To know Doug Moe was to have a story about a singular character in Denver’s basketball history.

Moe, a foundational piece of the Nuggets franchise, died Tuesday at 87 in San Antonio. He leaves behind a legacy of success, innovation and a lot of stories, only some of which are fit for print.

“There was always a million of them. There’s always another Doug Moe one,” former Nuggets guard Bill Hanzlik told The Denver Gazette of the stories about his former coach.

“Doug’s a few galaxies over. Nobody’s like him. Nobody will ever be like him.”

Moe’s story started on Sept. 21, 1938, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He came up playing hoops in the Flatbush neighborhood and turned his ability into an opportunity to play for legendary coach Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina in 1960-63. Though his college career ended prematurely due to a tie to a point-shaving scandal, his professional playing career started in Italy and continued alongside former Tar Heel teammate Larry Brown with the New Orleans Buccaneers of the upstart American Basketball Association in 1967.

“When the ABA started, they wanted to sign Doug. He wouldn’t sign unless they took me, which is kind of comical,” Brown told The Denver Gazette on Tuesday night.

Moe went on to play for the Oakland Oaks, Carolina Cougars and Virginia Squires before retiring at 33. He was a three-time ABA All-Star and won a championship alongside Brown with the Oaks in 1969.

A few years later, Brown gave Moe his first coaching gig as an assistant with the Cougars in 1972 after their playing careers ended due to injury. Moe followed Brown to Denver when he became the Nuggets’ coach in 1974. Early in their time coaching together, Brown send Moe out to do some scouting and at least got a story out of it.

“I remember asking Doug for his notes and (asked) ‘can you tell me what defenses they ran and what kind of offense they ran and what kind of signals they had?’” Brown recalled. “He handed me a little note, and it said, ‘If we can’t beat these suckers, we shouldn’t be coaching.’ That was kind of typical of our relationship.”

 Moe went out on his own to become head coach of the San Antonio Spurs as they transitioned into the National Basketball Association after the merger in 1976, though he needed a push. Moe’s wife, Jane, called Brown in hopes a longtime friend could talk her husband into taking the job. Four years later, Moe came back to Denver to become coach of the Nuggets.

“He always made fun of the way he coached,” Brown said, imitating Moe’s self-deprecating sense of humor.

“I always used to get angry, because I didn’t think people realized how much he cared and how hard he worked. He developed a style of play that everybody liked to play. Players loved it. He played a fast tempo, but they shared the ball. They were fundamentally sound. He gave everybody a chance to play to their strengths. … He never gave himself enough credit for how good of a coach he was, I didn’t think.”

A couple of years into his Denver tenure, a cable package helped Moe hire an assistant coach. Bill Ficke, who got to know his old boss through Brown, remembers Moe calling in spring 1982. Moe lived on the wrong side of the highway, the one that didn’t yet have cable. Ficke’s place was wired. Moe asked if he and his wife, Jane, could come over to watch a game. Ficke obliged. The couples had dinner and socialized before making the most of Ficke’s location and cable package.

“A week later, he calls again. ‘Hey, I want to watch this game,’” Ficke told The Denver Gazette.

“In June of 1982, he calls me up, he says ‘Hey, you want to be my assistant coach?’ I said ‘Don’t say that again — absolutely. What’re you kidding?’”

It wasn’t a joke. Moe instructed his friend to meet general manager Carl Scheer at the old Peppermill restaurant to finalize things.

“That’s how I became his assistant coach. When he told me what he was looking for, he wanted to have somebody that he could trust, that wasn’t going to knife him in the back,” Ficke said.

“It was great.”

The two years Ficke spent on Moe’s staff provided plenty of stories. One night, legendary Nuggets trainer Robert “Chopper” Travaglini told Ficke that Moe was on the phone and wanted to talk. Moe was sick and told his assistant he would have to coach that night. He offered Ficke a small piece of advice for his pregame speech.

“After two minutes, there ain’t nobody listening, so keep it short and sweet. Those were his words of wisdom to coach the team that night,” Ficke said. “That was him.”

Moe’s 432 regular-season wins are celebrated with a banner hanging at Ball Arena. He led the Nuggets to the playoffs in nine consecutive years and reached the Western Conference Finals in 1985. In 1988, he was named NBA Coach of the Year, and he received the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

“The Denver Nuggets organization was devastated to learn of the passing of legendary coach Doug Moe,” the Nuggets said in a statement released on social media Tuesday. “Coach Moe was one-of-a-kind leader and person who spearheaded one of the most successful and exciting decades in Nuggets history. He will forever be loved and remembered by Nuggets fans, and his banner commemorating his 432 career victories as head coach will hang in the rafters to forever honor his incredible legacy. The organization’s thoughts are with Doug’s wife, Jane, his son, David, and all of his family and loved ones who are hurting in this moment.”

One of Moe’s postseason wins in Denver was thanks to the only game-winner of Hanzlik’s career. It was the second-round series against the Mavericks in 1988, and Moe told four of his players where to be on the court during a late timeout. Hanzlik, the exception, asked what he should do, and Moe directed him to the left corner with a simple directive.

“If it comes to you, I don’t want you to do anything,” Hanzlik remembers his coach saying. “Just shoot it.”

As Hanzlik recalls, the Mavericks overplayed Michael Adams’ right hand and forced him left. Mavericks forward Roy Tarpley left Hanzlik to offer help.

“Michael kicks it to me in the corner, and then Tarpley comes flying back out at me,” Hanzlik said. “It’s just a basketball reaction play. I pump fake. One or two dribbles, I go to the rim. I finish a layup over Sam Perkins. We win the game.”

When Hanzlik met his coach at half court after the game, he was met with a slew of curses for not following directions.

“He’s funny,” Hanzlik said.

Beyond the personality was a serious basketball brain, even if it was unorthodox. Moe’s teams played fast at altitude. He believed heavily in his motion offense and didn’t put much stock into set plays. Ficke said Moe believed installing a series of plays would be the end of the up-tempo brand of basketball that was Moe’s specialty with the Nuggets.

“Doug loved the motion game — loved it — and he knew it inside and out,” Ficke said. “People always complained ‘Oh, he’s yelling at the players.’ The reason he was yelling at the players is because he’s thinking three steps ahead of them.”

Hanzlik credited Moe with inventing small-ball basketball. Moe would often put the 6-foot-7 Hanzlik on opposing centers or power forwards. If the Nuggets were going to be at a disadvantage on one end, the other team would have to overcome on the other.

“His philosophy, he’s so unique, (was) if we can’t match up to Kareem, Patrick Ewing or whoever it might be, let’s make sure they can’t match up with us, too,” Hanzlik said.

A lot of body and ball movement on the other end made the Nuggets incredibly difficult to guard. The 126.5 points the Nuggets averaged in 1981-82 remains the most in NBA history, and Denver’s marks in 1982-83 (123.2) and 1983-84 (123.7) rank seventh and fifth, respectively. There was one time Moe was frustrated enough with his team’s offensive execution against Washington he told the first player across half court with the ball to fire up a shot to prove a point. Once the point was made, the Nuggets got back to Moe’s preferred brand of basketball and complete a comeback, Hanzlik remembers.

“He would really cuss up a storm if you held the ball or if you passed it once and somebody just shot it,” Hanzlik said.

The winningest coach in franchise history at the time announced in September 1990 that he had been dismissed as Denver’s coach. He went on to briefly coach the 76ers in 1992-93 and ended his coaching career back in Denver as an assistant to George Karl in 2008.

“Doug Moe was my big brother. I am sad today. I will miss him,” Karl posted on X Tuesday morning.

“Love you forever Doug.”

The stories continued until Moe’s final days. Ficke and Jay Clark, who worked in the Nuggets’ media relations, made a trip to San Antonio to see Moe one last time around Thanksgiving.

“Thank God,” Ficke said. “We spent the whole day with him. It was great, laughing, telling stories. It was great we got that time. We got the time to say goodbye. It all worked out.”

For all the stories and laughs, there were some serious memories.

“He was a great coach. He was a greater person,” Ficke said.

“In the dictionary, they should have a picture of Doug right next to the word ‘loyalty,’ because if you were his friend, you were his friend for life. That’s who Doug was. He was a great family man. He really loved his wife and his family. That’s who Doug really was.”

Brown feels similarly about one of the biggest and best basketball characters who ever called the Mile High City home.

“He’s the most loyal friend you could ever have. He’s a great father, has unbelievable kids,” Brown said.

“He was my dearest friend. He would tell me when I did something right and he would tell me when I needed to something better. I always valued whatever he said, because I know how much he cared for me.”