Nobuo Kaiho, a guard on Japan's men's basketball team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, has died at age 73.

The Tokyo native passed away at his home in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, on Monday, according to published reports. The cause was cancer.

Kaiho played college ball at Rikkyo University, and later coached at his alma mater before working as a bench boss for the Japan Basketball League's Sumitomo Metal Industries squad.

From 1996 to 2000, Kaiho served as managing director for the J. League's Kashima Antlers.

He returned to basketball in 2001 as the WJBL's managing director, a post he held until 2003, when he was named a league adviser.

In 2007, Kaiho became chairman of Yamagata Prefecture Sports 21st Century Association, which runs J. League club Montedio Yamagata.

In the 1964 Olympic basketball tournament, the 168-cm Kaiho had his best game against the Soviet Union on Oct. 16, scoring six points in a 72-59 loss.