Thurl Bailey

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Thurl Bailey
Bailey, circa 1988
Personal information
Born (1961-04-07) April 7, 1961 (age 63)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Listed height6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight247 lb (112 kg)
Career information
High schoolBladensburg
(Bladensburg, Maryland)
CollegeNC State (1979–1983)
NBA draft1983: 1st round, 7th overall pick
Selected by the Utah Jazz
Playing career1983–1999
PositionPower forward / center
Number41
Career history
1983–1991Utah Jazz
1991–1994Minnesota Timberwolves
1994–1995Panionios
1995–1997Polti Cantù
1997–1998Olimpia Stefanel Milano
1999Utah Jazz
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points
11,834 (12.8 ppg)
Rebounds4,718 (5.1 rpg)
Blocks1,086 (1.2 bpg)
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com

Thurl Lee Bailey (born April 7, 1961) is an American former professional

inspirational speaker
, singer, songwriter, and film actor. Bailey garnered the nickname "Big T" during his basketball career.

Basketball career

Bailey attended

1983 NCAA Championship. That year, under head coach Jim Valvano, he led the Wolfpack in both scoring and rebounding. The Utah Jazz selected him as the 7th pick of the 1983 NBA draft. Jazz management reported that he was selected for the quality of his character, as well as the quality of his game. This was the beginning of 16 years of playing professional basketball, with 12 of those years in the NBA. Bailey’s career-high points game came on March 14, 1988, when he scored 41 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in a 116-115 win over the Denver Nuggets.[1]

Bailey was a starter with the Jazz for most of his first two seasons, but with the drafting of Karl Malone, Jazz coach Frank Layden made Bailey one of the first options off the bench. As a result, Bailey had his two finest NBA seasons in 1987–88 (19.6 ppg, played in all 82 games and started 10 times) and 1988–89 (19.5 ppg, 82 games, 3 starts). Both seasons saw him finish second in Sixth Man of the Year voting. During Bailey’s Utah tenure, he played in 665 games, missing only 4 games he was eligible to play in.[2]

On November 25, 1991, he was traded by the Jazz along with a 1992 second-round draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for

Italian League for Polti Cantù in 1995–97 and Stefanel Milano in 1997–98,[3] before returning to the Jazz as a free agent
on January 21, 1999. He retired after the end of the 1998–99 season.

Career after the NBA

Bailey is a

public speaker, a broadcast analyst for the Utah Jazz and the University of Utah, an actor, and a singer/songwriter.[4]
Bailey's albums include Faith In Your Heart (1998), The Gift of Christmas (2001), and I'm Not the Same (2002).

Bailey is chairman of Big T Productions, Fertile Earth (which has a patent pending on a fertilizer that works through irrigation sprinkler systems), and FourLeaf Films.[5]

He works with various charities, including

Make-A-Wish, D.A.R.E., and the Happy Factory.[5]

Coaching career

Bailey continues to coach in the Salt Lake City area using the private coaching service, CoachUp.[6]

Politics

Bailey gave the opening prayer at the 2008 Republican National Convention.[7][8]

Personal life

Bailey was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in a high-crime neighborhood of Capitol Heights, Maryland bordering D.C.[5]

Bailey is the father of six children. He has a daughter, Chonell, with his high school sweetheart and two sons, Thurl, Jr., and TeVaun from his first marriage. Bailey and his wife, Sindi (

née Southwick), live in Highland, Utah
with their three children BreElle, Brendan, and Bryson. His son Brendan played basketball at Marquette.

Religion

Bailey was raised

Baptist.[9] While playing basketball in Italy, Bailey decided to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was baptized on December 17, 1997.[7]

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

NBA

Source[10]

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1983–84 Utah 81 54 24.8 .512 – .752 5.7 1.6 .5 1.5 8.5
1984–85 Utah 80 68 31.0 .490 1.000 .842 6.6 1.7 .6 1.2 15.2
1985–86 Utah 82 13 28.8 .448 .000 .830 6.0 1.9 .5 1.4 14.6
1986–87 Utah 81 2 26.6 .447 .000 .805 5.3 1.3 .5 1.1 13.8
1987–88 Utah 82 10 34.2 .492 .333 .826 6.5 1.9 .6 1.5 19.6
1988–89 Utah 82* 3 33.9 .483 .400 .825 5.5 1.7 .6 1.1 19.5
1989–90 Utah 82* 33 31.5 .481 .000 .779 5.0 1.7 .4 1.2 14.2
1990–91 Utah 82* 22 30.3 .458 .000 .808 5.0 1.5 .6 1.1 12.4
1991–92 Utah 13* 0 25.2 .386 .000 .800 6.0 1.5 .4 1.2 9.4
Minnesota 71* 18 25.0 .448 .000 .795 5.7 .8 .4 1.4 11.7
1992–93 Minnesota 70 3 18.2 .455 – .838 3.1 .9 .3 .7 7.5
1993–94 Minnesota 79 3 16.4 .510 – .799 2.7 .7 .3 .7 7.4
1998–99 Utah 43 0 12.6 .446 .000 .735 2.2 .6 .2 .7 4.2
Career 928 229 26.8 .473 .114 .812 5.1 1.4 .5 1.2 12.8

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1984 Utah 11 30.9 .515 .000 .810 5.5 .9 .2 1.0 10.6
1985 Utah 10 10 37.5 .408 – .818 9.2 2.7 .5 1.8 16.9
1986 Utah 4 4 36.8 .364 .000 .727 8.0 3.3 .5 .5 16.0
1987 Utah 5 0 30.2 .476 – 1.000 6.0 1.8 .6 1.2 15.6
1988 Utah 11 0 40.8 .488 .000 .838 5.7 1.6 .5 2.1 23.2
1989 Utah 3 2 40.7 .353 – .800 8.3 1.0 .3 1.3 12.0
1990 Utah 5 5 38.0 .489 – .792 6.4 1.4 1.0 1.2 21.0
1991 Utah 9 0 25.3 .359 – .880 3.6 1.0 .3 .7 7.6
1999 Utah 11 0 10.5 .515 – .750 1.4 .2 .3 .5 3.4
Career 69 21 30.7 .449 .000 .834 5.5 1.4 .4 1.2 13.5

Filmography

Year Title Role Note
1994 Thurl: Forward with New Power Himself Documentary
2001 The Luck of the Irish Mr. Holloway
Disney Channel Original Movie
2002
The Singles Ward
 		A Traveler Movie
2005 David and Goliath
Goliath of Gath
 Movie
2006 Church Ball Moses Mahoney Movie
2007 Heber Holiday Mutumbo Movie
2013 Running with the Pack Himself Documentary
30 for 30 Himself Survive and Advance

References

  1. ^ "Thurl Bailey Career High 41 Versus Nuggets". Statmuse. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  2. ^ "IT'S T FOR TY AS JAZZ DEAL THURL TO MINNESOTA". Deseret News. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  3. ^ a b Thurl Bailey NBA.com bio Archived 2009-04-19 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Luis Fernando Llosa (2003-11-03). "Thurl Bailey, Forward". SI Vault. Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
  5. ^ a b c Robinson, Doug (22 February 2003). "Thurl Bailey's wonderful life". Deseret News. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  6. ^ www.coachup.com/coaches/thurlb
  7. ^ a b Playing Field Promotions. "Thurl Bailey Biography". Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  8. ^ Josh Loftin (2008-09-01). "Thurl Bailey opens GOP convention with prayer". Deseret News. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
  9. ^ "Former NBA Star Thurl Bailey Shares Incredible Conversion Story". LDS Living. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  10. Basketball Reference
    . Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 4 December 2023.

External links

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