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One of the best basketball players to ever come out of the state of Kentucky has died. His family announced via Twitter Tuesday morning that Wes Unseld had passed away at the age of 74 following a long health battle.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1946, Unseld starred on a Seneca High School team that won two state championships. He was among four players from the 1963 state tournament ended up in the NBA: Unseld, Clem Haskins, Princeton’s Greg Smith and Bobby Washington. Unseld stayed in his hometown to attend the University of Louisville, where he averaged 20.6 points and 18.9 rebounds during his varsity career while shooting .558 from the floor. Unseld was a consensus All-American as a senior in 1967-68.
In the 1968 NBA Draft the Baltimore Bullets made Unseld the second overall pick, behind the San Diego Rockets’ selection of Elvin Hayes, who would become Unseld’s teammate in later years.
In the 1968-69 season, Wes Unseld claimed both MVP and Rookie of the Year honors. He finished the season averaging 13.8 points and 18.2 rebounds (his 1,491 total rebounds were second only to Wilt Chamberlain’s 1,712) and was named both Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player. Chamberlain is the only other player in NBA history to have won both awards in the same season, accomplishing that feat in 1959-60.
Unseld’s greatest triumph came in 1977-78, when he led the Washington Bullets to their only NBA championship. It was a true team effort. No Bullets player ranked in the NBA’s top 20 in scoring, but the club had six double-figure scorers, led by Hayes (19.7 ppg) and Bob Dandridge (19.3). For the season, Unseld scored 7.6 ppg (ninth on the team) and yanked down 11.9 rpg (10th in the NBA).
The next season Washington posted a 54-28 record and fought back into the NBA Finals, although it took a pair of seven-game series to get there. The Bullets faced the SuperSonics again, but Seattle coach Lenny Wilkens had his team ready, and the Sonics took the crown in five games.
Unseld made the 1980-81 season his last, finally succumbing to the aching knees that had plagued him for several years. He went out as he came in, leading the club in rebounding with 10.7 rpg.
During his 13-year NBA career, all with the Bullets, Unseld piled up many accomplishments. He ranked seventh on the league’s all-time rebounding list and was one of a handful of players to have tallied at least 10,000 points and 10,000 rebounds for a career. He played 984 games for the Bullets, the most of any player in franchise history. His total of 13,769 boards (14.0 rpg) currently tops the franchise career list, and his 3,822 assists also is a Bullets record.
In 1981, on the heels of his retirement, Unseld was given an executive position in the Bullets organization. In 1988, he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
(Information courtesy NBA.Com)
