after World War II. Real Madrid ran teams off the floor with scores like 91-87 or 101-97. All one need for verification is to consult History of the European Cup, 1958-2000. In 1960, ASK Riga (USSR) and Dynamo Tbilisi (USSR) played a two-game final, ASK winning both games, 61-51 and 69-62. In the 1967 Final, Real beat Simmenthal of Milan, Italy, coached by Hall of Fame coach Cesare Rubini, 91-83. The next year, they beat Spartak Brno (Czechoslovakia) in the final, 98-95.

Ferrāndiz's career was just 15 years, two with Hesperia (Madrid), a Real farm team, then 13 years with Real Madrid, a period in which he tried to retire twice, 1962-64 and then again in 1965-66. Had he coached those three years he would have won three more Spanish titles, three more Spanish Cups and, perhaps, another European title or two. Why not? The men that took over for him nearly ran the table in each of those years.

His numbers are unreal. In Europe, they do not speak of won-loss percentages and 25-win seasons or whatever. They speak of medals, meaning a 1-2-3 finish in an event. They also give weight to those medals, just as the Olympic medal chart might give 10 for a gold, 7 for a silver, and 5 for a bronze medal. Any coach that has 30 career medals is an elite coach, a Hall of Fame level coach. And, any coach that has 300 points based on those medals is at the same level. Pedro Ferrāndiz, his short career notwithstanding, has 40 medals and 519 medal points.

He had competition but he was the man to beat. No one should think he walked over a bunch of weak sisters. Anyone that follows the game in Spain knows that FC Barcelona, Juventud Badalona, and Estudiantes Madrid were a handful and held their own in other European Cups. Anyone that follows the game in Europe knows that facing down powerhouses like CSKA Moscow, Olympia Milan, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Red Star Belgrade, and others is no small task.

Ferrāndiz left no doubt as to who was boss: he won 71 straight games in Spain's ACB, a record that will never be broken. In fact, no one has so much as won more than 20 in succession since then. He had career records in Spain for most career games, most career wins, most titles, most Spanish Cups, highest scoring average and other various marks. In Europe, he set the record for most wins in European League play, with 93, in an era when 10 games was the most a team could play in one year, whereas today they are playing up to 24 games in one season. One year, Real Madrid went to the two-game final after playing just four games, though in NCAA-like knockout play. Even so, only a select handful of today's coaches has more than those 93 wins.

His success was widely envied. Pedro Ferrāndiz was light years ahead of the competition with regard to the rules regarding 'foreign' players being 'naturalized' as Spaniards. His most famous coup was the making of Clifford Luyk, a former University of Florida star, a 6'-9" center-forward with a devastating hook shot and with NBA skill and athletic ability. No one is saying Pedro Ferrāndiz was matchmaker but the movie star handsome Luyk married no less than Miss Spain of 1966, Paquita Torres.

He was Europe's first manager-coach. Of this there can be no doubt. Like any managerial genius, Pedro Ferrāndiz understood power. He formed a powerful alliance with Dr. Raimundo Saporta, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, executives in European basketball history. The only parallel that can be made would be to have Red Auerbach as the GM of an NBA team and John Wooden as the coach. They were that good. Says Toni Comas, President of Spain's Coaches' Association: "They were the first dominant coupling of executive and coach ever in Euorpe. In this, they were also ahead of their time."

Rivals tried to sabotage his success. One year the Spanish Cup was played in a province where it was said that local laws prohibited the use of foreign players, a rule that would have rendered Real Madrid weaker than any other team in the field, as they had the best 'foreign' players. Rivals hoped Ferrāndiz would protest, perhaps even withdraw his team. But the great Pedro Ferrāndiz did not say a word, showed up with a team loaded with Junior team players and swept the event as he did every year.

Cliff Luyk, who won a title every year he played for Ferrāndiz, said, "He had the greatest eye for talent you can imagine. And, once he saw a player he wanted, he would not rest until he signed him, as he knew you had to have talent to win. Secondly, not of this genius business, as he never strayed from the basics, never wanted to be inventing the game, so his system - running and attacking - was impossible to scout, as every opponent knew exactly what we were going to do but could not stop it. Then, he was a superb psychologist, as we were always ready to play on game day. Finally, he was an excellent game tactician, though, as I said, he kept things simple; if a move had to be made, he made that move. He was never weighed down by trying to outfox the other coach. He made sure the other coach had to adjust to him. Just a tremendous coach."

It could be said that Pedro Ferrāndiz brought modern basketball to Europe. Cesare Rubini said: "We all had to adjust to his style of play. When he came on the European scene, everyone had to adjust to his style of play or be eliminated. The game in Europe was slow break before Ferrāndiz and fast break after him. All of the great clubs adjusted, like our Simmenthal teams in Milan, like Maccabi Tel-Aviv, and all the rest."

Ferrāndiz could also have been inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Contributor. No one in Europe has contributed more. His WABC has given a power base to coaches around the world. His Foundation is the home base for European Basketball History, as it includes a research department second to none, a library second to none and a publishing house second to none. All dedicated to the furthering of basketball on the Continent and around the world.

Most of all, though, 'Don' Pedro is a bigger-than-life personality. Almost by himself, he lifted the image of the coach in Europe to a higher plane. This impacted on the reality of his coaching colleagues in many ways, not the least of which was in financial terms. Yes, he brought respect to his profession. In that, 'The Little Giant' still stands tall.

Dan Peterson, a former coach at the University of Delaware and the 1987 European Coach of the Year, still resides in Milan, Italy and has previously written stories on Drazen Dalipagic and Dino Meneghin.