Clyde Lovellette
(1929-2016)
Hall of Fame Induction: 1988
Card Shown:
2007-08 Upper Deck
Chronology
Position: C
Height: 6’9″
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Clyde Lovellette was a basketball player who had success at all levels of play. He is one of only a few players ever to have won an NCAA championship, an Olympic gold medal, and an NBA championship. Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan are other members of this exclusive club.
Clyde was one of the first big men to spread the floor, utilizing his effective one-handed set shot to draw opposing centers away from the basket. He was an effective rebounder, an intimidating defender, and a passer who could throw accurate outlet passes to initiate the break.
Awards and Honors
- Although Lovellette starred in high school in Indiana, he chose to go to the University of Kansas and play under legendary coach Phog Allen. Clyde led the Jayhawks to an NCAA championship in 1952, defeating St. John’s 80-63 in the title game.
- Also in 1952, Lovellette led America to the gold medal at the Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Team USA, which also included Bob Kurland, defeated the Soviet Union in the final game to finish 8-0 in the competition.
- Clyde won his first NBA championship with the Minneapolis Lakers in 1954. He contributed to the Lakers dynasty that included George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Vern Mikkelsen, and Slater Martin.
- Lovellette won two more NBA championships in 1963 and 1964, playing with Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, Tom Heinsohn, Bob Cousy, and Frank Ramsey. These were the last two years that Clyde played in the NBA.
- Clyde was a four-time NBA All-Star during an eleven-year career spent playing for the Lakers, Cincinnati Royals, St. Louis Hawks, and Celtics.
Points of Interest
- Clyde led the nation in scoring (28.4 ppg) in 1951-52 at Kansas, becoming the first player to accomplish this feat and win the national championship in the same year.
- At 245 pounds, Lovellette’s size was an anomaly during his career. It earned him nicknames like the Monster, the Beast, the Towering Terror and the Whale.
- Clyde’s coach at Kansas, Phog Allen, had learned the game directly from the inventor of basketball, Dr. James Naismith. One of his teammates at Kansas was Dean Smith, who would go on to become a legendary coach at North Carolina.
- After retiring from professional basketball, Lovellette worked as a sportscaster, cattle rancher, county sheriff, country club manager, teacher, and counselor for troubled youth before his retirement in 1995.
- Clyde had a reputation as a tough and mean player on the court. It reached a point where Wilt Chamberlain, tired on his antics, once decked him in a game and wasn’t even ejected.
Statistics
Clyde Lovellette Statistics
provided by Basketball-Reference.com