Nate Thurmond
Nathaniel Thurmond was an American basketball player who spent the majority of his 14-year career in the National Basketball Association with the Golden State Warriors. He played the power forward positions. Thurmond was a seven-time All-Star and the first player in NBA history to record an official quadruple-double. In 1965, he grabbed 42 rebounds in a game. Thurmond was named both a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Known to fans as "Nate the Great", Thurmond has had his No. 42 jersey retired by both the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Thurmond started at Akron's Central High School, where he played alongside fellow future NBA star Gus Johnson. Passing up a scholarship offer from Ohio State to avoid becoming a backup to Jerry Lucas, a high school rival, Thurmond chose to play college basketball at Bowling Green. Thurmond led the Mid-American Conference in rebounds during all three of his varsity seasons, was named a first-team All-American by The Sporting News in 1963.
In Thurmond's last two years with Bowling Green, he helped lead the team into the NCAA Tournament and he set a school record with 31 rebounds in his final college game. Thurmond was drafted by the San Francisco Warriors in the 1963 NBA draft; as a rookie, he played a supporting role alongside Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain. Thurmond averaged 7 points and 10.4 rebounds in his first NBA season and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1964. After Chamberlain was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers during the next season, Thurmond blossomed into a productive starting center for the Warriors. Among his many accomplishments, Thurmond set a regular season record for rebounds in a quarter with 18, averaged 21.3 and 22.0 rebounds per game in the 1966–67 and 1967–68 seasons. Thurmond placed second to Chamberlain in the MVP balloting in the 1966–67 season, averaged over 20 points per game each season from 1967–68 through 1971–72, played in seven NBA All-Star Games as a member of the Warriors; however with the contributions of star teammates like Rick Barry, the Warriors were unable to win a championship with Thurmond at center.
They lost to Chamberlain's 76ers. Thurmond was acquired by the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Clifford Ray and $100,000 prior to the 1974–75 season on September 3, 1974; the Bulls had felt a need for one starting center rather than continue with a three-man rotation of Ray, Tom Boerwinkle and Dennis Awtrey. The Warriors added more fiscal stability. On October 18, 1974 against the Atlanta Hawks, in his debut as a Bull, he recorded 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 blocked shots, becoming the first player in NBA history to record a quadruple-double. Thirteen games into the 1975–76 season, Thurmond was traded along with Rowland Garrett to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Steve Patterson and Eric Fernsten on November 27, 1975. Thurmond's mobility on the court failed to mesh with an offense built for a more stationary center, resulting in diminished playing time on a team enduring a nine-game losing streak at the time of the deal. In Cleveland, the now 35-year-old Thurmond came off the bench for the injured Jim Chones to lead Cleveland's "Miracle at Richfield" team to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals before the Cavaliers lost to the Boston Celtics in 1976.
After retirement, Thurmond returned to San Francisco and opened a restaurant, Big Nate's BBQ. He sold the restaurant while living in San Francisco with his wife, Marci, he was given the title "Warriors Ambassador" by the Warriors organization. Thurmond died on July 16, 2016, nine days away from his 75th birthday, after a short battle with leukemia. First player in NBA history to record a quadruple-double in a game: Chicago Bulls vs. Atlanta Hawks, October 18, 1974 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, 12 blocked shots The game was Thurmond's debut with the Chicago Bulls. Alvin Robertson, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson are the only other players to achieve a quadruple-double. One of five players in NBA history to average at least 15 rebounds per game for his career: 15.0 Also done by Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Bob Pettit and Jerry LucasOne of five players in NBA history to average at least 20 rebounds per game during a season: 21.3, 22.0 Also achieved by Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Bob Pettit and Jerry LucasOne of four players in NBA history to record 40 or more rebounds in a game: 42, vs.
Detroit Pistons, November 9, 1965 Also achieved by Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry LucasNBA record for rebounds in a quarter: 18, at Baltimore Bullets, February 28, 1965 List of National Basketball Association career rebounding leaders List of National Basketball Association players with most rebounds in a game List of National Basketball Association players with most blocks in a game List of National Basketball Association top individual rebounding season averages Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Heisler, Mark. Giants: The 25 Greatest Centers of All Time. Chicago: Triumph Books. ISBN 1-57243-577-1. Hall of Fame profile NBA profile Career statistics and player information on Basketball-Reference.com
Akron, Ohio
Akron is the fifth-largest city in the U. S. is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about 30 miles south of Cleveland; as of the 2017 Census estimate, the city proper had a total population of 197,846, making it the 119th-largest city in the United States. The Greater Akron area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had an estimated population of 703,505; the city was founded in 1825 by Simon Perkins and Paul Williams, along the Little Cuyahoga River at the summit of the developing Ohio and Erie Canal. The name is derived from the Greek word signifying high point, it was renamed South Akron after Eliakim Crosby founded nearby North Akron in 1833, until both merged into an incorporated village in 1836. In the 1910s, Akron doubled in population. A long history of rubber and tire manufacturing, carried on today by Goodyear Tire, gave Akron the nickname "Rubber Capital of the World", it was once known as a center of airship development.
Today, its economy includes manufacturing, education and biomedical research. Notable historic events in Akron include the passage of the Akron School Law of 1847, which created the K–12 system. A racially diverse city, it has seen noted racial relations speeches by Sojourner Truth in 1851 — the Ain't I A Woman? Speech. Du Bois in 1920. In 1914, Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Akron. Episodes of major civil unrest in Akron have included the riot of 1900, rubber strike of 1936, the Wooster Avenue riots of 1968. In 1811, Paul Williams settled near the corner of what is now Broadway, he suggested to General Simon Perkins, surveyor of the Connecticut Land Company's Connecticut Western Reserve, that they found a town at the summit of the developing Ohio and Erie Canal. The name is adapted from meaning summit or high point, it was laid out in December 1825, where the south part of the downtown Akron neighborhood sits today. Irish laborers working on the Ohio Canal built about 100 cabins nearby.
After Eliakim Crosby founded "North Akron" in the northern portion of what is now downtown Akron in 1833, "South" was added to Akron's name until about three years when the two were merged and became an incorporated village in 1836. In 1840, Summit County formed from portions of Portage and Stark Counties. Akron replaced Cuyahoga Falls as its county seat a year and opened a canal connecting to Beaver, helping give birth to the stoneware, sewer pipe, fishing tackle, farming equipment industries. In 1844, abolitionist John Brown moved into the John Brown House across the street from business partner Colonel Simon Perkins, who lived in the Perkins Stone Mansion; the Akron School Law of 1847 founded the city's public schools and created the K–12 grade school system, used in every U. S. state. The city's first school is now a museum on Broadway Street near the corner of Exchange; when the Ohio Women's Rights Convention came to Akron in 1851, Sojourner Truth extemporaneously delivered her speech named "Ain't I A Woman?", at the Universalist Old Stone Church.
In 1870, a local businessman associated with the church, John R. Buchtel, founded Buchtel College, which became the University of Akron in 1913. Ferdinand Schumacher bought a mill in 1856, the following decade mass-produced oat bars for the Union Army during the American Civil War. Akron incorporated as a city in 1865. Philanthropist Lewis Miller, Walter Blythe, architect Jacob Snyder designed the used Akron Plan, debuting it on Akron's First Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872. Numerous Congregational and Presbyterian churches built between the 1870s and World War I use it. In 1883, a local journalist began the modern toy industry by founding the Akron Toy Company. A year the first popular toy was mass-produced clay marbles made by Samuel C. Dyke at his shop where Lock 3 Park is now. Other popular inventions include rubber balloons, dolls, baby buggy bumpers, little brown jugs. In 1895, the first long-distance electric railway, the Akron and Cleveland Railroad, began service. On August 25, 1889, the Boston Daily Globe referred to Akron with the nickname "Summit City".
To help local police, the city deployed the first police car in the U. S. that ran on electricity. The Riot of 1900 saw assaults on city officials, two deaths, the destruction by fire of Columbia Hall and the Downtown Fire Station; the American trucking industry was birthed through Akron's Rubber Capital of the World era when the four major tire companies Goodrich Corporation, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, General Tire were headquartered in the city. The numerous jobs the rubber factories provided for deaf people led to Akron being nicknamed the "Crossroads of the Deaf". On Easter Sunday 1913, 9.55 inches of rain fell, causing floods that killed five people and destroyed the Ohio and Erie Canal system. From 1916 to 1920, 10,000 schoolgirls took part in the successful Akron Experiment, testing iodized salt to prevent goiter in what was known as the "Goiter Belt"; the Akron & National Marble Tournament was created in 1923 by Roy W
Doyt Perry
Doyt L. Perry was an American football player and college athletics administrator, he served as head football coach at Bowling Green State University from 1955 to 1964, compiling a record of 77–11–5, became the athletic director for the university. During his tenure as coach, Perry led the Bowling Green Falcons to five Mid-American Conference titles and one small college national championship in 1959. One of the most successful coaches in school history, Perry was elected to College Football Hall of Fame in 1988; the team's football stadium, Doyt Perry Stadium, is named in his honor. Before coming to Bowling Green, Perry was a backfield coach at Ohio State University from 1951 to 1954, serving on the same staff as Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler, he coached the 1954 Buckeyes, who won a national championship. Perry was the head coach at Upper Arlington High School in Upper Arlington, Ohio in 1943 and from 1946 to 1950. Doyt Perry at the College Football Hall of Fame Doyt Perry: A Coach For Life, WBGU-PBS documentary
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as the sport's most complete library, in addition to promoting and preserving the history of basketball. Dedicated to Canadian-American physician and inventor of the sport James Naismith, it was opened and inducted its first class in 1959; as of the induction of the Class of 2018, the Hall has formally inducted 389 individuals. The Naismith Hall of Fame was established in 1959 by Lee Williams, a former athletic director at Colby College. In the 1960s, the Basketball Hall of Fame struggled to raise enough money for the construction of its first facility. However, during the following half-decade the necessary amount was raised, the building opened on Feb. 17, 1968, less than one month after the National Basketball Association played its 18th All-Star Game. The Basketball Hall of Fame's Board named four inductees in its first year.
In addition to honoring those who contributed to basketball, the Hall of Fame sought to make contributions of its own. In 1979, the Hall of Fame sponsored a pre-season college basketball exhibition; this Tip-Off Classic has been the start to the college basketball season since, although it does not always take place in Springfield, Massachusetts it returns every few years. In the 17 years that the original Basketball Hall of Fame operated at Springfield College, it drew more than 630,000 visitors; the popularity of the Basketball Hall of Fame necessitated that a new facility be constructed, in 1985, an $11 million facility was built beside the scenic Connecticut River in Springfield. As the new hall opened, it recognized women for the first time, with inductees such as Senda Berenson Abbott, who first introduced basketball to women at Smith College. During the years following its construction, the Basketball Hall of Fame's second facility drew far more visitors than anticipated, due in large part to the increasing popularity of the game but to the scenic location beside the river and the second Hall's interesting modern architecture.
In 2002, the Basketball Hall of Fame moved again—albeit 100 yards south along Springfield's riverfront—into a $47 million facility designed by renowned architects Gwathmey Siegel & Associates. The building's architecture features a metallic silver, basketball-shaped sphere flanked by two symmetrical rhombuses; the dome is illuminated at night and features 80,000 square foot, including numerous restaurants and an extensive gift shop. The second Basketball Hall of Fame was not torn down but rather converted into an LA Fitness health clubs; the current Basketball Hall of Fame features Center Court, a full-sized basketball court on which visitors can play. Inside the building there are a game gallery, many interactive exhibits, several theaters, an honor ring of inductees. A large theater for ceremonies seats up to 300; the honorees inducted in 2002 included the Harlem Globetrotters and Magic Johnson, a five-time NBA champion, three-time NBA finals MVP and Olympic gold medalist. As of 2011, the current Basketball Hall of Fame has exceeded attendance expectations, with basketball fans traveling to the Hall of Fame from all over the world.
Despite the new facility's success, a logistical problem remains for the Basketball Hall of Fame and the City of Springfield. The two entities are separated by the Interstate 91 elevated highway—one of the eastern United States' busiest highways—which inhibits foot-traffic and other interaction between the Basketball Hall of Fame and Springfield's lively Metro Center. Both the Hall and Springfield have made public statements about cooperating further so as to facilitate more business and recreational growth for both. Urban planners at universities such as UMass Amherst have called for the I-91 to be moved, or to be re-configured so as to be pedestrian-friendly to Hall of Fame visitors. In 2010, the Urban Land Institute announced a plan to make the walk between Springfield's Metro Center and the Hall of Fame easier. In contrast to the Pro Football and the National Baseball Halls of Fame, Springfield honors international and American professionals, as well as American and international amateurs, making it arguably the most comprehensive Hall of Fame among major sports.
From 2011 to 2015 seven committees were, as of 2016 six committees are employed to both screen and elect candidates. Four of the committees screen prospective candidates: North American Screening Committee Women's Screening Committee International Screening Committee Veterans Screening Committee, with "Veterans" defined as individuals whose careers ended at least 35 years before they are considered for election. Since 2011, the Veterans and International Committees vote to directly induct one candidate for each induction class. Three committees were formed in 2011 to directly elect one candidate for each induction class: American Basketball Association Committee - This committee was permanently disbanded in 2015 because it had fulfilled its purpose over the previous five years. Contributor Direct Election Committee Other committees may choose to elect contributors. For example, the 2014 class included two contributors. Early African-American Pioneers of the Game CommitteeIndividuals who receive at least seven votes from the North American Screening Committee or five votes from one of the other screening committees in a given year are eligible to advance to an Honors Committee, composed of 12 members plus rotating groups of 12 specialists (one group for
Bob Nichols
Robert J. Nichols was an American college basketball coach, he was known for his tenure as the head men’s coach for the University of Toledo. Nichols was born in Grand Haven and raised in Jackson, Michigan, he played college basketball for Toledo from 1950 to 1953. He was hired as head coach for Central Catholic High School in Toledo in 1956, in seven seasons as head coach compiled a record of 111–39, he entered the college coaching ranks, first as an assistant at Bowling Green, was hired as an assistant coach at his alma mater in 1964. Nichols was promoted to head coach, he coached Toledo for 22 seasons, compiling a record of 377 and 211. His teams won the 1980 MAC Tournament title. Nichols compiled twenty consecutive winning seasons, but resigned in 1987 after consecutive losing seasons. Nichols returned to coaching in 1989, where he first accepted the head coach position at Lake–Sumter Community College, but reversed course and accepted the head women’s job at Eckerd College. Nichols coached at Eckerd for five seasons, resigning to take care of his wife after she was in a serious car accident.
Nichols died in Toledo on March 30, 2013 at age 82. Coaching record @ sports-reference.com
Bill Orwig
James Wilfred "Bill" Orwig was an American football and basketball player and college athletics administrator. He played college college basketball at the University of Michigan, he served as the athletic director at the University of Toledo, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the Indiana University Bloomington. Raised in Toledo, Orwig was an all-state athlete in high school and went on to be an All-Big Ten Conference basketball player at Michigan, he received three varsity letters in one in football. After graduating from Michigan, Orwig was a successful high school football and basketball coach from 1931 to 1945 in Benton Harbor and Toledo, he helped develop an athletic program for the occupation forces in Germany and became the athletic director, football coach, basketball coach at the University of Toledo after World War II. From 1948 to 1951, Orwig was an assistant football coach at Michigan in charge of ends, participating in Michigan's 1948 national championship team and the 1950 team that won the Big Ten championship and the Rose Bowl.
He accepted a job as athletic director at the University of Nebraska in 1954 and remained there for seven years. In 1961, he was hired as athletic director at Indiana University and led the Hoosiers from a four-year NCAA probation to 37 Big Ten Conference championships and seven NCAA championships, he hired Bobby Knight as basketball coach at Indiana, has been inducted into the Halls of Fame at Indiana and Toledo. Born in Cleveland and raised in Toledo, Orwig won letters in football, basketball and swimming at Scott High School, won all-state honors in football and basketball, he played guard for the University of Michigan basketball team three years, from 1928 to 1930, helping the team win the Big Ten Conference championship in his junior year, 1928–29. He was picked as an All-Big Ten basketball player in 1930, he played at the end position for the Michigan football team in 1928. While at Michigan, he was a member of Phi Mu Delta fraternity and a member of the Michigauma society, he graduated from the School of Education in 1930.
From 1930 to 1931, Orwig was a graduate assistant working with Michigan's freshman football team, tutoring freshman player and future U. S. President Gerald R. Ford. In May 1931, Orwig succeeded Wally Weber as head football coach at Benton Harbor High School in Benton Harbor, Michigan. In five years at Benton Harbor, the football team won 75% of its games, including a 4–0–1 record against rival St. Joseph High School. Orwig coached the basketball and tennis teams, in 1934, he led the first Benton Harbor basketball team to win a regional championship, he coached Earl Brown at Benton Harbor, who went on to be an All-American at Notre Dame. In 1936, he moved back to his hometown, Toledo, to be the basketball and football coach at Libbey High School. At Libbey, Orwig's teams won six city basketball crowns, he worked with the U. S. State Department during World War II, helping to set up an athletic program for the occupation forces in Germany. Orwig was hired in 1946 as the athletic director at the University of Toledo, where he helped reinstate the athletic programs after the end of World War II.
He was the Toledo Rockets football coach, leading the team to a 15–4–2 record and an Ohio Conference title. In one season as Toledo's basketball coach, he led the team to a 19–6 record, he returned to Michigan in 1948 as an assistant football coach under Bennie Oosterbaan, was one of the coaches on Michigan's undefeated 1948 national championship team, its 1950 Rose Bowl championship team. He remained as an assistant football coach at Michigan from 1948-1953; as the ends coach at Michigan, Orwig helped develop Dick Rifenberg, Lowell Perry, Harry Allis, Ozzie Clark. In March 1954, Orwig signed a three-year contract as the athletic director at the University of Nebraska for $12,600 a year, he remained at Nebraska until 1961, during his tenure the Corhuskers started to emerge into national prominence. Orwig was responsible during his seven years at Nebraska for creating the Touchdown Club, the Extra Point Club and the Husker Athletic Achievement Awards. However, the football team did not fare well during Orwig's time there, as the football program went through three coaches, had a 27–44 record.
Orwig was the athletic director who hired Pete Elliott as the football coach at Nebraska in 1956. Elliott recalled, "I thought the world of him. I thought he was a great guy." In 1961, Orwig quit his position at Nebraska to accept the athletic director job at Indiana. At the time, Orwig said: "The decision to accept the Indiana University position as Director of Athletics was a most difficult one.... The people of Nebraska and the University have been most kind to me over the past 7 years, their understanding of our problems, their excellent help and their friendship have been heartwarming.... I leave Nebraska with the greatest admiration for its administrative staff, its teaching staff, its increasing educational strength.... My thanks go out to all my friends throughout the state and best wishes and hopes to the Cornhuskers for many victories in the years to come." Football coach Bill Jennings said, "I'm sorry to see Bill leave and I'm sure everybody who has worked with him does. He's done a fine job.
Nebraska's loss is Indiana's gain." Orwig was the athletic director at Indiana University from 1961 to 1975. He took over as athletic director in February 1961, ten months into a four-year NC
Jim Larrañaga
James Joseph Larrañaga is an American college basketball coach and the head men's basketball coach of the University of Miami, a position he has held since 2011. He served as the head men's basketball coach at American International College from 1977 to 1979, Bowling Green State University from 1986 to 1997, George Mason University from 1997 to 2011, where he coached the Patriots to 13 consecutive winning seasons and became a media sensation during the Patriots' improbable run to the Final Four of the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. Larrañaga won several national coach of the year awards in 2013 and has won over 600 games as a head coach. Growing up in the Bronx, one of six children, Larrañaga attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, where he starred on the basketball varsity under coach Jack Curran, graduating in 1967, he went on to play basketball at Providence College. He was the basketball team captain as a senior, 1970–71, leading Providence College to a 20–8 record and an NIT appearance.
He graduated as the school's fifth all-time leading scorer with 1,258 points and was the team's top scorer as a sophomore and junior, being named New England's Division I Sophomore of the Year in 1969. He graduated from Providence in 1971 with an economics degree, was selected in the sixth round of the 1971 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons, he never sought an NBA career. Jim's grandfather was born in Cuba of Basque parents, was part of the Por Larrañaga cigar company in that country, he is the father of NBA Assistant Coach Jay Larrañaga. After graduating from Providence, Larrañaga took a job as an assistant to Terry Holland at Davidson College serving as the freshman team coach. In his five years under Holland, Davidson won three regular-season Southern Conference titles and reached the NIT once, he amassed a 47–12 record as freshman coach. In 1976, he moved to Belgium in order to serve as player-coach for a professional club, but only stayed there for one season, he returned to the U. S. in 1977 for his first head coaching job at American International College, a Division II program which had losing records in the previous five years.
In two years at AIC, his teams had a 28–25 record, including a win against Northeastern University, coached by Jim Calhoun at that time. In 1979, he was reunited with his former Davidson mentor Holland, who by now had become the head coach at the University of Virginia. Larrañaga became an assistant at a program that had begun to emerge as a power in the ACC, arriving at the same time as touted freshman Ralph Sampson. In seven seasons at Virginia, Larrañaga was on the bench for an NIT title in 1980 and NCAA Final Four berths in 1981 and 1984. In 1986, Larrañaga left Virginia for the head coaching job at Bowling Green State University. In his first season there, the Falcons improved by eight games over the 1985–86 season, finishing 15–14, he went on to record a 170–144 record in 11 years there, was only the second coach in Bowling Green history to take the Falcons to postseason play in consecutive years. During his tenure at Bowling Green the Falcons defeated the perennial national powers Kentucky, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Purdue.
In his final season at Bowling Green, he led the Falcons to a regular-season co-championship in the Mid-American Conference and another NIT berth, was named the conference's Coach of the Year. He is still the second-winningest coach in school history, as well as one of the winningest coaches in the Mid-American Conference. One notable NBA player who played for Larrañaga was guard Antonio Daniels, selected fourth overall in the 1997 draft. Larrañaga arrived at George Mason in 1997, his first team only went 9 -- 18. In the 1998–99 season, the Patriots went 19–11, won the school's first Colonial Athletic Association regular-season title in history, won the conference tournament to advance to the NCAA tournament; the Patriots would again go to the NCAA tournament in 2001 and two NITs in 2002 and 2004. The 2004 team was notable as Mason's first 20-win team in 14 years, won consecutive postseason games for the first time in school history; the 2004–05 team, with three junior starters but dominated by freshmen and sophomores, went 16–13.
However, these players would prove themselves the following season. The Patriots entered the 2005–06 season as a strong contender for the CAA title, they entered the conference tournament 22–6, finishing in a tie for the regular-season title with UNC Wilmington. Near the end of the regular season, they were ranked in the Top 25 in the ESPN/USA Today poll, the school's first ranking and were on the brink of making it to the Associated Press poll, they narrowly lost to Wake Forest and Mississippi State, survived a tough match at Wichita State in the ESPN-sponsored BracketBusters event. However, from Mason's perspective, the CAA tournament would not live up to their expectations; the Patriots survived an overtime scare in the quarterfinals from Georgia State, lost to Hofstra in the semifinals. During that match, starting guard Tony Skinn hit a Hofstra player below the belt, earning a one-game suspension for his action. Many observers considered Mason to be "on the bubble" for an NCAA bid. However, the committee put the Patriots in the field, making them the first at-large team from the CAA in 20 years.
Some co
