Buddy Jeannette

Buddy Jeannette
1948
Player information
Full name	Harry Edward Jeannette
birthday	September 15, 1917
place of birth	New Kensington , Pennsylvania , United States
date of death	March 11, 1998 at the age of 80 years and 177 days
Place of death	Nashua , New Hampshire , United States
size	180 cm
position	Guard
college	Washington & Jefferson College
Clubs as active
Warren Penns (1938–1939) Cleveland White Horses (1938–1939) Elmira Colonels (1938–1939) Detroit Eagles (1939–1942) Sheboygan Red Skins (1942–1943) Fort Wayne Pistons (1943–1946) Baltimore Bullets (1946– 1950)
Clubs as coaches
Baltimore Bullets (1946–1951) Georgetown Hoyas (1952–1956) Baltimore Bullets (1964–1965) Baltimore Bullets (1966) (interim) Pittsburgh Pipers (1969–1970)

Harry Edward Jeannette (born September 15, 1917 in New Kensington , Pennsylvania , † March 11, 1998 in Nashua , New Hampshire ) was an American basketball player and coach. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994 and into the College Basketball Hall of Fame upon its inception in 2006.

college

During his four years of college (1934-1938) he played for the Washington & Jefferson Presidents , the basketball team of his university. He played 60 games and was always the team's top scorer. As captain, he led the team from 1937 to 1938 to the Tri-State Championship, a major basketball tournament at the time. Out of 60 games for the Presidents , he won 41 and lost 19. Thanks to his strong performance, he received several honors and was inducted into the Washington & Jefferson Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.

NBL

After graduating from college, Jeannette began his basketball career with the Warren Penns , a team from Pennsylvania, in the National Basketball League (NBL). That had finished the previous season with a score of 3-9. With Jeannette on the team, who had a point average of 7 at the time (which was very high for the time), the Warrens were clearly more successful. Nevertheless, due to financial problems, the team was forced to move to Cleveland during the season and from then on played under the name Cleveland White Horses . In addition, the team appeared in the same season as Elmira Colonels in the New York-Pennsylvania League and therefore played at least twice a week, but also against independent challengers such as the New York Renaissance or the Original Celtics . At the end of its first season with the Cleveland White Horses , the team finished second in the NBL Eastern Division along with the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots . In the following season, the team moved again to Detroit. Jeannette went with the team, which from then on played under the name Detroit Eagles . The team finished second again, this time behind the other team from Akron, the Akron Firestone Non-Skids, and lost against them in the play-offs. After that season, then-owner of the Eagles, Gerry Archibald, sold the team to a cigar company in Detroit. In the course of this, many talented players were sold. But the team led by Jeannette and coached by the original Celtic Dutch Dehnert played a relatively successful season and reached the play-offs again and lost there against the Sheboygan Red Skins . Then the team was invited to the World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago and successively beat the Indianapolis Kautskys , the Harlem Globetrotters , the New York Renaissance and, in the final, the NBL runner-up in the Oshkosh All-Stars . Jeannette played extremely well at this tournament and was therefore chosen as MVP. After this tournament, the Eagles withdrew from the NBL and silver-plated their surprise victory and the associated celebrity to travel through the cities of the USA in the manner of the Harlem Globetrotters or the Original Celtics to play challenge basketball. The time was very bad because of the USA's entry into the war, but the Detroit Eagles fought their way into the final of the World Professional Basketball Tournament in 1942, only to be defeated by two points this time against the Oshkosh All-Stars. Nevertheless, Jeannette remained loyal to the Eagles until the 1942-1943 season and then moved shortly before the end of the NBL regular season to the former competitor, the Sheboygan Red Skins.

With the Sheboygans he then reached the play-offs and moved with them after a win against the Oshkosh All-Stars in the NBL finals. In the finals, Jeannette's team played against the Fort Wayne Pistons in a best-of-three series. After two games it was a draw and the last game was won by the Sheboygans with a sensational buzzerbeater (hit at the last minute) by his teammate Ed Dancker. Jeannette was elected MVP of the Finals series, ending a successful season. Fred Zollner , the owner of the Fort Wayne Pistons at the time, had watched Jeannette for some time and brought him to the Pistons the following season. This move paid off, because in his first season with the Pistons Jeannette won his second NBL championship after defeating the Sheboygan Red Skins, his ex-club, in the final. The Pistons also won the championship in the following season. They played a sovereign regular season, winning 16 of their 17 games. Jeannette was voted MVP of the season. In the first round of the play-offs, the Pistons continued their run, but lost the first two games in the final, but were then able to fight their way back. The series against the Sheboygans ended 3-2 for the Zollner Pistons. The World Professional Basketball Tournament that followed was won by the Pistons and Jeannette was named MVP of the tournament for the second time. In his last season with the Pistons you won the Eastern Conference and reached the play-offs. The first game against the Rochester Royals , a new NBL team, was won, but the next three were lost and so the Fred Zollner Pistons were eliminated in the first round.

OJ

After last season with the Pistons, the Baltimore Bullets from the American Basketball League (ABL) made him the offer to work there as a player- coach and Jeannette agreed. The Bullets played a relatively decent season under him, with a 12-13 record. They won the ABL championship against the Philadelphia SPHAs in a best-of-three series in four games . In 1947 the Bullets decided to join the Basketball Association of America (BAA). In the first season the team reached the play-offs. The Bullets defeated the New York Knicks in the first round 2-1 (best-of-three). In the second round, the semifinals, the Chicago Stags were defeated 2-0. The finals were played in a best-of-seven series against the reigning champion of the Philadelphia Warriors . Although the Bullets initially looked like they were going under, they still won the series 4-2. To date, Jeannette is the only player-coach who has ever won a professional basketball championship. The next season was the BAA's last, as it merged with the NBL to form the National Basketball Association (NBA) the next year . Jeannette was more focused on his job as a coach and the Bullets were eliminated in the first round of the play-offs against the Knicks.

NBA

Jeannette's first NBA season was a short one as he mostly had to watch with a knee injury. The Bullets had a bad season without Jeannette and did not reach the play-offs with a balance of 25-43.

Coaching career

At the age of 32 Jeannette stopped playing basketball and from then on was only the coach of the Bullets. In his only full season as a coach, he was less successful and was fired for an unacceptable record of 14-23 and replaced by Walt Budko .

In 1952 he signed at Georgetown University and coached their basketball team, the Georgetown Hoyas . In his first season he was very successful and led the team to their first participation in the National Invitation Tournament , the most important college basketball tournament at the time. But he was unable to build on this success over the next few years and therefore quit after four years.

In 1959 he coached the Baltimore franchise in the Eastern Basketball League .

After the Chicago Zephyrs moved to Baltimore in 1964 and the team was also renamed Bullets , Jeannette was hired as a coach. He reached the play-offs directly with the team and even defeated the St. Louis Hawks in the first round . After that, the team had to compete against the then all-powerful Lakers . Elgin Baylor , the team's superstar, injured himself in the first game and the Bullets sensed their chance. In the end, however, they lost the best-of-seven series with 2-4.

The Bullets were sold to another owner after that season, who promoted Jeannette to general manager and hired Paul Seymour as coach. One of his greatest merits as general manager was drafting Earl Monroe . He later left the Bullets.

Shortly thereafter, he was hired by the Pittsburgh Pipers in the American Basketball Association (ABA) as GM and in 1970 he also coached the team again, but was unsuccessful.

death

In 1998 he suffered a stroke, was in a coma and then died on March 11th at his home in Nashua .

See also

• List of members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Web links

• Buddy Jeannette in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame . On: Hoophall website; Springfield, MA, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2018 (in English).
• Harry Jeannette in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. On: The College Basketball Experience — website; Kansas City, MO, 2006-2019. Retrieved February 18, 2019 (in English).
• Buddy Jeannette at: Sports Reference website; Philadelphia, PA, 2000-2019. Retrieved February 18, 2019 (in English).
• Buddy Jeannette as a player on: Basketball Reference website; Philadelphia, PA, 2000-2019. Retrieved February 18, 2019 (in English).
• Buddy Jeannette as coach on: Basketball Reference website; Philadelphia, PA, 2000-2019. Retrieved February 18, 2019 (in English).
• Buddy Jeannette as a functionary on: Basketball Reference website; Philadelphia, PA, 2000-2019. Retrieved February 18, 2019 (in English).
• Buddy Jeannette on: RealGM website; Marion, IL, 2000-2019. Retrieved February 18, 2019 (in English).
• Buddy Jeannette at: National Basketball Association website; New York City, NY, 2019. Retrieved February 18, 2019.

Individual evidence

1. ^ NN: Washington & Jefferson Athletics Hall of Fame. Class of 2001. ( Memento July 29, 2011 on WebCite ) Archived from Washington & Jefferson College website; Washington, PA, undated 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2019 (in English).
2. ^ NN: Leroy Edwards - World Professional Basketball Tournament - On: Big Blue History — University of Kentucky Wildcats fan website; 1996-2013. Retrieved June 9, 2017 (in English).
3. ↑ Dave Quinn, John Duxbury, Steven Brainerd, William F. Himmelman, Steve Dimitry, Robert Bradley: World Professional Basketball Tournament 1939-48. On: Association for Professional Basketball Research website; 2006. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
4. ↑ Mark Lester, Mike Kennedy, Ron Jaffe: Buddy Jeannette. Power Point Pioneer On: Jock Bio website; Atlantic Highlands, NJ, undated 2009. Retrieved February 18, 2019 (in English).