Mack Calvin (born July 27, 1947) 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 ...
player. A five-time ABA All-Star, Calvin recorded the second most assists in ABA history, and was later named to the
ABA All-Time Team.
High school career
Calvin was born in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
and attended
Long Beach Poly
Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...
in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
College career
A 6'0"
point guard
The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...
from
Long Beach City College
Long Beach City College (LBCC) is a public community college in Long Beach, California. It was established in 1927 and is divided into two campuses, the Liberal Arts Campus in Lakewood Village and the Pacific Coast Campus in central Long Beach ...
and the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
, Calvin was a 14th-round draft pick of the NBA's
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...
in 1969.
In his final college season, Calvin and his Trojans defeated the
UCLA Bruins
The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...
, 46–44, in
Pauley Pavilion
Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion, commonly known as Pauley Pavilion, is an indoor arena located in the Westwood Village district of Los Angeles, California, on the campus of UCLA. It is home to the UCLA Bruins men's and women's basketball teams. The men ...
, ending several of the Bruins' consecutive win streaks: 17 straight over USC, 41 in a row overall, 45 consecutive in Pacific-8 Conference play, and 51 straight at Pauley.
Professional career
He played seven seasons (1969–1976) in the now-defunct
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...
(ABA) and four seasons in 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).
Calvin began his professional career with the ABA's
Los Angeles Stars
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science and technology
* Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation
* Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers
* Level of significance, a measure of statistical significance ...
, averaging 16.8 points per game in his first regular season to make the ABA All-Rookie Team. Despite finishing 43-41, in the
1970 ABA Playoffs The 1970 ABA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Basketball Association's 1969-1970 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Division champion Indiana Pacers defeating the Western Division champion Los Angeles Stars, f ...
Calvin,
George Stone, and
Craig Raymond, helped the Stars make an unexpected trip to the ABA Finals. On the way there, during a win over the
Dallas Chaparrals
The Dallas Chaparrals were a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA). The team moved to San Antonio, Texas for the 1973–74 season and were renamed the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs joined the National Basketball Association ...
in the division semifinals, Mack scored a postseason career high 44 points, while adding 16 assists. In the finals, Calvin averaged 15.8 points and 5 assists per game during a 4-2 series loss to
Roger Brown and the
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...
. The following season, he averaged a career-high 27.2 points for
The Floridians
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
, in the process setting the ABA records for most
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 ...
s made (696) and most free throws attempted (805) in one season.
During the
1974-75 ABA season, Calvin helped the Nuggets to a 65-19 record by averaging 7.7 assists per game, both of which were best in the league. However, in the Western Division Finals, Denver was eliminated by Indiana in a seven game series. In 1976, Calvin played while also briefly coaching the Squires. In total during his ABA career, Calvin tallied 10,620 points and 3,067 assists (second in ABA history behind only
Louie Dampier
Louis Dampier (born November 20, 1944) is an American retired professional basketball player.
A 6-foot-tall guard, Dampier is one of only a handful of men to play all nine seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) (1967–1976), all w ...
's 4,044) and appeared in 5 All-Star games.
Calvin joined the Lakers for the
1976–77 NBA season
The 1976–77 NBA season was the 31st season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Portland Trail Blazers winning their first NBA Championship in franchise history, beating the Philadelphia 76ers in six games in the NBA ...
but saw a sharp decline in playing time. He was able to match the same level of production per minute he reached while in the ABA, though. He spent his four seasons in the NBA with five teams—the Lakers, 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 (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...
, the Denver Nuggets (which had joined the NBA in 1976), 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 the
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...
. In the
1978 NBA Playoffs, during his second Denver tenure, Calvin and the Nuggets made it to the Western Conference Finals, before being eliminated by the
Seattle SuperSonics
The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...
.
Calvin retired in 1981 with an NBA career scoring-average of 7.0 points per game.
Coaching career
He coached
Virginia Squires
The Virginia Squires were a basketball team based in Norfolk, Virginia, and playing in several other Virginia cities. They were members of the American Basketball Association from 1970 to 1976.
The team originated in 1967 as the Oakland Oaks, a ...
in the
ABA (1975–76) for six games and
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...
in the
NBA
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 ...
(1991–92, as an interim head coach in February 1992 for two games).
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calvin, Mack
1947 births
Living people
African-American basketball players
American men's basketball players
Basketball coaches from Texas
Basketball players from Texas
Carolina Cougars players
Cleveland Cavaliers players
Continental Basketball Association coaches
Denver Nuggets players
Long Beach City Vikings men's basketball players
Los Angeles Clippers head coaches
Los Angeles Lakers draft picks
Los Angeles Lakers players
Los Angeles Stars draft picks
Los Angeles Stars players
Miami Floridians players
Point guards
San Antonio Spurs players
Sportspeople from Fort Worth, Texas
USC Trojans men's basketball players
Utah Jazz players
Virginia Squires coaches
Virginia Squires players
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American sportspeople
Long Beach Polytechnic High School alumni