George Raveling

George Raveling
Sport(s) Basketball
Biographical details
Born (1937-06-27) June 27, 1937
Washington, D.C.
Playing career
1957–1960 Villanova
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1963–1969 Villanova (asst)
1969–1972 Maryland (asst)
1972–1983 Washington State
1983–1986 Iowa
1986–1994 USC
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
6 teams in NCAA Tournament 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1991, 1992
2 teams in National Invitation Tournament 1993, 1994
Awards
3× Pac-10 Coach of the Year (1976, 1983, 1992)
John Bunn Award (2013)
Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2015
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2013
Medal record
Assistant Coach for  United States
men's national basketball team
Olympic Games
1984 Los Angeles Team
1988 Seoul Team

George Henry Raveling (born June 27, 1937) is Nike's Global Basketball Sports Marketing Director. He is a former college men's basketball player, coach and FOX Sports Net color commentator. He played collegiate basketball for Villanova University. Later, he became the head coach at Washington State University (1972–1983), the University of Iowa (1983–1986), and the University of Southern California (1987–1994).

The Washington, D.C. native attended St. Michael's High School in Hoban Heights, Pennsylvania, and was an assistant coach at his alma mater Villanova, and at Maryland.[1]

In 2013, he received the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame,[2] On February 14, 2015 it was announced that George Raveling would be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame when he selected for direct election by the Contributor Direct Election Committee.[3]

On August 28, 1963, as Martin Luther King Jr. waved goodbye to an audience of over 200,000 "March on Washington" participants, he handed Raveling the original typewritten "I Have a Dream" speech.[4] Raveling, who was on the podium with King at that moment,[5] still has custody of the original copy.[6][7] Raveling had a rivalry with Sonny Vaccaro over summer high school basketball.[8]

College basketball coach

Washington State University

Hired after the 1971–72 season,[1] Raveling guided the Washington State men's basketball team from 1972–1983 with two NCAA tournament appearances during his 11 years. The first appearance was in 1980 and marked the first time WSU was included in the NCAA bracket since finishing second in 1941. Three years later Raveling returned WSU to the NCAA tournament. Raveling was one of the winningest coaches in Washington State basketball history, finishing his WSU career with 167 wins, 136 losses, and seven winning seasons, including five straight from the 1975–76 campaign through the 1980 season.

While at Washington State, Raveling was an assistant coach for the USA team at the 1979 Pan American Games and the West Regional coach at the 1979 U.S. Olympic Sports Festival. He also was an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1980.

Among his outstanding players were James Donaldson, Craig Ehlo, Don Collins, Bryan Rison and Steve Harriel, who all earned All-Pacific-10 Conference first team honors. Donaldson went on to play in the NBA for 14 years and was on the 1988 NBA All-star team. Collins went on to play in both the NBA and CBA after setting the WSU record for career steels and finishing third in scoring. Ehlo was selected in the third round of the 1983 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets. He played 14 NBA seasons with four teams, amassing respectable career totals of 7,492 points, 2,456 assists and 3,139 rebounds.

Raveling was the UPI Pac-8 Coach of the Year winner in 1976, and was the league's coach of the year winner in 1976 and 1983. Coach Raveling was honored by WSU with his induction into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor.

University of Iowa

Raveling replaced Lute Olson as head coach at the University of Iowa in 1983,[9] guiding the Hawkeyes to consecutive 20-win seasons and NCAA tournament berths in 1985 and 1986. In 1984, he served as the assistant coach for the USA Olympic men's basketball team. Bob Knight served as the head coach, and Steve Alford and Michael Jordan were guards on that team. Shooting 63.9 percent from the floor, the US team captured the ninth Olympic title with a convincing 96–65 victory over Spain in the gold medal game. During his 4-year tenure at Iowa, Raveling is probably best known for his recruits and outstanding players, including B.J. Armstrong, Kevin Gamble, Ed Horton, Roy Marble and Greg Stokes, all of whom went on to play in the NBA.

University of Southern California

In March 1986, he returned to the Pac-10 as head coach for the University of Southern California (USC).[10]

Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble were recruited to USC by Head Coach Stan Morrison and his top assistant, David Spencer. They were joined by high school All-American, Tom Lewis, and Rich Grande as the "Four Freshmen" star recruiting class.[11][12] Following an 11–17 season coaching USC, Morrison and Spencer were fired after the 1985–86 season was over, despite winning the Pac-10 the previous year. It was reported that the players would not remain unless certain conditions were met, including having a say in the next coaching staff.[11] USC hired Raveling as the next head coach of the Trojans.[13] Raveling gave the players a deadline to respond whether they would remain on the team. When they did not respond, he revoked the scholarships of Gathers, Kimble, and Lewis.[14] Raveling's controversial[15] statement was, "You can't let the Indians run the reservation," he said. "You've got to be strong, too. Sometimes you have to tell them that they have to exit."[11] Kimble and Gathers transferred together from USC to Loyola Marymount. Lewis transferred to Pepperdine. Grande remained at USC.

During Raveling's career at USC, the Trojans advanced to the NCAA tournament in 1991 and 1992 and competed in the NIT in 1993 and 1994.

Raveling was named Kodak National Coach of the Year (1992), Basketball Weekly Coach of the Year (1992), Black Coaches Association Coach of the Year (1992) and CBS/Chevrolet National Coach of the Year (1994).

Car accident and retirement from coaching

On the morning of September 25, 1994 his Jeep was blindsided in a two-car collision. He was seriously injured suffering nine broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and clavicle and a collapsed lung.[16] He was in intensive care due to bleeding in his chest cavity for two weeks.[17] Citing the automobile accident and planned lengthy rehabilitation, he retired as head coach of USC at the age of 57 on November 15.[18]

Raveling has worked as the Director for International Basketball for Nike[19] since his retirement from USC, and has authored two books on rebounding drills, War on the Boards and A Rebounder's Workshop. He has served as a color commentator for CBS Sports and FOX Sports Net, often drawing assignments for Pac-10 conference games.

Head coaching record

Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Washington State Cougars (Pacific-8/Pacific-10 Conference) (1972–1983)
1972–73 Washington State 6–20 2–12 8th
1973–74 Washington State 8–21 3–11 T7th
1974–75 Washington State 10–16 1–13 8th
1975–76 Washington State 19–7 9–5 4th
1976–77 Washington State 19–8 8–6 T–3rd
1977–78 Washington State 16–11 7–7 T–3rd
1978–79 Washington State 18–9 10–8 T–4th
1979–80 Washington State 22–6 14–4 3rd NCAA First Round
1980–81 Washington State 10–17 3–15 10th
1981–82 Washington State 16–14 10–8 5th
1982–83 Washington State 23–7 14–4 3rd NCAA Second Round
Washington State: 167–136 76–66
Iowa Hawkeyes (Big Ten Conference) (1984–1986)
1983–84 Iowa 13–15 6–12 T–7th
1984–85 Iowa 21–11 10–8 5th NCAA First Round
1985–86 Iowa 20–12 10–8 6th NCAA First Round
Iowa: 55–38 26–28
USC Trojans (Pacific-10 Conference) (1987–1994)
1986–87 USC 9–19 4–14 10th
1987–88 USC 7–21 5–13 T–8th
1988–89 USC 10–22 2–16 10th
1989–90 USC 12–16 6–12 T–7th
1990–91 USC 19–10 10–8 T–3rd NCAA First Round
1991–92 USC 24–6 15–3 2nd NCAA Second Round
1992–93 USC 18–12 9–9 T–5th NIT Quarterfinals
1993–94 USC 16–12 9–9 7th NIT First Round
USC: 115–118 56–70
Total: 337–292 (.536)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

  1. 1 2 "Raveling takes over new post". The Dispatch. Lexington, North Carolina. UPI. April 12, 1972. p. 15.
  2. ↑ Legendary Coach George Raveling To Receive Basketball Hall of Fame's 2013 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award February 15, 2013
  3. ↑ Great basketball Coach, Lifetime contributor George Raveling to enter Hall of Fame in Class of 2015
  4. ↑ Xavier L. Suarez (27 October 2011). Democracy in America: 2010. AuthorHouse. pp. 10–. ISBN 978-1-4567-6056-4. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  5. ↑ Karen Price Hossell (5 December 2005). I Have a Dream. Heinemann-Raintree Library. pp. 34–. ISBN 978-1-4034-6811-6. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  6. ↑ Weir, Tom George Raveling owns MLK's 'I have a dream' speech. USA Today, February 27, 2009
  7. ↑ Brinkley, Douglas (2003-08-28). "Guardian of The Dream". Time.com. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
  8. ↑ http://espn.go.com/magazine/vol5no23vaccaro.html
  9. ↑ Devlin, Vince (February 12, 1984). "Iowa: Nothing is un-Raveling - yet". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. D1.
  10. ↑ USC Trojans Men's Basketball media guide. Online copy available at www.usctrojans.com
  11. 1 2 3 Harvey, Randy – Un-Raveling at USC: A Failure to Communicate. Los Angeles Times, May 13, 1986
  12. ↑ Florence, Mal -Freshmen Make Sweet Music in USC Victory. Los Angeles Times, January 18, 1986. The young players—Hank Gathers, Tom Lewis, Bo Kimble and Rich Grande—all contributed Saturday afternoon as USC beat Arizona State, 81–72, at the Sports Arena.
  13. ↑ Fleischman, Bill-Raveling Leaves Iowa To Take Reins At USC. Philadelphia Daily News, March 28, 1986
  14. ↑ Florence, Mal Taken From 3 USC Freshmen : Lewis, Gathers and Kimble Receive Word From Raveling. Los Angeles Times, April 15, 1986
  15. ↑ Sands, Vernon -At Least, If Raveling Gives a Hoot, Then So Does His USC Team. Los Angeles Times, April 5, 1986
  16. ↑ Sandomir, Richard. "1994 automobile accident". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
  17. ↑ SPORTS PEOPLE: BASKETBALL; Raveling Is 'Stable' New York Times, September 27, 1994
  18. ↑ Friend, Tom BASKETBALL; Raveling Resigns as Coach Of U.S.C., Citing Accident New York Times November 15, 1994
  19. ↑ Procopio, Mike (2013-08-22). "About | Coaching for Success | The Official Website of George Raveling". CoachGeorgeRaveling.com. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
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