Doug Moe, the rumpled, irreverent coach of the high-scoring Denver Nuggets, dies at 87

DENVER (AP) — Doug Moe, an ABA original who gained fame over a rumpled, irreverent and sometimes R-rated decade as coach of the Denver Nuggets in the 1980s, died Tuesday. He was 87.

Moe’s son, David, notified several of the coach’s friends that his father had died after a long bout with cancer, Ron Zappolo, a longtime Denver TV personality and good friend of Moe’s, told The Associated Press.

The Nuggets, in a social media post, called Moe “a one-of-a-kind leader and person who spearheaded one of the most successful and exciting decades in Nuggets history.”

Moe went 628-529 over 15 seasons as a head coach, including stints with the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers. He never won a title — his most memorable run coming in 1985 when his best Denver team fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals. He was the NBA Coach of the Year in 1988.

More than for wins and losses, Moe will be remembered for his motion offense and for the equally entertaining shows he put on while prowling the bench during his coaching days.

His Denver teams led the league in scoring over five straight seasons in the early ‘80s, and he rarely ran a set play.

He called the people he liked the most “stiffs,” (or worse) and used more colorful language to drive points home to some of his favorite foils — Kiki VanDeWeghe, Danny Schayes and Bill Hanzlik stood out.

The coach stalked the sidelines in one of his well-worn sports coats, usually without a tie (he had a small stash of “emergency suits” in his closet for bigger events), his hair a mess and his overtaxed voice barely at a croak by the end of most games.

The Nuggets bench, along with the 10 rows behind it, was no place for children, but within hours, Moe would be at the bar or coffee shop hanging with many of those same players he’d excoriated, often himself wondering where that foul-mouthed man on the sideline had come from.

“Sometimes I think I have a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. I clown around a lot before and after a game, but once a game starts, my emotions just take over,” Moe said in a 1983 interview with The New York Times.

Years before John Elway arrived, Moe was Denver's biggest sports personality. Zappolo, the sportscaster, said there was a sweet teddy bear behind the game-day bluster.

“I don’t know if there’s ever been a more important sports figure in Denver, not only because of how successful he was, but how colorful he was and how kind he was,” Zappolo said. “There are a lot of people walking around today who feel like they were Doug’s best friend.”

Douglas Edwin Moe was born Sept. 21, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York. As a teen he became well-known in New York basketball circles, where he would sometimes head to gyms using fake names to play on teams he wouldn’t otherwise be eligible for.

He paired with good friend Larry Brown at North Carolina, where as a 6-foot-5 small forward he twice earned All-America honors. But Moe’s college career was terminated early because of a point-shaving scandal for which he received $75 to fly to a meeting; he refused to throw games.

After a few years in Europe, Moe again became a package deal with Brown, as they winded their way through the new and fledgling ABA. Moe was a three-time All-Star over a five-year career that ended early because of his perpetually ailing knees.

His playing days done, he teamed again with Brown, working as his assistant with the Carolina Cougars, and then with the Nuggets toward the end of the franchise’s ABA days.

Moe insisted he never wanted a head coaching job — didn’t want to work that hard — but Brown coaxed him into taking a job in San Antonio. With the help of George Gervin, Moe won the division twice and made one conference final in four seasons with the Spurs.

Moe’s next stop was Denver, where he took over after another of his Carolina buddies, Donnie Walsh, got fired in 1980. The ensuing 10 seasons marked a golden era for the Nuggets, who played in rainbow uniforms and rewrote record books but never climbed out from the shadows of the Lakers and Celtics dynasties of the era.

Alex English and VanDeWeghe finished 1-2 in scoring in the 1982-83 season, a feat no teammates have accomplished since. The Nuggets lost a 186-184 game to the Pistons in 1983 that remains the highest-scoring game in NBA history. Moe won 432 games with the Nuggets, and the franchise retired that number, with Moe’s name attached.

It took more than 30 years after Moe retired and moved back to San Antonio for the Nuggets to break through and become NBA champions.

Oddly enough, one of Moe’s most colorful coaching coups came at the expense of the Nuggets on the last day of the 1977-78 season when he was with the Spurs. In an early game, Denver, coached by Brown at the time, fed David Thompson on the way to a 73-point outburst against Detroit that briefly put him ahead of Gervin in a neck-and-neck battle for the scoring title.

So, that night, Moe told the Spurs to get out of “Ice’s” way. Gervin scored 63 against the Jazz to win the title by .07.

Moe’s coaching peak, however, came with the Nuggets, where his teams got considerably better when Fat Lever and Calvin Natt came via a trade in 1984. But both were injured during that 1985 conference final against the Lakers. The Nuggets dropped the last three games in a 4-1 series loss, and Moe never got closer.

Though the focus of the Nuggets was offense, Moe spent ample time preaching defense — insisting it, not the team’s scoring ability, would make the difference between winning and losing.

Once, incensed at the lack of effort during a blowout loss at Portland, he commanded his team to stop trying on defense and to let the Blazers make layups at will over the final minutes to set the franchise scoring record for a single game. That earned him a fine and suspension, only weeks after he was fined for throwing water on an official.

For the most part, though, Moe made a career out of not taking himself too seriously — a wryly wrinkled counterbalance to the slicked-down Pat Riley and the Laker Showtime teams that dominated the NBA’s Western Conference over the decade.

Moe even punctuated one of his lowest moments — his firing by the Nuggets in 1990 — by wearing a Hawaiian shirt and popping open champagne at the news conference while his wife, whom he called “Big Jane,” looked on. A day to celebrate, he insisted, because he would now be getting paid to do nothing.

Moe finished his head coaching career with an unsuccessful stint in Philadelphia that lasted less than a season before returning to Denver in supporting roles, including a return to the bench as George Karl’s assistant.

“Because I’m stupid, or something like that,” Moe said when asked to explain why he was coaching again.

Far from it.

And despite his insistence that he did little more than throw a ball out there, there was a well-honed, much-practiced method behind what looked like the madness of his always-in-overdrive passing game.

“There will never be another sports figure like Doug Moe,” Zappolo said. “He really was one of a kind.”

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FILE - Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl, left, chats with assistant coaches Doug Moe, center, and Adrian Dantley during a time out against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first quarter of an exhibition NBA basketball game in Denver on Oct. 9, 2007. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

FILE - Retired Denver Nuggets head coach Doug Moe stands next to his retired number during the team's 50th anniversary celebration before the second half of an NBA basketball game, Oct. 21, 2017, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

FILE - Former Denver Nuggets head coach Doug Moe pleads with his team during a timeout in the closing seconds of a NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets in May 1986. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

FILE - Denver Nuggets head coach Doug Moe argues a call by the refs during a game against the LA Lakers in Denver on May 20, 1985. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

FILE - Denver Nuggets head coach Doug Moe, center, directs his team from the bench during an NBA basketball game against the Phoenix Suns on April 21, 1982, in Denver. (AP Photo/JC, File)

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Guatemalan driver fleeing a Georgia traffic stop by federal immigration officers crashed into another vehicle, killing a teacher who was headed to work, authorities and school officials said.

Oscar Vasquez Lopez, the driver accused of causing the Monday crash just outside of Savannah, remained jailed Tuesday on charges including vehicular homicide, reckless driving and driving without a valid license. Lopez, 38, is in the U.S. illegally, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Immigration officers were looking for Lopez to enforce an immigration judge's 2024 deportation order, ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams said Tuesday, noting that Lopez has no other criminal history.

Lopez pulled over when ICE officers used sirens and blue lights to initiate a traffic stop, but then drove away when they approached his vehicle, Williams said. Lopez made a U-turn and ran a stop light before he crashed, ICE said in a news release.

Asked if the ICE officers chased Lopez, Williams said: “Chased? I wouldn't say that. They followed him until he crashed.”

Williams said he didn't know how far Lopez fled before he crashed.

“According to preliminary findings, we believe the pursuit was relatively short in duration and distance,” said Chatham County police spokesperson Betsy Nolen, who noted the investigation is ongoing.

Security camera video obtained by WTOC-TV showed a red pickup truck moving at high speed past Herman W. Hesse K-8 School on Monday morning. The footage showed a vehicle with flashing lights follow about five seconds later at a similar speed, and another vehicle with lights flashing pass several seconds after that.

News video from the crash scene showed one of the vehicles involved in the wreck was a red pickup.

Savannah-Chatham County school officials identified the woman killed as Linda Davis, a special education teacher at the school.

Davis was beloved by the school community, Principal Alonna McMullen said.

“She dedicated her career to ensuring that every child felt supported, valued, and capable of success," McMullen said in a news release. "Her kindness, patience, and enthusiasm created a nurturing environment for her students and inspired those around her.”

The crash happened less than a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) from the school. Though students were off Monday for Presidents Day, teachers reported to work. Davis was driving to school when she was killed, school system spokesperson Sheila Blanco said.

Lopez remained jailed Tuesday. He is being representing by a public defender in Chatham County, said Don Plummer, a spokesman for the Georgia Public Defender Council.

“We recognize the community’s concern and extend condolences to those harmed,” Plummer said by email. “Mr. Lopez is presumed innocent. We will review the evidence and address it where it belongs — in court, not in the press.”

Federal immigration officers have faced increased scrutiny for their aggressive tactics during the Trump administration's nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration, especially since they shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

In a statement, Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, blamed “politicians and the media constantly demonizing ICE officers and encouraging those here illegally to resist arrest.”

Chatham County police said in a statement that they were unaware of the ICE operation and traffic stop before the deadly crash.

Chester Ellis, chairman of the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, noted that county police are constrained by a policy that allows vehicle pursuits only when officers believe a suspect has committed or is attempting to commit a violent felony. But he said county officers, had ICE requested their assistance, could have helped cut off the suspect's escape without a pursuit that endangered other drivers.

“If that had been the case yesterday, then Dr. Davis would still be alive,” Ellis said. “My personal feeling is that one life lost is too many, especially when you’re taking about a precious teacher.”

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson also questioned whether Davis' death might have been prevented.

“I’ve always been and remain very concerned about the activities of ICE in cities, particularly where they’re not coordinating or communicating,” Johnson, a former police officer, told reporters Tuesday.

He added: “What this individual was wanted for, did it necessitate the end result?"

This image taken from video provided by WTOC-TV shows law enforcement responding to the scene of a fatal car crash, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Savannah, Ga. (WTOC-TV via AP)