Stanley Washington (born January 23, 1952) 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

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). He 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

San Diego Toreros The San Diego Toreros are the 17 teams representing the University of San Diego of San Diego, California in intercollegiate athletics. The Toreros compete in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of the National Collegiate At ...

, and left as the school's career scoring leader with 1,472 points, a record that stood for 34 years until it was broken by Gyno Pomare in 2008. Washington's career total of 451 assists was also a Toreros record until 1996, when it was broken by

David Fizdale David Sean Fizdale (born June 16, 1974) is an American professional basketball manager. He is currently the assistant general manager for the Utah Jazz. He previously was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, the head coach for the New Yo ...

. Washington played high school ball in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where he was recruited by Marquette,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

and

Loyola Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States. Its namesake is Saint Ignat ...

. He instead chose to attend the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

(USD), believing that he could contribute more as a

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at a small-college school, which did not depend as much on big, dominant

centers Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

. Wanting to improve his skills to play professionally, he also thought that a large school would only value his shooting and not allow him to improve on defense. At the time, USD was an

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

affilitate. Washington played on the freshman team and then three years of varsity under Toreros coach

Bernie Bickerstaff Bernard Tyrone Bickerstaff (born February 11, 1944) is an American basketball coach and front office executive, currently serving as the Senior Basketball Advisor for the Cleveland Cavaliers. As a coach, he previously worked as the head coach for ...

. As a senior in 1974, he broke the school career scoring record of 1,234 set by Russ Cravens over four seasons (1959–1963). After college, Washington was selected by the

in the fourth round of the

1974 NBA draft The 1974 NBA draft was the 28th annual NBA Draft, draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 28, 1974, before the 1974–75 NBA season, 1974–75 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur ...

with the 66th overall pick (the franchise changed its name from the Capital Bullets prior to the start of the 1974–75 season). He was reunited with Bickerstaff, who had left USD to become an assistant coach for the Bullets in 1973–74. Washington appeared in one regular season game for the Bullets on October 19, 1974, when he was scoreless in four minutes while attempting one shot. Four days later, he was released by the team so that they could sign Jimmy Jones, who had been a seven-year veteran and All-Star in the rival

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). After a few tryouts with ABA teams later that season, Washington retired from basketball. Washington is the only Torero to have played in the NBA. He was inducted into USD's athletics hall of fame in 2010.

References

External links

Stan Washington
@ The Draft Review {{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Stan 1952 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Washington, D.C. Capital Bullets draft picks Point guards San Diego Toreros men's basketball players Washington Bullets players