George Yardley

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For the Scottish footballer, see George Yardley (footballer).

George Yardley
Syracuse Nationals
1961–1962Los Angeles Jets
Career highlights and awards
Career statistics
Points
9,063 (19.2 ppg)
Rebounds4,220 (8.9 rpg)
Assists815 (1.7 apg)
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Basketball Hall of Fame as player
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2006

George Harry Yardley III (November 3, 1928 – August 12, 2004) was an American basketball player. He was the first player in NBA history to score 2,000 points in one season, breaking the 1,932-point record held by George Mikan. Yardley was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996.

Early life

A two-time All-American at

Fort Wayne Pistons
in 1950.

NBA career

At 6'5", Yardley was a good-sized forward in 1950s basketball and was described as "an offensive-minded player with a knack for scoring" in his Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame biography.[1]

Described as a "flamboyant"

Fort Wayne Pistons to two NBA Finals before the team moved to Detroit
in 1957. In '57–58, the Pistons' first year in Detroit, Yardley led the league in scoring, averaging 27.8 points per game, and tallied 2001 points, just enough to make him the first NBA player to score 2000 points in a season. That year, Yardley also set NBA records for most free throws attempted (808) and most free throws made (655), and was named to the All-NBA First Team for the only time in his career.

On February 13, 1959, Yardley was traded to the

American Basketball League
with the Los Angeles Jets in 1961–62.

Post-basketball career

Making use of his engineering degree from Stanford, Yardley started his own engineering company in California following his retirement from the NBA. In 1996, Yardley was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player.

In a tribute to Yardley posted after his death, Pete Newell later said "George Yardley embodies what the Hall of Fame is all about. A marvelous athlete who made full use of his natural talents, a demeanor on the court a coach admires, and a life off the court and after his basketball career ended that has been very successful."[4]

Yardley died of

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig
's disease, at the age of 75.

NBA career statistics

Legend
  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
 *  Led the league

Regular season

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1953–54 Fort Wayne 63 23.6 .425 .712 6.5 1.6 9.0
1954–55 Fort Wayne 60 35.8 .418 .745 9.9 2.1 17.3
1955–56 Fort Wayne 71 33.1 .407 .742 9.7 2.2 17.4
1956–57 Fort Wayne 72 37.4 .410 .787 10.5 2.0 21.5
1957–58 Detroit 72 39.5 .414 .811 10.7 1.3 27.8*
1958–59 Detroit 46 30.8 .415 .816 7.1 0.9 20.8
1958–59 Syracuse 15 28.0 .482 .648 6.9 1.7 16.7
1959–60 Syracuse 73 32.9 .453 .816 7.9 1.7 20.2
Career 472 33.4 .422 .780 8.9 1.7 19.2
All-Star 6 21.8 .433 .706 5.8 0.7 10.7

Playoffs

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1954
 Fort Wayne 4 26.8 .485 .833 6.0 0.8 10.5
1955
 Fort Wayne 11 38.2 .399 .759 9.0 3.3 15.8
1956
 Fort Wayne 10 40.6 .421 .776 13.9 2.6 23.0
1957
 Fort Wayne 2 42.5 .453 .818 9.5 4.0 28.5
1958
 Detroit 7 36.3 .409 .896 10.3 2.4 23.4
1959
 Syracuse 9 37.0 .439 .857 9.7 2.3 25.1
1960
 Syracuse 3 29.3 .385 .833 5.7 0.3 13.3
Career 46 36.8 .422 .817 9.9 2.4 20.3

References

  1. ^ a b c "The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame - Hall of Famers". Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved April 24, 2011.
  2. ^ [1] Archived October 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ George Yardley Trasactions
  4. ^ [2] Archived October 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Yardley&oldid=1220110138"