Murray Neal Wier (December 12, 1926 – April 6, 2016), nicknamed "Rampaging Redhead" and "Wizard Wier," was an American professional basketball player for the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (now the present-day Atlanta Hawks) and the

Waterloo Hawks The Waterloo Hawks were a National Basketball League and National Basketball Association team based in Waterloo, Iowa. The Hawks remain the only sports franchise ever based in Iowa from any of the current Big Four Leagues. Franchise history ...

. He is better known for his standout college career at the University of Iowa, however, when in 1947–48 he was named a consensus first team All-American and was also the inaugural National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Major College scoring leader at 21.0 points per game.

Early life

Wier was born in

Grandview, Iowa Grandview is a city in Louisa County, Iowa, United States. The population was 437 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Muscatine Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Grandview was laid out in 1841 by Alvin Clark and Robert Child ...

. He attended Grandview High School from his

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

through junior years before moving to Muscatine, Iowa. He then spent his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

year in 1943–44 at Muscatine High School, from which he graduated. He led Muscatine High School to a district championship with a 50–37 win over their archrival, Davenport High School, and was named a first team all-state selection by the '' Des Moines Register'' and Iowa Daily Press Association. After his breakout senior season, University of Iowa head men's basketball coach

Pops Harrison Lawrence C. "Pops" Harrison (August 29, 1906 – August 19. 1967) was an American basketball coach and administrator. He was the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball, Iowa Hawkeyes from 1942 to 1950. Harrison was born and raised in Io ...

offered him a full scholarship to play for the

Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

Career

College

Harrison made Wier a four-year starter at Iowa. In his freshman season of 1944–45, the Hawkeyes won the Big Ten Conference season championship. Wier was a , 155 lb (70 kg) guard but played more of a hybrid position, utilizing his dribbling and shooting guard abilities while technically lining up as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. The Hawkeyes were fairly successful over the rest of Wier's career and eventually finished second to the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

for the conference championship during his senior season in 1947–48. Wier led the Hawkeyes in scoring in both his junior and senior years at 15.1 and 21.0 points per game (ppg), respectively. Like he did in high school, he had a breakout senior year. His 21.0 ppg led the NCAA in scoring en route to Wier becoming the first officially recognized Major College division scoring leader. In the process, he set a then-Big Ten record of 272 points in conference play, was a first team all-conference selection and was also dubbed the Big Ten's Most Valuable Player. He capped his career off by being named a consensus first team All-American.

Professional

Wier was drafted 48th overall in the 1948 Basketball Association of America Draft by the Fort Wayne Pistons. Although he was drafted by the Pistons, he did not play for them. He began his career in 1948 with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, who originally played in the National Basketball League (NBL). Before the 1949–50 season, the BAA and NBL merged to form the present-day

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 ...

. In 1949–50, Wier's second season with the Blackhawks, he played for Red Auerbach, who would later win 10 NBA titles as a head coach. After three years with the Blackhawks, Wier then spent one final season playing professional basketball when he joined the

of the National Professional Basketball League. When the league folded, his basketball career as a player ended.

Later life

After professional basketball, Wier became an assistant coach at

Waterloo East High School Waterloo East High School in Waterloo, Iowa, United States is a public high school consisting of approximately 1000 students in grades 9–12. It is a part of the Waterloo Community School District. History The school was founded at its cur ...

for the boys' basketball team. He was the head coach for 24 years and compiled an overall record of 374 wins versus 140 losses, including winning the state championship in 1974. That same season he was named the Iowa State Coach of the Year. Weir was also the head men's tennis coach for 10 years before retiring in 1989. Aside from coaching, Wier also served as the high school's athletic director for 34 years. Wier lived in Georgetown, Texas in a retirement community called

Sun City Texas Sun City Texas is a age-restricted community located in Georgetown, Texas, a city 35 miles north of Austin off Interstate 35. It is part of the chain of Sun City communities started by Del Webb. Del Webb, a publicly traded company when Sun Cit ...

. He was a member of the NBA Retired Players Association. Wier died on April 6, 2016.

References