Allan Mercer Bristow, Jr. (born August 23, 1951) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player, coach, and executive. Bristow played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

, and was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round of the

1973 NBA draft The 1973 NBA draft was the 27th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 24 and May 5, 1973, before the 1973–74 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college baske ...

. A 6 ft 7 in,

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger ...

, he had a 10-year career in both the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) and the American Basketball Association (ABA), playing for the Sixers, the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

(in both leagues), the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

, and finishing his playing career with the Dallas Mavericks. His nickname was "Disco". In 1991, Bristow was hired to be the third head coach for the recently created Charlotte Hornets franchise, a position he held for five years. Led by players such as Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning, the Hornets were the first of the late-1980s expansion teams to be successful, reaching the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

in 1993 and 1995. Bristow resigned in 1996. Bristow became the

New Orleans Hornets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

' general manager in 2004, a position he relinquished in 2005. In 1997, Bristow was inducted into the

Virginia Sports Hall of Fame The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame honors athletes, coaches, administrators, journalists and other contributors to athletics. Many of the more than 350 inductees since 1972 were born in Virginia or enjoyed success in college, professional, amateur or ...

Virginia Tech career

After being an all-state player at Henrico High School, Bristow was recruited to play college basketball for Virginia Tech coach Howie Shannon beginning in the 1969–70 season. Bristow averaged 27.3 points and 17.1 rebounds per game as a freshman on the JV/Freshmen. (At the time he began his career, freshmen could not play on the varsity team). Bristow averaged 20.4 points and 13.1 rebounds per game for the 1970–71 Hokies that finished 14–11. He was second on the team in scoring that season to Loyd King (21.3 ppg), marking the only time that two Hokies ever averaged over 20 points in a single season. Don DeVoe took over as coach of the Hokies for the 1971–72 season, and Bristow led the team with 25.0 points and 13.4 rebounds in a 16–10 effort. In 1972–73, the Hokies raced to an 18–5 regular season mark, and a berth in the NIT. (At the time, only 32 teams made the NCAA tournament). Tech beat three teams by four points in the preliminary rounds before facing Notre Dame under legendary coach Digger Phelps in the finals. Tech forced overtime against the heavily favored Fighting Irish, and then found themselves down by one as they took the ball in bounds with 12 seconds to play. Bobby Stevens took a shot from just above the foul-line with about six seconds left, and chased his own rebound down on the right corner where he turned and beat the buzzer for a 92–91 win. Bristow scored a total of 91 points in the four NIT games. Including the NIT, Bristow led the team with a 23.9 points per game average and also pulled down 11.6 rebounds per contest. Bristow paced the

basketball team to the

1973 National Invitation Tournament The 1973 National Invitation Tournament was the 1973 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. The tournament started on March 17 and concluded on March 25, with all fifteen games at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It w ...

(NIT) championship, and became the fourth Tech basketball player to have his jersey retired by the university. Bristow still holds the Hokies’ single game marks of 52 points and 22 field goals which he accomplished in a 117–89 win against

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

. He also holds the record for most consecutive double-figure scoring games, reaching that mark in all 78 of his Hokie appearances. He finished as Tech's all-time scoring leader in 1973 with 1,804 points, and still stood seventh on the list at the beginning of the 2018–19 season. Bristow also holds the Tech record for career scoring average at 23.1 points per game. He led the Hokies in rebounding all three of his varsity seasons and in scoring his final two years. Bristow was named to the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1984 and his jersey was retired by the university in 1998.

NBA playing career

Bristow was selected in the second round of the

(21st overall pick) by the Philadelphia 76ers. He made his NBA debut on October 13, 1973. Bristow played in 55 games in his rookie year averaging 11.7 minutes per game with 4.7 points per game and 3.0 rebounds per game with Philadelphia. After his second season, Bristow was waived by the 76ers. Bristow moved to the ABA's

for one season before the Spurs joined the NBA the following year in 1976. He spent four years total with San Antonio before signing as a free agent with the New Orleans Jazz in 1979. Bristow and Wayne Cooper were traded by the Jazz to the Dallas Mavericks in 1981 for Bill Robinzine. After two seasons with Dallas, Bristow retired from the NBA in 1983. Bristow had averages of 7.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in 648 games.

Executive and coaching career

Bristow began his professional coaching career as an assistant coach for the

in the 1983–84 season. He then moved to the Denver Nuggets as an assistant to coach

Doug Moe Douglas Edwin Moe (born September 21, 1938) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. As a head coach with the Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he was named the NBA Coach of the Year in 1988. Ea ...

for six seasons from 1984 to 1990. In 1990 the Charlotte Hornets named Bristow as Vice President of Basketball Operations, in charge of scouting, draft picks and trades. Bristow replaced

Gene Littles Eugene Scape Littles (June 29, 1943 – September 10, 2021) was an American basketball player and coach. He played six seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) for the Carolina Cougars and Kentucky Colonels between 1969 and 1975. Litt ...

as coach of the Charlotte Hornets in summer 1991, becoming the Hornets' third head coach. He was the first Hornets coach to bring major success to the franchise. He guided Charlotte to its first ever playoff appearance and first ever playoff series victory in the same year. His best season as head coach was in the 1994–95 season when the Hornets recorded a franchise-record 50 victories. He coached the Hornets team to a record of 207–203, but his teams were just 5–8 in the playoffs. In the 1996 off-season the Hornets ended his five-year run as their head coach by buying out the final year of Bristow's contract after the Hornets finished their season short of the playoffs with a 41–41 record. Bristow is the Hornets' second-winningest head coach with 207 regular season victories. Bristow later served as Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Nuggets from 1997 to 1998.

Head coaching record

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Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

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References

External links

SportsReference.com: Allan Bristow (as college player)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bristow, Allan 1951 births Living people Basketball coaches from Virginia American men's basketball players Basketball players from Richmond, Virginia Charlotte Hornets head coaches Dallas Mavericks players Denver Nuggets assistant coaches Henrico High School alumni International Basketball League (1999–2001) coaches National Basketball Association general managers Philadelphia 76ers draft picks Philadelphia 76ers players San Antonio Spurs assistant coaches San Antonio Spurs players Shooting guards Small forwards Utah Jazz players Virginia Tech Hokies men's basketball players