Editor’s note: In the Colorado Classics series, The Denver Post takes a weekly look at individuals who made their mark on the Colorado sports landscape and what they are doing now.
When considering that Vince Boryla is a member of Cherry Hills Country Club – which hosted the 1960 U.S. Open – and was the driving force behind the installation of the Eagle Country Club course in Broomfield, it would seem that golf is his bag.
But truth be known, he never has played the Cherry Hills course, and he can’t get past the Pepsi Center on his way to Broomfield.
His game is basketball, and it has been that way for more than 60 years.
“My whole life has been basketball,” Boryla said. “For me, that part of it has been like a fairy tale. I have a real job. It’s in the real estate business, and that’s how I’ve made a living.”
But Boryla isn’t known for selling houses. He’s better known as sort of a basketball gypsy. And while he considers it a dream, he didn’t waste time or spend idle moments scurrying around the game. It was more like a whirlwind.
Between 1944, when he finished high school in East Chicago, Ind., and 1947, Boryla played two seasons of college basketball at Notre Dame. He also spent time in the Army, Navy and Air Force.
“That’s how I got to Denver,” Boryla said. “I was stationed here, found out I liked it, and I’ve been here most of the time ever since.”
While making his first stop in Denver, Boryla played a season with the University of Denver and made All-American. He also played on the long-forgotten original Denver Nuggets team, an amateur club that played toward a berth in the National AAU Tournament. The team was a fixture on the Denver sports scene in the 1940s and 1950s. From the Nuggets, he earned a place on the 1948 U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in London.
From there, he went to the NBA and played five seasons with the New York Knicks. While playing for the Knicks, he participated in the first NBA All-Star Game. He later coached the Knicks and was general manager for a time.
Boryla moved to the ABA and led the Utah Stars organization. The Stars won the ABA championship in 1971. He then became president and general manager of the Denver Nuggets during the team’s tenure under the ownership of Red McCombs.
At 79, Boryla looks back and marvels how the game has changed from when he played.
“Basketball has been good to me,” Boryla said. “I made my fair share of the money that was available at the time. But the difference in the game between when I played and now is like night and day. When I played, the game was more like how the ladies play it today.”
Boryla remembers that when he went into the pros, his big adjustment was mixing the playing of both forward and center.
“Very few of the players from my time could play the game as it’s played today,” Boryla said. “I’m not saying we were bad players; we were different. The artistry of today’s game is dramatically different. The players today are much more talented.”
He remembers that the Olympics were different and much less publicized.
“When I made the Olympic team, I didn’t know too much about the Olympics,” Boryla said. “It was the first Olympics since before World War II. The coverage was almost laughable by today’s standards. I’ve felt the honor of the gold medal more as I’ve gotten older. I still have it. It’s something people of today can relate to because the Olympics have become a very big thing.”
As for the pros playing in the Olympics, Boryla thinks the fans demand it.
“The top AAU players were better than the pros when I made the Olympic team,” Boryla said.
Boryla grew up in a working-class family, his father coming to the U.S. from Poland.
“We weren’t poor, and everything worked out like a giant jigsaw puzzle,” Boryla said. “Everything just fit together.”
His recreation today is swimming, and he confesses he once took golf lessons.
“I probably took a dozen to 20 lessons,” Boryla said. “I had the idea I wanted to play some, but after each lesson, I found I disliked it more.”
Boryla traces his passion for basketball to his high school coach.
“His name was Doc Irwin,” Boryla said. “I’ve never forgotten what he has meant to me. He had more knowledge about the game of basketball than anyone I’ve ever known, including Adolph Rupp or Bud Browning.”
Rupp is the legendary coach from the past at the University of Kentucky, and Browning will be remembered as the successful coach of the Phillips Oilers from the AAU days.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
