Former USC males’s basketball coach George Raveling dies at 88 – NBC Los Angeles
Former USC males’s basketball coach George Raveling, a Corridor of Famer who performed a task in Michael Jordan signing a landmark endorsement take care of Nike, has died. He was 88.
Raveling’s household stated Tuesday in a press release that he had “confronted most cancers with braveness and beauty.”
“There are not any phrases to totally seize what George meant to his household, pals, colleagues, former gamers, and assistants — and to the world,” the household assertion learn. “He will probably be profoundly missed, but his aura, power, divine presence, and timeless knowledge reside on in all these he touched and remodeled.”
Raveling, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Corridor of Fame in 2015, had a profession document of 335-293 from 1972-94 at Washington State, Iowa and Southern California. He had a dropping document in his first season at every college earlier than making a number of journeys to the NCAA Match.
His success at these packages landed Raveling on the U.S. Olympic basketball staffs in 1984 and 1988.
Jordan was on the 1984 staff that received gold on the Olympic Video games in Los Angeles, and Raveling helped persuade him to signal with Nike. He launched Jordan to Sonny Vaccaro at Nike, which helped result in a contract that gave Jordan his personal model, made him thousands and thousands of {dollars} and altered the athletic attire trade.
Marlon Wayans portrayed Raveling within the 2023 film “Air” that centered on Nike’s courtship of Jordan.
“For greater than 40 years, he blessed my life with knowledge, encouragement, and friendship,” Jordan stated in a press release. “He was a mentor in each sense and I will at all times carry deep gratitude for his steerage. I signed with Nike due to George, and with out him, there could be no Air Jordan.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver referred to as Raveling “a pioneering drive” who helped make basketball a global recreation.
“Throughout his lengthy and impactful tenure at Nike, George traveled the world — mentoring a number of generations of gamers and coaches and selling the game that outlined his identification,” Silver stated in a press release. “He broke boundaries as a university basketball coach and was a towering voice in our trade. I valued my friendship with George and admired how he led with poise, dignity and respect.”
Raveling additionally owned the unique copy of the “I Have a Dream” velocity by Martin Luther King Jr. He was working safety on the 1963 March on Washington by which King delivered probably the most well-known speeches in American historical past.
As King was exiting, Raveling noticed him and requested if he might have the speech, and the reverend handed it to him. Raveling held on to the copy till 2021, when he donated it to his alma mater, Villanova.
He performed at Villanova from 1957-60, averaged 12.3 factors and 14.6 rebounds over his final two seasons. The Philadelphia Warriors drafted Raveling within the eighth spherical in 1960, however he did not play within the NBA.
“The best human being, inspiring mentor, most loyal alum and a considerate loving pal,” Jay Wright, who coached Villanova to nationwide championships in 2016 and 2018, posted on X. “Coach Raveling lived his life for others, His coronary heart was stressed and sort and now rests Within the lord!”
Present Villanova coach Kevin Willard stated in a press release that he has “lengthy appreciated the large influence Coach has made not simply on our recreation, however on so many people in it. I do know Villanova held a particular place in his coronary heart and we’re without end grateful for his contributions to this program.”
Raveling was concerned in a severe automotive crash whereas teaching USC in 1994, breaking 9 ribs, his collarbone and pelvis.
