Spencer Haywood
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| Player information | ||
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| birthday | 22nd April 1949 (age 71) | |
| place of birth | Silver City , Mississippi , United States | |
| size | 206 cm | |
| position | Power forward | |
| college | Detroit | |
| NBA draft | 1971 , 30th Pick, Buffalo Braves | |
| Clubs as active | ||
1969–1970 Denver Rockets ( ABA ) 1970–1975 Seattle SuperSonics 1975–1979 New York Knicks 1979 New Orleans Jazz 1979–1980 Los Angeles Lakers 1980–1981 Reyer Venezia Mestre 1981–1983 Washington Bullets 
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| National team | ||
| 1968 |
United States
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Spencer Haywood (born April 22, 1949 in Silver City , Mississippi ) is a retired American basketball player . He played one year in the ABA between 1969 and 1970 and then in the NBA from 1970 to 1983 . Haywood is six feet tall and played in the power forward position .
Life
Haywood grew up with nine siblings in rural Mississippi. At the age of 15 he moved to live with his brother in Detroit . There he attended Pershing High School , with which he won the Michigan High School Championship in 1967 . Haywood's grades were too bad to accept one of the numerous sports scholarships , so he went to Trinity State Junior College for a year . The following summer, 1968 Haywood played for the US basketball team at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City and won gold. He then began studying at the University of Detroit , where he brought outstanding performance in the 68/69 season with 32 points and 22 rebounds per game. Haywood therefore decided to drop out and become a professional athlete.
Since he was not allowed to join the NBA as a so-called “Underclassman” (students without a degree), he played 69/70 for the Denver Rockets in the ABA. Due to his outstanding performances (30 points and 19.5 rebounds per game) he was elected as a rookie and at just 20 to the MVP of the ABA. He was also named ABA Rookie of the Year and MVP of the ABA All-Star Game. But Haywood was not satisfied, he wanted to switch to the "big" NBA. In 1970 he signed - despite the underclassmen ban - a contract with the Seattle SuperSonics . The NBA filed an objection, it went to court. The Supreme Court eventually ruled in Haywood's favor and caused the NBA to change its draft rules. It was not until the Haywood ruling that the way was cleared for the stream of underclassmen in today's NBA, from Magic Johnson to Kevin Garnett to LeBron James .
Strangely enough, Haywood's performance peaked in 1973 (29.2 points and 12.9 rebounds per game). After that, Haywood, although only in his early 20s, steadily decreased. After a successful time with the Sonics, they sent him to the New York Knicks in 1975 . There he played four years with further falling performances and was then sent to the New Orleans Jazz in the 78/79 season , which he left after the season. This was followed by a year with the Los Angeles Lakers , with whom he won the NBA championship in 1980 , and one in Europe with Reyer Venezia Mestre from Italy, followed by two years with the Washington Bullets until Haywood ended his career in 1983. During his NBA career, Haywood was invited to the NBA All-Star Game four times (1972-1975). The SuperSonics withdrew his jersey number # 24 after his career ended, so that this number is no longer awarded. Haywood averaged 20.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in 844 ABA and NBA games.
In 2015, Haywood is inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame .
Haywood was also married to the model Iman Abdulmajid , who would later become the wife of pop star David Bowie . From this marriage, which was divorced in 1987, Zulekha Haywood (born July 5, 1978) also comes.
literature
- Spencer Haywood, Scott Ostler: The Rise, the Fall, the Recovery , 1992. ISBN 1-56743-042-2 (autobiography)
See also
Web links
- Spencer Haywood - player profile on basketball-reference.com
- Spencer Haywood in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame . On: Hoophall website; Springfield, MA, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2018 (in English).
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Haywood, Spencer |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American basketball player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 22, 1949 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Silver City , Mississippi, USA |