Hall of Fame
The architect of Azusa Pacific athletics, Cliff Hamlow became a college basketball head coach coach his junior year at Azusa College (now Azusa Pacific) in 1954. What followed was a 58-year career in intercollegiate athletics, 32 years as a head basketball coach, 35 years as an athletics director, and 21 years as a conference commissioner. In between he served Azusa Pacific as a professor, department chair, dean, chief financial officer, vice president, and chief operating officer. The name Hamlow is synonymous Azusa Pacific. For all that he did for Azusa Pacific, his first love was coaching basketball. In 32 years at the helm, he led Azusa Pacific to sixteen 20-win seasons, including 7 in a row and 10 of 11 seasons from 1964 to 1974. In that span, his Cougars went 269-102 (.725), highlighted by the 1974 squad that posted a 28-5 record and won the NAIA District 3 title, which in turn gave Azusa Pacific its first-ever appearance in the 32-team NAIA Tournament Championship in Kansas City, Mo. His 1965 team posted a 24-4 record. He guided the Cougars to an unprecedented four straight National Christian College Tournament championships from 1969 to 1972. Twice he was named the NAIA District 3 Coach of the Year, 1974 and 1980. By the time he retired from coaching in 1988, his 570 career wins topped all NAIA coaches and was among the top 5 of all college basketball coaches. As an athletics director, Hamlow started the Cougars' entire intercollegiate program, adding football, baseball, women's basketball and women's volleyball, along with tack & field and cross country over the years. By the time he retired from Cougar athletics in 1993, he had expanded the Cougar offerings to 15 sports, and the Cougars had captured ten NAIA national championships. He become commissioner of the Golden State Athletic Conference in 1991 and held that position until 2012. A master administrator, Hamlow served the NAIA as a member of the Men's Basketball Tournament Committee, the Blue Ribbon Committee, District Chairs Committee, and the NAIA Executive Committee. In 1981, he became the first APU person to be inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame.
Hamlow Coaching Record at Azusa Pacific
Year Record
1954-55 7-2
1955-56 20-5
1956-57 21-9
1957-58 6-19
1958-59 15-13
1959-60 13-18
1960-61 16-10
1961-62 20-10
1962-63 9-20
1963-64 21-11
1964-65 24-4
1965-66 23-6
1966-67 16-16
1967-68 21-9
1968-69 28-7
1969-70 29-6
1970-71 25-11
1971-72 26-10
1972-73 28-7
1973-74 28-5
1974-75 12-16
1975-76 11-17
1976-77 12-19
1977-78 14-17
1978-79 13-20
1979-80 25-10
1980-81 20-18
1981-82 22-11
1984-85 8-27
1985-86 12-22
1986-87 15-18
1987-88 10-20
Career 570-413 (.580)
