[5][6] Born in Bridgeport on June 4, 1922, Vancisin attended Bassick High School, where he played and lettered in basketball and baseball in 1939 and 1940.
Following his graduation from Dartmouth College in 1944 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Vancisin began coaching basketball in the service and with several teams in the Big Ten Conference and in the Ivy League.
The Bulldogs captured the 1969 Rainbow Classic in Hawaii, knocking off Pete Maravich's LSU team in the championship game.
He succeeded Bill Wall as NABC executive director in 1975 and was the recipient of the John Bunn Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.
Under his leadership, the NABC debuted its college all-star game at the NCAA Final Four, elected its first African-American president in Georgetown's John Thompson (basketball), and adopted a code of ethics.