William Quinn Buckner (born August 20, 1954) is an American former professional

basketball 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 ...

player and coach. He played collegiate basketball for the Indiana University Hoosiers, and won a national championship in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

. He was a captain of both the last undefeated NCAA Division I basketball champion and the 1976 Olympics gold medal team. Buckner was selected by the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

with the 7th pick of the 1976 NBA draft. He had a ten-year NBA career for three teams (the Bucks, the Boston Celtics, and the Indiana Pacers). In

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, he won an NBA title with the Celtics. Buckner is one of only eight players in history to win an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

championship, an NBA championship, and an Olympic gold medal. He is one of only three players in history to win a

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

state championship, NCAA championship, an NBA championship, and an Olympic gold medal. He also was a State Champion while playing high school basketball in Illinois. In addition to his playing career, Buckner was the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks for one year, from 1993 to 1994. Currently, Buckner is a color analyst for the Indiana Pacers television broadcast team on Bally Sports Indiana. Buckner also was the play-by-play announcer on

989 Sports 989 Studios was a division of Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) that developed games for PlayStation consoles and Windows personal computers. Their games include ''EverQuest'', '' Twisted Metal III'', ''Twisted Metal 4'', ''Syphon Filte ...

line of college basketball games for several years.

Early life

Born in 1954 in Phoenix, Illinois, Buckner played basketball at

Thornridge High School Thornridge High School is a public four-year high school located in Dolton, Illinois, a suburb about 20 miles south of Chicago. The school is part of Thornton Township High School District 205. Thornridge High School first opened to the public i ...

Dolton, Illinois Dolton (pronounced "DAWL-ton") is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 21,426 at the 2020 census. Dolton is located just west of the expressway Interstate 94 and immediately south of the city limits of Chicago. Its ...

. His Falcons lost only one game during his junior and senior seasons and won back-to-back state titles. The 1972 team was undefeated, with no team coming within 14 points of it, and is often cited as the greatest team in the history of Illinois high school basketball. Buckner was also an excellent football player, making all-state in high school. He is the only person ever named Chicago area Player of the Year for both football and basketball. In 2006, Buckner was voted as one of the

100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) celebrated 100 years of the IHSA State Tournament in the 2006-07 season. A list of "100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament" was assembled on December 14, 2005. Throughout the state, 281 ind ...

, a group of former players and coaches in honor of the 100 anniversary of the IHSA boys basketball tournament.

College career

Buckner elected to play college basketball for the Indiana University Hoosiers under Coach Bob Knight. He ended his college career as a four-year starter and three-year captain at Indiana, and also played football for one year. He seemed to get along with volatile Coach Knight better than any other player in the Hoosiers' history. "The one thing that I learned early was to respect authority figures, right or wrong", Buckner told the '' Dallas Morning News'' concerning his relationship with Knight. In Buckner's freshman season, 1972–73, Indiana reached the Final Four, losing to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. He played for the

United States men's national basketball team The USA Basketball Men's National Team, commonly known as the United States men's national basketball team, is the basketball team representing the United States. They are the most successful team in international competition, winning medals in ...

in the

1974 FIBA World Championship The 1974 FIBA World Championship was the 7th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. It was hosted by Puerto Rico from July 3 to 14, 1974. The tournament was won by the Soviet Union. Venues Comp ...

, winning the bronze medal. In two consecutive seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, the Hoosiers were undefeated in the regular season and won 37-consecutive Big Ten games. The 1974–75 Hoosiers swept the entire Big Ten by an average of 22.8 points per game. However, in an 83–82 win against Purdue they lost consensus All-American forward Scott May to a broken left arm. With May's injury keeping him to 7 minutes of play, the No. 1 Hoosiers lost to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

92–90 in the Mideast Regional. Buckner, along with three of his teammates, would make the five-man All-Big Ten team. The following season, 1975–76, Buckner served as a co-captain and the Hoosiers went the entire season and 1976 NCAA tournament without a single loss, beating

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

86–68 in the title game. Indiana remains the last school to accomplish this feat.

NBA career

In Buckner's 10-year NBA career he was a tough defender, a solid playmaker, and a stabilizing force in any lineup. At various stages he filled the role of team leader and trusty reserve. Although he scored only 10.0 points per game during his college career, Buckner was selected by the

in the first round of the 1976 NBA draft, the seventh pick overall. He was also selected by the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

in the 1976 NFL Draft. (Buckner had played free safety on the Hoosiers’ football team for two years.) Before he joined the Bucks, Buckner played on the gold medal-winning 1976 U.S. Olympic basketball team alongside Adrian Dantley,

Mitch Kupchak Mitchell Kupchak (born May 24, 1954) is an American professional basketball executive and retired player. He is the current president of basketball operations and general manager of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NB ...

, and Scott May. But nothing could have prepared him for the NBA experience. Buckner's teams had suffered only 25 defeats in his eight years of high school and college basketball, and he had never been on a team that lost more than seven games in a season. But Milwaukee lost 52 times in 1976–77, finishing last in the Midwest Division. Individually, Buckner proved to be a competent NBA player. He was unspectacular offensively, averaging 8.6 points while shooting .434 from the field, but he excelled on defense, ranking fourth in the league with 2.43 steals per game. The next year Buckner raised his scoring slightly, to 9.3 points per game, and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team. That postseason, Buckner set a playoffs career-high with 19 points alongside recording 10 assists in a Game 7 loss against the Denver Nuggets in the conference semifinals (the Bucks were in the Western Conference at the time). After a similar season in 1978–79, Buckner had his three best years. In 1979–80 he averaged 10.7 points and 5.7 assists, made the NBA All-Defensive Second Team for the second time, and helped the Bucks to the Midwest Division title. Under Coach Don Nelson, Milwaukee had assembled a solid lineup that included forward

Marques Johnson Marques Kevin Johnson (born February 8, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player who is a basketball analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks on Bally Sports Wisconsin. He played as a small forward in the National Basketball Associat ...

, center

Bob Lanier Robert Jerry Lanier Jr. (September 10, 1948 – May 10, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who was a center for the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lanier was inducted in ...

, and guards

Brian Winters Brian Joseph Winters (born March 1, 1952) is an American former basketball player and coach. Career Winters attended academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New York, graduating in 1970. He then played collegia ...

Sidney Moncrief Sidney Alvin Moncrief (born September 21, 1957) is an American former professional basketball player. As an NCAA college basketball player from 1975 to 1979, Moncrief played for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, leading them to the 1978 F ...

, and

Junior Bridgeman Ulysses Lee "Junior" Bridgeman (born September 17, 1953) is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Bridgeman played in the National Basketball League (NBA) for twelve years from 1975 until 1987, beginning with the Milw ...

. The 1980–81 campaign saw Buckner play in all 82 games and notch career highs in scoring (13.3 ppg), field-goal percentage (.493), free-throw percentage (.734), and steals (197, third in the league). He repeated on the NBA All-Defensive Second Team. The Bucks were outstanding, finishing 60–22 with a balanced offense that saw seven players average in double figures. Milwaukee had high hopes for the postseason, but

Julius Erving Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player ...

's Philadelphia 76ers derailed the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Buckner had established a reputation as a solid, dependable player with good fundamentals. He was never going to be a flashy player or a big scorer; his low-trajectory shot was jokingly said to have been responsible for more bent rims than

Darryl Dawkins Darryl R. Dawkins (January 11, 1957 – August 27, 2015) was an American professional basketball player. He was particularly known for his tenure with the National Basketball Association's Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets, although he als ...

's dunks. "My strength is defense," he said in the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

''. "Another is my overall knowledge of the game and being able to get everybody involved in the game. I’ve never had an illusion that shooting is one of my strengths. In fact, it was a very known weakness that I had.…You play with a lot of pride and work hard every night out." Milwaukee was trying to add a few essential parts that would turn the team into a championship contender, and the bottleneck at guard made Buckner expendable. Before the 1982–83 season he was traded to the Boston Celtics for center

Dave Cowens David William Cowens ( ; born October 25, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player and NBA head coach. At , he played the center position and occasionally played power forward. Cowens spent most of his playing career with the B ...

. When Boston signed Buckner,

Red Auerbach Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (September 20, 1917 – October 28, 2006) was an American professional basketball coach and executive. He served as a head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), most notably with the Boston Celtics. ...

told the ''Boston Globe'', "He's a winner, a leader. He rises to the occasion. He has a good personality, he's team oriented, and he's disciplined." Buckner added, "I’ve always admired the Boston style of play, and I feel I can play it." Milwaukee never did win the title. Boston, however, won a championship in 1984, with Buckner coming off the bench to spell Dennis Johnson and

Gerald Henderson Jerome McKinley "Gerald" Henderson Sr. (born January 16, 1956) is an American retired basketball player. He was a combo guard who had a 13-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1979 until 1992. He played for the Boston C ...

. The Celtics went 62–20 during the regular season and then nudged the Los Angeles Lakers in a seven-game NBA Finals. With the NBA championship ring, Buckner completed an impressive résumé. In three seasons with Boston, Buckner made small but regular contributions for a powerful Celtics team. The club returned to the Finals in 1985, but the Lakers exacted their revenge, winning in six games. Following the season, Boston traded Buckner to the Indiana Pacers for guard

Jerry Sichting Jerry Lee Sichting (born November 29, 1956) is an American basketball coach and retired player of the National Basketball Association (NBA). High school career Jerry Sichting, the , point guard from Martinsville, Indiana, attended Martinsv ...

. He opened the 1985–86 season with the Pacers but was waived after 32 games, and subsequently retired, ending his 10-year career.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left" , 1976–77 , style="text-align:left" ,

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

, 79 , , – , , 26.5 , , .434 , , – , , .539 , , 3.3 , , 4.7 , , 2.4 , , 0.3 , , 8.6 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1977–78 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 82 , , – , , 25.3 , , .468 , , – , , .645 , , 3.0 , , 5.6 , , 2.3 , , 0.2 , , 9.3 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1978–79 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 81 , , – , , 21.7 , , .454 , , – , , .632 , , 2.6 , , 5.8 , , 1.9 , , 0.2 , , 7.2 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1979–80 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 67 , , – , , 25.2 , , .467 , , .400 , , .734 , , 3.6 , , 5.7 , , 2.0 , , 0.1 , , 10.7 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1980–81 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 82 , , – , , 29.1 , , .493 , , .167 , , .734 , , 3.6 , , 4.7 , , 2.4 , , 0.0 , , 13.3 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1981–82 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 70 , , 70 , , 30.8 , , .482 , , .267 , , .655 , , 3.6 , , 4.7 , , 2.5 , , 0.0 , , 12.9 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1982–83 , style="text-align:left" ,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, 72 , , 56 , , 21.7 , , .442 , , .000 , , .632 , , 2.6 , , 3.8 , , 1.5 , , 0.1 , , 7.9 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1983–84 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 79 , , 0 , , 15.8 , , .427 , , .000 , , .649 , , 1.7 , , 2.7 , , 1.1 , , 0.0 , , 4.1 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1984–85 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 75 , , 6 , , 11.4 , , .383 , , .000 , , .640 , , 1.2 , , 2.0 , , 0.8 , , 0.0 , , 2.4 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1985–86 , style="text-align:left" ,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, 32 , , 3 , , 13.1 , , .471 , , .000 , , .704 , , 1.6 , , 2.7 , , 1.3 , , 0.1 , , 3.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 719 , , 135 , , 22.6 , , .461 , , .184 , , .657 , , 2.7 , , 4.3 , , 1.9 , , 0.1 , , 8.2

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left" , 1977–78 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 9 , , – , , 28.6 , , .500 , , – , , .652 , , 3.0 , , 6.9 , , 2.0 , , 0.1 , , 11.2 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1979–80 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 7 , , – , , 23.6 , , .340 , , .000 , , .636 , , 2.3 , , 4.4 , , 2.1 , , 0.0 , , 6.1 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1980–81 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 7 , , – , , 26.1 , , .433 , , .000 , , .688 , , 2.9 , , 5.0 , , 1.6 , , 0.0 , , 9.0 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1982–83 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 7 , , – , , 14.0 , , .432 , , .000 , , .000 , , 1.4 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 4.6 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1983–84 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 23 , , – , , 11.7 , , .405 , , .000 , , .545 , , 1.5 , , 1.2 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 3.3 , - , style="text-align:left" , 1984–85 , style="text-align:left" ,

, 15 , , 0 , , 5.7 , , .591 , , .000 , , .625 , , 0.5 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 0.0 , , 2.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 68 , , 0 , , 15.5 , , .439 , , .000 , , .610 , , 1.7 , , 2.5 , , 0.9 , , 0.0 , , 5.1

Broadcasting career

He later on became a broadcaster for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. He also called college and NBA basketball for

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...

and called games for the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

in the early 1990s with

Kevin Harlan Kevin Harlan (born June 21, 1960) is an American television and radio sports announcer. The son of former Green Bay Packers executive Bob Harlan, he broadcasts NFL and college basketball games on CBS and the NBA for TNT. 2022 will be his 38th ...

, as well as games for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Buckner is the color commentator for Indiana Pacers television broadcasts (on

Fox Sports Indiana Bally Sports Indiana (BSIN) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local professional and high school sports coverage throughout the state of Ind ...

from 1999 to 2021 and Bally Sports Indiana since 2021). Buckner participates in community relations efforts and contributes to Pacers TipOff, a game preview newsletter distributed via e-mail for every home Pacers game.

Coaching career

He was named head coach of the Dallas Mavericks for 1993–94. The club had gone 11–71 the previous season, and the franchise was in disarray. Although Buckner had no NBA coaching experience, Mavericks owner Don Carter hoped Buckner's charismatic personality and lifelong knack for winning would rub off on the young team. In an interview with the ''

Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

'', Buckner repeated his success formula: "Dedication, commitment, extreme concentration, discipline, realizing it can’t be done alone, it has to be done through the team." Believing that his young charges needed more discipline, Buckner determined from the start to be a stern taskmaster in Knight's mold. Knight had advised Buckner that he would only be able to win in the NBA if he ran his team with an iron hand. The plan backfired, with many of the players (including Jamal Mashburn) complaining publicly about Buckner's heavy-handed coaching style. NBA historian Peter Bjarkman even suggested that Buckner frequently consulted with Knight during the season. They started 1–23, and for a while it looked like they would break the 1972–73 Philadelphia 76ers' record for the most losses in a season. Buckner loosened the reins a little bit as the season wore on, but it was not enough to keep the team from finishing 13–69—by far the worst record in the league, and at the time the worst record ever for a rookie coach who managed to survive for a full season (surpassed by Bill Hanzlik with the 1997–98 Denver Nuggets). Buckner also angered Carter and other executives by not consulting them on hiring assistant coaches; they only learned about those hires when they called and asked how much they would get for moving expenses. Although Buckner had a five-year contract, Carter decided that "too many bridges had been burned" and fired him after the season. In July 2004, Buckner was named the Vice President of Communications for Pacers Sports & Entertainment (PS&E), which owns and operates the Indiana Pacers, the WNBA's Indiana Fever and the Pacers Foundation, Inc. Buckner was appointed to serve a 3-year term on the

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

Board of Trustees by then-Indiana governor Mike Pence in June 2016.

Head coaching record

, - , style="text-align:left",

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, style="text-align:left", , 82 , , 13 , , 69 , , , , style="text-align:center", 6th in Midwest , , – , , – , , – , , , style="text-align:center", Missed Playoffs , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left", Career , , , 82 , , 13 , , 69 , , , , style="text-align:center", , , – , , – , , – , , , ,

Personal life

Buckner has four children with his wife Rhonda; Jason, Cory, Lauren and Alexsandra. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

References

External links

Indiana Pacers: Quinn Buckner, Cable TV Color Analyst

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckner, Quinn 1954 births Living people African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Illinois Boston Celtics players College basketball announcers in the United States Dallas Mavericks head coaches Indiana Hoosiers football players Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players Indiana Pacers announcers Indiana Pacers players Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Milwaukee Bucks draft picks Milwaukee Bucks players Minnesota Timberwolves announcers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Point guards Sportspeople from Cook County, Illinois United States men's national basketball team players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople 1974 FIBA World Championship players