Harold Everett Greer (June 26, 1936 – April 14, 2018) was an American 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. He played for the Syracuse Nationals / Philadelphia 76ers of 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 S ...

(NBA) from 1958 through 1973. A

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 ...

, Greer was a 10-time

NBA All-Star The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition basketball game. It is the main event of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Originally, the All-Star Game featured a conference-based format, featuring a team composed of ...

and was named to the

All-NBA Second Team The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been sele ...

seven times. He was named to the

50 Greatest Players in NBA History The 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, also referred to as NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, were chosen in 1996 to honor the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was the third anniversary team ...

, the

NBA 75th Anniversary Team The NBA 75th Anniversary Team, also referred to as the NBA 75, was chosen in 2021 to honor the 75th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was the fourth and most recent anniversary team in the league. S ...

, and his

uniform number In team sports, the number, often referred to as the uniform number, squad number, jersey number, shirt number, sweater number, or similar (with such naming differences varying by sport and region) is the number worn on a player's uniform, to ...

was among

Philadelphia 76ers retired numbers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

. Greer is a member of the

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

High school and college

Born in

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

, Greer attended

Douglass Junior and Senior High School Douglass Junior and Senior High School is a historic school building located at Huntington, West Virginia, Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia. Built in 1924, it was the segregation-era high school for African Americans in the city, and replac ...

in Huntington. Douglass was an all-black school. He played as a

for Douglass' men's basketball team. He enrolled at

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

and 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

Marshall Thundering Herd The Marshall Thundering Herd is the intercollegiate athletic collection of teams that collectively represent the Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Thundering Herd athletic teams compete in the Sun Belt Conference, which are member ...

basketball team 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 ...

, becoming the first African American to play for a public college in West Virginia. With the Thundering Herd, Greer scored 1,377 points with a .545

field goal percentage Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Although three-point field goal percentage is often calculated separately, three-point field goals are included in the gener ...

, setting a Marshall record. In 1956, Marshall won the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

championship, and made their first

NCAA 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 ...

appearance. Greer was named All-Mid-American Conference in 1957 and 1958. He was named an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n in 1958 as well. Greer finished his Marshall career averaging 19.4 points per game and 10.8 rebounds per game. In 1958, his senior year, Greer averaged 23.6 points per game. Greer also played for the school's

baseball team Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding te ...

in his sophomore year as a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

NBA career

The

Syracuse Nationals The Philadelphia 76ers are an American basketball team currently playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 76ers are third in NBA history in wins and playoff appearances. 1946– ...

selected Greer with the 13th selection in the

1958 NBA draft The 1958 NBA draft was the 12th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 22, 1958, before the 1958–59 season. In this draft, eight NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball play ...

. Greer played for Syracuse for five seasons, raising his scoring average to 22.8 points a game in 1961. He was selected for the NBA All-Star team that year. Hal Greer

In 1963, the Syracuse Nationals moved to Philadelphia to become the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

. There, Greer teamed with

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain (; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player who played as a Center (basketball), center. Standing at tall, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 yea ...

on the 1966–67 team that won the NBA championship. In the 76ers' 15 playoff games that season, Greer averaged a team-best 27.7 points. Greer had an unusual but highly effective

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

technique, shooting a jump shot from the charity stripe. He is usually considered the third-best guard of the 1960s, behind

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson playe ...

and fellow West Virginia native

Jerry West Jerome Alan West (born May 28, 1938) is an American basketball executive and former player. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames included "Mr. Clutch", for his ability ...

. Greer played in 10

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is a basketball exhibition game hosted every February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's star players. It is the featured event of NBA All-Star Weekend, a ...

s and was the MVP of the 1968 game when he went 8-for-8 from the field and scored 21 points, a record-breaking 19 in one quarter. He also was chosen to the

seven times, and scored 21,586 points during his NBA career. When he retired after the 1972–73 season, he ranked as the all-time leader in games played and was in the top ten in both points scored and field goals made. As of his death, Greer is the franchise record holder for points scored, field goals, field goal attempts, games played, and minutes played.

Post-playing career

In 1980, Greer coached the Philadelphia Kings of the

Continental Basketball League The Continental Basketball League (CBL) was a men's basketball minor league in the United States that began play in April 2010. The league was headquartered in Florida. History In 2009, Dennis Truax, who was previously affiliated with the Co ...

. He also coached the basketball team for

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 ...

Fort Washington, Pennsylvania Fort Washington is a census-designated place and suburb of Philadelphia in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,446 at the 2010 census. History Prior to the Revolutionary War the Fort Washington area was settle ...

Legacy

Marshall University Basketball Hal Greer Statue 2022

Greer's hometown has honored his success by holding "Hal Greer Day" in 1966, and by renaming 16th Street, which carries

West Virginia Route 10 West Virginia Route 10 is a north–south route from Cabell County to Mercer County in the western and southern regions of West Virginia. Mostly a two-lane, winding highway with no shoulders, Route 10 is considered to be one of substandard desi ...

as the main artery between the campus/downtown area and

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchange w ...

, as "Hal Greer Boulevard" in 1978. The 76ers retired Greer's

, No. 15, in 1976; he was the first player the 76ers honored in this way. Marshall's men's basketball team retired Greer's No. 16. Marshall University inducted Greer into its Athletics Hall of Fame for his career in basketball and baseball in 1985. In 1982, Greer was inducted into the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

along with

Slater Martin Slater Nelson "Dugie" Martin Jr. (October 22, 1925 – October 18, 2012) was an American professional basketball player and coach who was a playmaking guard for 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born in Elmina ...

, Frank Ramsey,

Willis Reed Willis Reed Jr. (born June 25, 1942) is an American retired basketball player, coach and general manager. He spent his entire professional playing career (1964–1974) with the New York Knicks. In 1982, Reed was inducted into the Naismith Me ...

, coach

Clarence Gaines Clarence Edward "Big House" Gaines Sr. (May 21, 1923 – April 18, 2005) was an American college men's basketball coach with a 47-year coaching career at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Among his numerous honors fo ...

, and contributor Alva Duer. Greer is recognized as one of the first African-American athletes enshrined in a major sports hall of fame from West Virginia. He was named one of the

in 1996. The 76ers installed a statue of Greer at their training complex in 2017. In 2021, Greer was honored at

with the dedication of a bronze statue created in his likeness and an unveiling ceremony with many of his family members in attendance. The statue is located adjacent to the Cam Henderson Center, the home of Marshall basketball, and was placed on a marble base surrounded by four benches and newly planted trees. Two weeks later, he was announced as part of the

Accolades

*Averaged 22 ppg to lead 76ers to NBA Championship (1967) *Played in 10 consecutive NBA All-Star Games (1961–70) *NBA All-Star Game MVP (1968) *Set record for most points scored in a quarter (19) during an All-Star Game (1968) *Seven-time All-NBA Second Team (1963–69) *Scored 21,586 career points (40th all-time), including 50 in one game vs. Boston Celtics *Scored 1,876 points in 92 playoff games and 120 points in 10 All-Star Games *His jerseys were retired by Marshall University (#16) and the Philadelphia 76ers (#15)

Personal life

Greer and his wife, Mayme, had a son and two daughters. Greer died on April 14, 2018, following a brief illness. The 76ers announced his death on April 16. They honored Greer prior to Game 2 of the 2018 NBA Playoffs vs the Miami Heat. For the remainder of the playoffs, the Sixers wore a black armband on the sleeve of their jersey with a small patch with the number 15.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

Basketball Hall of Fame profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greer, Hal 1936 births 2018 deaths African-American basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from West Virginia Basketball players from West Virginia Continental Basketball Association coaches Marshall Thundering Herd baseball players Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball players Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees National Basketball Association All-Stars National Basketball Association players with retired numbers National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Philadelphia 76ers players Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Huntington, West Virginia Syracuse Nationals draft picks Syracuse Nationals players 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people