Elgin Baylor biography
Elgin Baylor, (born September 16, 1934, Washington, D.C., U.S.), American skilled basketball participant who's thought to be one of many recreation’s biggest forwards. His sleek fashion enabled him to attain and rebound with seeming ease.
Baylor, 6 ft 5 inches (1.96 metres) tall, was an All-American (1958) at Seattle University, the place he performed from 1955 to 1958, guiding the crew to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship event finals in 1958. He was chosen with the primary general choose of the 1958 National Basketball Association (NBA) draft by the Minneapolis Lakers (which relocated to Los Angeles in 1960) and earned Rookie of the Year honours in his preliminary season with the Lakers. During his 14-year profession he averaged 27.4 factors per recreation, with a 38.2 common within the 1961–62 season—a feat made much more spectacular by the truth that, as a U.S. Army reservist, Baylor performed solely on weekends and didn't observe with the Lakers that season. His 71 factors in a 1960 recreation was an NBA file till it was damaged by Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 (1962). Baylor set the single-game scoring file for the NBA finals when he tallied 61 factors towards the Boston Celtics in recreation 5 of the 1962 finals. Though he performed with a few of the most interesting gamers in Laker franchise historical past, together with Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and Gail Goodrich, he by no means received an NBA championship. He was named to the All-NBA first crew 10 instances, and he retired because the NBA’s third-leading all-time rebounder with a profession complete of 11,463. Baylor was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1976 and was named one of many NBA’s 50 biggest gamers of all time in 1996.
After his enjoying profession ended, Baylor coached the New Orleans Jazz (1974–79). In 1986 he was named vice chairman of basketball operations for the Los Angeles Clippers. Despite being named Executive of the Year in 2006, his tenure managing the Clippers was marked by largely dropping seasons and clashes with crew possession, and he resigned from his place in 2008.