George E. Davidson (October 17, 1925 – March 5, 2017) was an American

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 ...

coach and professional player. He 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 ...

for the

Lafayette Leopards The Lafayette Leopards represent the 23 Division I varsity athletic teams of Lafayette College and compete in the Patriot League. There are 11 men's teams, 11 women's teams, and one co-ed team. The club teams also compete as the Leopards. Tho ...

from 1948 to 1951. After a brief professional career, Davidson returned to serve as head coach of Lafayette from 1955 to 1967.

Playing career

Davidson served as the captain of the Leopards basketball team during his senior season. He set team records in single-season scoring with 473 points and a single-game performance with 34 points. Davidson's points were ranked 13th highest in the nation. Davidson was selected in the

1951 NBA draft The 1951 NBA draft was the fifth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 25, 1951, before the 1951–52 season. In this draft, ten remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basket ...

by the Rochester Royals but chose to sign with the Reading Merchants of the

Eastern Professional Basketball League The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball mi ...

(EPBL). He split the 1951–52 season in the EPBL with the Merchants and the Lancaster Rockets. Davidson averaged 9.7 points per game in 17 games played.

Coaching career

Davidson began his coaching career at the Pennsylvania Military Preparatory School and

Germantown Academy Germantown Academy, informally known as GA and originally known as the Union School, is the oldest nonsectarian day school in the United States. The school was founded on December 6, 1759, by a group of prominent Germantown citizens in the Gree ...

. He returned to Lafayette and replaced

Butch van Breda Kolff Willem Hendrik "Butch" van Breda Kolff (October 28, 1922August 22, 2007) was an American basketball player and coach. Biography Early life and career Butch was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, son of Dutch soccer player Jan van Breda Kolff. He g ...

to become the youngest head coach in the basketball team's history at the age of 28. Davidson's 1956–57 team accumulated a 22–5 record and secured the team's first appearance in the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

. His Lafayette teams compiled a 170–116 record during his 12-year tenure. Davidson spent more than 20 years as an assistant athletic director for Lafayette where he was responsible for ticketing and business affairs. He also coached the college's

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

team. Davidson was inducted into the Lafayette Maroon Club Hall of Fame for its 1977–78 class.

References

External links

College playing statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, George 1925 births 2017 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania Basketball players from Philadelphia College golf coaches in the United States Guards (basketball) Lafayette Leopards men's basketball coaches Lafayette Leopards men's basketball players Rochester Royals draft picks