Alan Leroy Hairston (born December 11, 1945) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and a college and high school head coach. His high school coaching career has garnered him multiple league, district and state championships, as well as numerous individual awards. A 6'1" (1.85 m)

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

from Bowling Green State University, Hairston was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the fifth round of the 1968 NBA draft and by the

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of ...

in the 1968 ABA draft. Hairston appeared in two seasons for the Sonics, averaging 2.2

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

.Al Hairston
basketball-reference.com. After a stint with the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers in 1970-71, Hairston was released. He went into coaching, serving as head coach at Seattle Central College (formerly Seattle Central Community College) 1975-79. He led the team to the Northwest championship in 1977. By far, Hairston has made his biggest contributions to the sport of basketball as a prep coach. Widely regarded as one of the best prep hoops coaches in Washington state history, Hairston achieved great success at the helm of the historically dominant boys hoops program at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington, including guiding the program to five state titles from 1980 through 1991 (1980, 1983, 1986, 1987, and 1991), and two more state runner-up appearances during the same period (1989 and 1990). He also successfully coached the Kent-Meridian (Kent, WA) and Seattle

O'Dea High School O'Dea High School is a Catholic all boys high school founded in 1923 and is located in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood. The school is named after Edward John O'Dea who was bishop of Seattle when the school was built. O'Dea is a part of the Ar ...

boys basketball programs to post-season appearances. In assuming the O'Dea post, he took over for the late

Phil Lumpkin Phil Lumpkin (December 20, 1951 – November 2, 2009) was an American professional basketball player and high school basketball coach. Early life Lumpkin was born in Dayton, Ohio Seattle University Seattle University (SeattleU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington. Seattle University is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate prog ...

men's basketball team (which competed as a member of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

– NAIA) and as assistant coach of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Husky men's basketball team under former head coach

Bob Bender Robert Michael Bender (born April 28, 1957) is an American professional basketball coach, who last served an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association. Born in Quantico, Virginia, He attended Bloomington H ...

. As an assistant Huskies coach during the 1997–98 season, Hairston helped guide a team led by future NBA star Todd McCullough and Donald Watts, Jr. (son of former Seattle Sonic Donald Earl

Slick Watts Donald Earl "Slick" Watts (born July 22, 1951) is an American former basketball player. He is perhaps most well known for being the first NBA player to lead the league in both assists and steals, in 1976. College "Slick" Watts originally attend ...

) to the NCAA Sweet 16. There the Washington Huskies lost to a

Jim Calhoun James A. Calhoun (born May 10, 1942) is a longtime college basketball coach. He is best known for his tenure as head coach of the University of Connecticut (UConn) men's basketball team. His teams won three NCAA national championships ( 1999, ...

coached

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

team on a buzzer-beater by future NBA star Richard "Rip" Hamilton.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hairston, Al 1945 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Michigan Basketball players from Michigan Bowling Green Falcons men's basketball players High school basketball coaches in the United States Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Kentucky Colonels draft picks People from Mount Clemens, Michigan Point guards Seattle Redhawks men's basketball coaches Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Seattle SuperSonics players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Metro Detroit Washington Huskies men's basketball coaches