Ernie Vandeweghe, a leading Knicks player of the early 1950s while he was simultaneously embarking on a career as a physician, and later the patriarch of a three-generation family of athletes, died on Saturday at his home in Laguna Beach, Calif. He was 86.

The cause was complications of a kidney infection, his brother Gary said.

Vandeweghe’s son Kiki also played for the Knicks. A basketball star at U.C.L.A., Kiki Vandeweghe played forward for 13 seasons in the N.B.A. and was later general manager of the Denver Nuggets and the Nets, whom he also coached in the 2009-10 season.

A former all-American at Colgate University, Ernie Vandeweghe (pronounced VAN-deh-way) was a scrappy 6-foot-3-inch defensive-minded guard for the Knicks and a good ballhandler who could also hit a timely shot.

Usually coming off the bench as a sixth man, he was in a backcourt alongside Carl Braun, his former Colgate teammate, and the future Hall of Famer Dick McGuire on teams that also featured Harry Gallatin and Sweetwater Clifton in the frontcourt. Coached by Joe Lapchick, those teams reached the N.B.A. finals three consecutive times.