Steve Vacendak

Steve Vacendak

Vacendak c. 1965
Personal information
Born	(1944-08-15) August 15, 1944 (age 80) Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school	Scranton Prep (Scranton, Pennsylvania)
College	Duke (1963–1966)
NBA draft	1966: 4th round, 33rd overall pick
Selected by the San Francisco Warriors
Playing career	1967–1970
Position	Point guard
Number	22
Career history
As player:
1967–1969	Pittsburgh / Minnesota Pipers
1970	Miami Floridians
As coach:
1979–1980	Greensboro
1986–1992	Winthrop
Career highlights and awards
As player: ABA champion (1968) ACC Player of the Year (1966) 2× Second-team All-ACC (1965, 1966)
Stats at Basketball Reference

Stephen T. Vacendak (born August 15, 1944) is an American former basketball player and coach. He originally came from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and was recruited by Vic Bubas to play as a guard for the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team. As a guard for the team he led Duke to a 72–14 record and two Final Four appearances during his three-year varsity career. In 1966 he was captain of his basketball team, ACC Player of the Year, and on the All-ACC Tournament team. Despite being named player of the year, Vacendak was not named to the All-ACC team in 1966.

After graduating from Duke University, he was drafted by the San Francisco Warriors in the fourth round of the 1966 NBA draft, but he never played for them. Instead, he played professional basketball for the American Basketball Association and later joined the sales staff at Converse Rubber Company. In 1980, he went back to work at Duke as an associate athletic director for five years. Perhaps his most significant contribution to his alma mater came during this period when he strongly recommended an unknown young coach at Army – Mike Krzyzewski or Coach K – for the Duke head coaching job. Ironically, Vacendak also played a big role in recommending that NC State consider Jim Valvano for their open head coaching job and State hired Jimmy V just nine days after Duke hired Coach K.^[1] After working at Duke, he became the director of athletics and head basketball coach at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Following his stint at Winthrop, Vacendak spent three years working at Homeowners Clubs of America, a franchising company in Charlotte, North Carolina. He later became a partner in Damon's Restaurant in Raleigh, N.C., a position which ultimately (through a customer at Damon's) connected him with the organization with which he has been involved ever since: N.C. Beautiful.^[2]

Vacendak currently serves as the Executive Director for N.C. Beautiful, which is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the natural beauty of North Carolina "through environmental education and outreach."^[3] More specifically, the group provides grants to teachers to sponsor environmentally-based projects in their classrooms and helps college undergraduate and graduate students get involved in environmental research.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Steve Vacendak.

• Stephen T. Vacendak bio at Duke Athletics
• College stats at Sports Reference
• Professional stats at Basketball Reference
• Coaching stats at Sports Reference