Darryl Pearce
Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Adelaide, South Australia | 15 October 1960
Nationality | Australian |
Listed height | 191 cm (6 ft 3 in) |
Listed weight | 87 kg (192 lb) |
Career information | |
Playing career | 1982–1995 |
Position | Shooting guard |
Number | 6, 4 |
Career history | |
1982–1991 | Adelaide 36ers |
1992–1995 | North Melbourne Giants |
Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Darryl "The Iceman" Pearce (born 15 October 1960) is an Australian former professional basketball player. He played in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL) for the Adelaide 36ers from 1982 to 1991 before playing four seasons (1992–1995) with the North Melbourne Giants. A 6'3" (191 cm) Shooting guard, Pearce is regarded as one of the best ever Three-point field goal shooters in NBL history having shot at 41.9% from beyond the arc during his 374-game career.
Career
Adelaide 36ers
Darryl Pearce was born in
The club changed its name to the Adelaide 36ers from the
Following the 1984 season, Adelaide's "other" team, the
Former
Statistically Darryl Pearce enjoyed his best ever NBL season in 1985, averaging 22.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists. With Green and Pearce, the 36ers had what many believed to be the league's best guard combination despite both being natural shooting guards. Cole successfully chose to leave Pearce at SG (primarily due to his better outside shooting) and move Green to play Point guard. Green jokingly later told that he "hated" Pearce for being forced to play the point, but added seriously that he would play alongside him any day because he is "a true winner".
Pearce and the 36ers won their first NBL championship in 1986, defeating the Brisbane Bullets 2–1 in the NBL's first ever three game Grand Final series. The Iceman averaged 19.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists for the season while averaging 23.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists in the GF series.
While Adelaide, now under the coaching of Gary Fox, was still at the top of the league in 1987 and 1988, they were unable to progress past the Semi-finals in both seasons. Pearce averaged 20.6 points in both seasons. In Round 2 of the 1988 season against the Ken Cole coached Newcastle Falcons in Newcastle, Pearce set two Adelaide 36ers records that still stand as of the 2014–15 NBL season. He set the 36ers single game scoring record with 48 points and also set the record for most three-pointers made when he hit 11/14 from outside the arc with only Brett Maher able to match his 3-point record when he hit 11/12 in a game against Brisbane in 1996.
The team slipped to 6th place in
The club was back in the Semi-finals in 1991, but once again fell short, losing the Semis to defending champions the Perth Wildcats. 1991 would prove to be Darryl Pearce's last as a 36ers player and before the 1992 NBL season he was released by the club and would join the North Melbourne Giants.
Darryl Pearce played 258 NBL games for the Adelaide 36ers.
North Melbourne Giants
Pearce joined North Melbourne for the 1992 season, with his first game for the club being against Adelaide at the 36ers new home, the 8,000 seat
After being eliminated in the 1993 Quarter finals by the Perth Wildcats, the Giants bounced back in 1994 to win their second NBL championship after defeating Pearce's former club Adelaide 2–0 in the Grand Final series.
Darryl Pearce's last season in the NBL came in 1995. He announced his retirement after the Giants lost the Grand Final series to the Wildcats.
International
Darryl Pearce played numerous games for the
Accolades
Darryl Pearce was inducted into the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.
On 14 November 2015, the Adelaide 36ers will formally retire the No. 4 worn by Darryl Pearce as well as the No. 15 of his long time guard partner Al Green. The numbers will join the No. 5 of
Current
As of 2016, Pearce lives in Melbourne where he works as a financial planner.[3]
Honour roll
NBL career: | 1982–1995 |
NBL Grand Final appearances: | 4 (1985, 1986, 1994, 1995) |
NBL Championships: | 2 (1986, 1994) |
NBL Finals appearances: | 11 (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995) |
NBL All Star Game: | 1 (1990) |
NBL career stats
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
† | Denotes season(s) in which Pearce won an NBL championship |
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1982 | Adelaide City Eagles | 26 | 26 | NA | .514 | NA | .761 | 2.7 | 2.0 | NA | NA | 15.6 |
1983 | Adelaide 36ers | 22 | 22 | NA | .516 | NA | .750 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 15.8 |
1984 | Adelaide 36ers | 24 | 24 | NA | .469 | .440 | .809 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 26.0 |
1985 | Adelaide 36ers | 28 | 28 | NA | .443 | .454 | .761 | 2.9 | 4.6 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 22.8 |
1986† | Adelaide 36ers | 29 | 29 | NA | .410 | .388 | .828 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 19.3 |
1987 | Adelaide 36ers | 21 | 21 | 33.3 | .485 | .444 | .757 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 20.6 |
1988 | Adelaide 36ers | 26 | 26 | 37.4 | .457 | .411 | .833 | 2.5 | 4.9 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 20.6 |
1989 | Adelaide 36ers | 27 | 27 | 35.8 | .409 | .344 | .893 | 2.5 | 4.2 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 15.2 |
1990 | Adelaide 36ers | 26 | 26 | 33.9 | .434 | .447 | .841 | 2.5 | 5.4 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 16.9 |
1991 | Adelaide 36ers | 29 | 29 | 24.8 | .455 | .446 | .836 | 1.5 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 16.0 |
1992 | North Melbourne Giants | 28 | NA | 20.3 | .437 | .366 | .852 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 8.6 |
1993 | North Melbourne Giants | 29 | NA | 30.6 | .412 | .402 | .655 | 2.1 | 3.7 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 11.6 |
1994† | North Melbourne Giants | 30 | NA | 15.4 | .464 | .441 | .692 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 8.0 |
1995 | North Melbourne Giants | 29 | NA | 12.3 | .435 | .433 | .667 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 5.7 |
Career | 374 | NA | NA | .453 | .419 | .797 | 2.1 | 3.2 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 15.6 |