From Duke to Denver: The Rise of Joe Belmont, the “Houdini of the Hardwood”

Joe Belmont was born on July 12, 1934, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1952, He started his playing career at Duke University, on their Duke Blue Devils squad, under head coach Harold Bradley. He played 4 seasons at Duke and averaged 13.0 points a game. He was named Co-Captain of Blue Devils for the 1954-1955 season, won All American Honors in 1956, also winning the Most Valuable Player Award in 1956. The Blue Devils were ACC regular season champions in 1954.

When he graduated from Duke as the school’s second all-time leading scorer with 1338 points in 103 games, second only to Dick Groat at the time. As of 2026, though, his record is no longer near the top, but Belmont is still placed place among Duke’s top all-time 100 scorers.

Belmont was selected in the 1956 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia Warriors with the 39th pick in the 5th round, but he never played a single game in the NBA, opting to stay at Duke for one more year to mentor the freshmen team. Afterwards, he resumed his playing career with the Denver-Chicago Truckers of the National Industrial Basketball League.

He played under head coach Johnny Dee, earning all-league and ASU All American honors and played the most games in the team’s history. Belmont played until the National Industrial Basketball League winded down in 1966. His teammates nicknamed him “Little Weasel” due to how quick he was on the court and compared to his teammates. Another nickname he collected was “Houdini of the Hardwood”, due to his passing game which at times seemed impossible.

It’s just a matter of adjusting. Last year I threw away a lot of passes. This year they’ve been hitting. It’s all in getting used to me. I’ll admit the guys had to adjust to me” – Belmont on his passing game

After the disbandment of the Truckers, Belmont stayed in Denver and joined the ABA’s Denver Rockets as a scout and their director of marketing, which at the time had its own fancy title “Ticket Salesman”. His experience was beyond comparable to the rest of Denver’s front office as he was one of the only ones who actually played basketball as a career, which led to him becoming the head coach of the team on December 9, 1969, replacing John McClendon.

After losing his first game, the Rockets won 15 in a row, finishing out that season going 42-14 in his first season as a coach and with an overall record of 51-33 to win the ABA Western Division. Belmont and Utah Stars head coach Bill Sharman was awarded coach of the year for that season. and later reached the second round of the playoffs, but lost to the Oakland Oaks, who later progressed to become the 1969 ABA champions. Amongst the roster were Spencer Haywood, Julius Kaye, Byron Beck, Larry Jones, Lonnie Wright, Jeff Congdon and Walt Piatkowski.

Despite the great first season, Belmont was fired the following season after a 3-10 start, he was replaced by Stan Albeck. When the American Basketball Association merged with the NBA in 1976, Belmont had the 6th most coaching wins in league history with a record of 45-25.

“Coaching really wasn’t my cup of tea, I preferred officiating and I went into that.” – Belmont on transitioning from coaching to officiating

After his coaching career, Belmont became a basketball referee, a third career he had that lasted 25 years. He officiated High School Games, Little League, and City and Summer Leagues. He joined the officiating staff of the ABA and quickly became one of their top referees, working the first All-Star game in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1970, compared to today’s officiating ladder, that is a fast progression, but he was very efficient at officiating considering he moved up the competitive ladder that fast.

In 2005 Belmont was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. On January 6, 2019, Coach Belmont passed away.

Behind the Coaching has a Coach Profile for Joe Belmont that covers his coaching career.