The South Florida Gold, a professional basketball team in the American Basketball Association (ABA), has named Scott Dambrot as its new head coach for the 2018-19 ABA season.
The Dambrot family name is synonymous with basketball success and has a long tradition of winning championships dating back to the 1950s. Scott’s cousin Irwin Dambrot was captain of the 1950 City College of New York men’s basketball team, the only school in history to win both the NCAA tournament and the NIT in the same season. Irwin Dambrot was the MVP of the NCAA tournament and the top draft pick by the New York Knicks in the 1950 NBA draft. Irwin’s brother Sid Dambrot played on the Duquesne Dukes men’s basketball teams that were ranked number one in the nation from 1952 to 1954. Scott’s cousin Keith Dambrot was LeBron James’ high school coach, the former head coach at the University of Akron, and is currently the head men’s basketball coach at Duquense University.
Needless to say, Scott Dambrot was born with a basketball in his hands. He was coached in youth leagues and high school by his father, Marty Dambrot. Scott was a basketball star at Watertown High School in Connecticut, averaging 18 points per game and shooting 90 percent from the foul line. His senior year, he was named to the Jewish High School All-American Basketball Team and was recruited by Oneonta State University, where he played shooting guard for coach Don Flewelling.
Scott began his coaching career working for Mitch Kupchak of the Los Angeles Lakers and coach Stan Kellner at the “Yes I Can” basketball camps at Fordham University. Kupchak and Kellner were teaching a unique style of basketball coaching that was known in the early 1990s as “Basketball Cybernetics.” Kellner wrote and published the first book on the subject, and Scott became one of the program’s top disciples. He traveled the country with the camps, lecturing, coaching and teaching the program nationwide.
Soon after that, New York City basketball guru Howard Garfinkle hired Scott to coach on the summer circuit at the world-famous Five Star Basketball Camp in Pennsylvania. He became a fixture at the Five Star camps for years, working with high-powered coaches like Hubie Brown, Rick Pitino, Mike Fratello, Chuck Daly and countless others. Five Star’s program has produced more than 300 NBA players and 30 NBA coaches.
“It’s an honor to be named head coach of the South Florida Gold,” Dambrot said. “My priority this season is to win the ABA championship, and in doing so, make sure that every player on my roster gets the opportunity to be seen and evaluated by the NBA, the G League and overseas teams, so when our season is finished, they can take what they’ve learned from me and use it to earn a living doing what they love to do.”
For more information, visit www.sflgold.com and www.abaliveaction.com, or e-mail scottdambrot@gmail.com.
