Darrall Imhoff, the all-American center who led the University of California to the 1959 N.C.A.A. tournament basketball championship and to the runner-up spot the next season, played on a gold-medal-winning United States Olympic team and then had a long career in the N.B.A., died on Friday in Bend, Ore. He was 78.

His death was confirmed by the university. The Portland Trail Blazers, the last of the six N.B.A. teams for which he played, said the cause was a heart attack.

Imhoff, 6 feet 10 inches tall and about 220 pounds, scored 22 points and had 16 rebounds in the semifinals of the 1959 N.C.A.A tournament against a University of Cincinnati team featuring the all-American Oscar Robertson. He scored the decisive basket in the waning seconds of the final against West Virginia and its all-American guard Jerry West, leading the Golden Bears to a 71-70 victory.

Imhoff’s Cal team made it to the N.C.A.A. tournament final in 1960 but lost to Ohio State and Jerry Lucas.