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 Yardley in 1958 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1928-11-03)November 3, 1928 Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Died | August 12, 2004(2004-08-12) (aged 75) Newport Beach, California, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Newport Harbor (Newport Beach, California) |
| College | Stanford (1947–1950) |
| NBA draft | 1950: 1st round, 7th overall pick |
| Selected by the Fort Wayne Pistons | |
| Playing career | 1953–1962 |
| Position | Forward / guard |
| Number | 12 |
| Career history | |
| 1953–1959 | Fort Wayne / Detroit Pistons |
| 1959–1960 | Syracuse Nationals |
| 1961–1962 | Los Angeles Jets |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Career statistics | |
| Points | 9,063 (19.2 ppg) |
| Rebounds | 4,220 (8.9 rpg) |
| Assists | 815 (1.7 apg) |
Stats at NBA.com  | |
| Stats at Basketball Reference | |
| Basketball Hall of Fame | |
| Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame | |
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 Stanford University, Yardley was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, and earned the nickname "Yardbird" due to the chores he was required to complete by his fraternity brothers. The nickname was later shortened to "Bird". After his three-year career at Stanford, Yardley played one year of AAU basketball and served in the United States Navy for two years. During his navy stint, Yardley's amateur team won the national A.A.U. championship in 1951, with Yardley being selected the national amateur player-of-the-year. He was drafted by the NBA 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.
Described as a "flamboyant" and "gregarious" player who "never did anything without flair", Yardley had a stellar 7-year career, making the NBA All-Star team every year except for his rookie season. Paired with fellow all-star Larry Foust, Yardley led the 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 Syracuse Nationals for Ed Conlin. Following a sixth All-Star selection the following season in 1959–1960, in which he averaged 20.2 points per game, he retired from basketball at the age of 31. He was the first player in NBA history to retire after averaging at least 20 PPG in his final year. Although Alex Groza had a 21.7 PPG average in his final NBA season in 1951, his career ended as a result of a lifelong ban, instead of a voluntary retirement like that of Yardley's. He made a brief comeback in the short-lived 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."
Yardley died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, at the age of 75.
NBA career statistics
| 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
- ^ "The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame - Hall of Famers". Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved April 24, 2011.
- Archived October 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- George Yardley Transactions
- Archived October 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
External links
- George Yardley Company, industrial supply retailer
- Stanford University Hall-of-Fame
- Naismith Memorial Basketball HOF
- 1928 births
- 2004 deaths
- Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players
- American Basketball League (1961–62) players
- Burials at Pacific View Memorial Park
- Deaths from motor neuron disease in California
- Detroit Pistons players
- Fort Wayne Pistons draft picks
- Fort Wayne Pistons players
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
- NBA All-Stars
- Basketball players from Orange County, California
- Stanford Cardinal men's basketball players
- Syracuse Nationals players
- American men's basketball players
- Newport Harbor High School alumni
- Forwards (basketball)
- Guards (basketball)
- United States Navy sailors