Basketball Hall of Fame

Perhaps no coach in the history of basketball can match the record of Warren Womble in international competition. The great Peoria Cats coach compiled an unbelievable 34-0 mark against some of the best international competition in the world.

Womble, who coached the Cats for 10 seasons (1951-1960), won 296 games and lost 126 while leading his teams to the National Amateur Athletic Union Championship five times. In 1952, Womble’s Cats won the Olympic Trials Tournament and he was named head coach of that outstanding United States team (a team which included seven of his Cats). That U.S. team went on to defeat the Soviet Union, 36-25, at the Olympics.

He then coached the 1954 World Tournament championship team and the first United States team to tour the Soviet Union in 1958. Two years later, his Cats placed second in the Olympic Trials Tournament, and Womble was named assistant coach for the U.S. in Rome. That team, which included Jerry West and Oscar Robertson, defeated Brazil (90-36) for the gold medal. Womble also served as the first director of the National Industrial Basketball League.