John Daniel Pierce Jr. (born 1972) is an American former

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 ...

center. He is the all-time/all-division scoring leader in

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 ...

history with 4,230 points. He played

Lipscomb University Lipscomb University is a private university in Nashville, Tennessee. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The campus is located in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, between Belmont Boulevard to the west and Granny White Pike on ...

Early years

Pierce attended

Franklin Road Academy Franklin Road Academy (FRA) is a private co-educational Christian school for students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 located in Oak Hill, Tennessee. The school was founded in 1971 and originally affiliated with the First Christian Church be ...

. As a senior, he averaged 25.8 points and almost 10 rebounds per game, while receiving All-state and ''

The Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, ...

'' Metro Class A Player of the Year honors.

College career

He accepted a basketball scholarship from NAIA

, to play under head coach

Don Meyer Donald Wayne Meyer (December 16, 1944 – May 18, 2014) was an American college basketball coach who completed his career in 2010 as head coach of the men's team at Northern State University. He was once head coach at Hamline University and Lipsco ...

. Pierce was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

during the 1989-90 season. As a freshman, he posted 22 points and 9 rebounds in 21 minutes during his first college game. As a sophomore, he set the school single-game record with 54 points against Arkansas Baptist College. As a junior, he was named the NAIA Player of the Year after leading the nation in scoring with an average of 31.9 points per contest. He also set the school's single-game points record (54) against Arkansas Baptist College. As a senior, he broke his former teammate and roommate Phil Hutcheson's career scoring record of 4,106 points, to become the all-time/all-division scoring leader in NCAA basketball history with 4,230 points. Pierce graduated after helping his teams compile a 129-19 record, while qualifying for the NAIA tournament all four seasons and reaching a pair of Elite Eight appearances. He scored in double figures in every game that he played, while finishing with school records in career rebounds (1,497), field goals made (1,627) and free throws made (881). In 2003, he was inducted into the Lipscomb Athletics Hall of Fame. His jersey number #50 was retired by the school. In 2003, he was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame. In 2012, he was named to the NAIA 75th Anniversary All-Star Team. In 2015, he was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. In 2018, he was inducted into the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Professional career

In 1995, he signed with the

Stirling Senators Warwick Senators is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of Stirling Basketball Association (SBA), the major administrative basketball organisa ...

of the second-tier

State Basketball League NBL1 West, formerly the State Basketball League (SBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Western Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Western Australia partnered with the National Basketball L ...

(SBL) in Australia, where he received the league's MVP award. In 1997, he signed with the

Toyotsu Fighting Eagles Nagoya Toyotsu Fighting Eagles Nagoya is a Japanese professional basketball team located in Nagoya, Aichi. The team currently competes in the B.League. Roster Notable players * Solomon Alabi *Paul Butorac *Rodney Carney *Andrew ...

of the

B.League The B.League is a professional men's basketball league that began in Japan in September 2016. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that w ...

in Japan. He also played professional basketball in France.

Personal life

After his basketball career was over, he was hired as an assistant basketball coach at

Brentwood Academy Brentwood Academy is a coeducational Christian independent college preparatory school located in Brentwood, Tennessee, for grades 6–12. History The charter of Brentwood Academy was signed on November 20, 1969, after ten acres of land on Gr ...

. In 2006, he was hired as the varsity boys' basketball head coach at his alma mater

. His teams have recorded over 300 wins and qualified for the D2A Tennessee state championship in two occasions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce, John 1972 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Australia American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Japan American men's basketball players Basketball players from Nashville, Tennessee Centers (basketball) High school basketball coaches in Tennessee Lipscomb Bisons men's basketball players Toyotsu Fighting Eagles Nagoya players