Baylor was phenomenal in the playoffs. Baylor played for the Minneapolis / Los Angeles Lakers, appearing in eight NBA Finals.Baylor was a gifted shooter, strong rebounder, and an accomplished passer.Baylor was famous for ⦠Elgin Baylor says hello to nine month old Richard from Firth before the hall of fame induction ceremony at the College of Idaho on June 2, 2017 in Caldwell. Two games into the 1970-71 season Baylor went down with a knee injury that all but ended his career. Elgin Baylor, (born September 16, 1934, Washington, D.C., U.S.), American professional basketball player who is regarded as one of the gameâs greatest forwards. Elgin Baylor was born in 1934 in Washington, D.C., and was named for his fatherâs favorite watch. Growing up in Washington, D.C., Baylor was an excellent basketball player but struggled in school. An inadequate scholastic record kept him out of college until a friend arranged a scholarship at the College of Idaho, where he was expected to play basketball and football. The Lakers had picked up Wilt Chamberlain during the offseason, who with Baylor and West — all future Hall of Famers — scored more than 20 points per game. He received a scholarship to play basketball and football at the College of Idaho. ... An inadequate scholastic record kept him out of college ⦠Put spin on the ball. Once again they ran into the Celtics who were poised for a rout after taking a 3-1series lead. (Otto ⦠The Lakers countered with Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Happy Hairston, and Mel Counts. Elgin Baylor was born in 1934 in Washington, D.C., and was named for his father’s favorite watch. Baylor College-Medicine Academy 2610 Elgin St Houston TX 77004. Lakers great Elgin Baylor averaged 24.9 points, 15 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game (Facebook photo) Among the Lakersâ retired jerseys is the no. Elgin Baylor was born in Washington D.C, United States on Sunday, September 16, 1934 (Silent Generation). Ironically, later that season the Lakers won their first championship since moving to Los Angeles. Baylor averaged 33.4 points during the postseason. But thereâs almost nothing named for Baylor in the nationâs capital. Still, with Baylor (38.3 ppg) and West (30.8 ppg) combining for almost 70 points per game, the Lakers won the Western Division by 11 games and advanced to the NBA Finals. Despite being named Executive of the Year in 2006, his tenure managing the Clippers was marked by mostly losing seasons and clashes with team ownership, and he resigned from his position in 2008. Each particular shot had nothing amazing about it. “Elgin certainly didn’t jump as high as Michael Jordan,” Tommy Hawkins told the San Francisco Examiner. At one time Baylor owned records for most points in a game, in a playoff game, and in one half of a playoff game. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Our editors will review what youâve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Elgin Baylor, American professional basketball player who is regarded as one of the gameâs greatest forwards. His graceful style enabled him to score and rebound with seeming ease. He missed the rest of the campaign and then returned for only nine games in 1971-72 before retiring at age 37. Menu & Reservations Make Reservations . Baylor averaged 27.1 points during the regular season, second on the team to West’s 31.0, and made his seventh consecutive appearance on the All-NBA First Team. Pronunciation: \ELL-jin\ Elgin Gay Baylor Twitter: elginbaylor (Mr. Baylor won named NBA Executive of the Year in 2006, when the Clippers would win their first playoff series since 1976. In what would become a familiar matchup, the Lakers played the Celtics for the championship — and lost. He finished fourth in the league in scoring (24.9 ppg), third in rebounding (15.0 rpg), and eighth in assists (4.1 apg). In 2011, a jury rejected his claim of age discrimination and harassment and declined to award him any damages. Shortly after his playing career came to a close, Baylor tried his hand at coaching. He served two full years in that capacity before replacing Butch van Breda Kolff as head coach early in the 1976-77 campaign. Elgin Baylor Small Forward 6-5, 225 lbs. However, Boston’s young dynasty swept the Lakers in four games. Baylor was essential to the club’s early success with West Coast fans. He led Seattle to the NCAA championships but failed to the Kentucky wildcats Seattle's last trip ⦠The first player to finish in the NBA’s top five in four major categories, Baylor helped the Lakers win the Western Division that year, but they fell to the Celtics again in the NBA Finals. SimLeague Basketball. Baylor was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1976. He would take it in and hang and shoot from all these angles. They surprised everyone by making it to the NBA Finals after playoff victories over the Detroit Pistons and the defending NBA-champion St. Louis Hawks. Two of his older brothers were also basketball players, and Baylor took naturally to the game. Elgin Baylor (22), of the Los Angeles Lakers, makes a basket with Jerry Lucas (16) of the Cincinnati Royals, trying to stop him. In 1965-66 Baylor’s knee problems limited him to 65 games and a 16.6 scoring average. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Because his career paralleled the succession of juggernaut Boston Celtics teams in the 1950s and 1960s, Baylor never played on a club that won an NBA Championship. Elgin Gay Baylor (born September 16, 1934) is a retired American basketball player, coach, and executive.He played 13 seasons as a forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA). His graceful style enabled him to score and rebound with seeming ease. Many observers mention his moves in the same breath with those of Connie Hawkins, Julius Erving and Michael Jordan. Baylor finished his career with 23,149 points, 3,650 assists, and 11,463 rebounds in the 846 league games he played. 2610 Elgin Houston, TX 77004-3202 713-942-1932 fax: 713-942-1943 Accessibility. A high school sports star, he didn’t perform well academically and even dropped out for a while to work in a furniture store and to play basketball in the local recreational leagues. Baylor set the single-game scoring record for the NBA finals when he tallied 61 points against the Boston Celtics in game five of the 1962 finals. In 134 playoff games, he averaged 27.0 points and 12.9 rebounds. The Lakers lost to St. Louis in seven games in the Western Division Finals that season, dropping Game 6 in overtime, 114-113, and Game 7, 105-103. Elgin was named after the gold pocket watch that his father looked at to mark the time of Baylorâs birth. His 71 points in a 1960 game was an NBA record until it was broken by Wilt Chamberlainâs 100 (1962). The year prior to Baylor’s arrival the Lakers finished 19-53 with a team that was slow, bulky and aging. The Lakers remained a winning team throughout those years, although they were constantly overshadowed by the Celtics, who won 11 championships in 13 seasons from 1956-57 through 1968-69. But he played before the days of widespread television exposure, so among the only records of his prowess that remain are the words of those who saw one of the greatest ever to play. Corrections? He just came down the floor, his teammates would clear out an area, and he’d shoot — a jump shot or a driving layup, followed up by a rebound if he missed. The Baylor Bears football team represents Baylor University in Division I FBS college football.They are a member of the Big 12 Conference.After 64 seasons at the off-campus Baylor Stadium, renamed Floyd Casey Stadium in 1989, the Bears opened the new on-campus McLane Stadium for the 2014 season. Bill Sharman played against Baylor and coached him in his final years with the Lakers. Seattle car dealer Ralph Monroe interested Baylor in Seattle University, and Baylor sat out a year to play for an amateur team while establishing eligibility at Seattle. WhatIfSports is the Internet's foremost authority on simulation for baseball, football, hockey, basketball & college sports. He could pass like Magic [Johnson] and dribble with the best guards in the league.”. The 1968-69 season, Baylor’s last full campaign, brought another seven-game Lakers-Celtics Finals, but still no title for Los Angeles. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Menu & Reservations ... 2610 Elgin St Houston TX 77004. Elgin Baylor was drafted with the 1st pick in the 1958 NBA Draft by the Minneapolis Lakers after playing his college ball at Seattle University. Learn more about his life and career. His subsequent heroics in helping the team to the finals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship finalin 1958 drew the attention of the NBA scouts who were out to hunt th⦠Baylor was a gifted shooter, strong rebounder, and an accomplished passer. Unfortunately, Baylor was playing at a time when eligible males were required to perform military service, and his season was curtailed. He registered 55 points in a single game, at the time the third-highest mark in league history behind Joe Fulks’s 63 and Mikan’s 61. Reviews. However, Los Angeles lost to Boston in six games. Since 2004 the Elgin Baylor Classic college basketball tournament has been held each fall in Seattle. Arguably the greatest athlete ever to play for the Coyotes, Elgin Baylor had one of the most remarkable seasons in NAIA history during his 1954-55 run at C of I. Baylor College of Medicine Academy at James D Ryan MS. 2610 Elgin Houston, TX 77004-3202 An inadequate scholastic record kept him out of college until a friend arranged a scholarship at the College of Idaho, where he was expected to play basketball and football. Though he played with some of the finest players in Laker franchise history, including Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and Gail Goodrich, he never won an NBA championship. He was hired by the expansion New Orleans Jazz as an assistant coach for the team’s inaugural 1974-75 season. Click to Learn More about WhatIfSports! Elgin Baylor nalecuhan i Washington, D.C., nanu syubay kanas-mali miunduay nu Amilika NBA nisakaput, pahanhanan tu kawaw ayza. The only major sport invented in the United States, basketball has become a global phenomenon. The Lakers made Baylor, who still had a year of college eligibility left, the first pick in the draft and signed him for $20,000, big bucks in those days. Website. Baylor was a gifted shooter, strong rebounder, and an ⦠The 1966-67 Lakers finished in third place in the Western Division and lost in the playoffs to the San Francisco Warriors and Rick Barry, who led the league with 35.6 points per game. After one season, the college fired the head basketball coach and cut scholarships. His teams failed to reach the playoffs and finished no better than fifth in the Central Division. The next season, the Lakers finished second in the Western Division, then advanced to the 1970 NBA Finals against New York. The Lakers finished the regular season at 25-50 but still made the playoffs as the third-place finisher in the four-team Western Division. After a disappointing 1963-64 campaign, the Lakers won the Western Division and made it back to the NBA Finals the following season. Baylor guided the young Jazz for the rest of that season and for the next two seasons, compiling an 86-135 record. Los Angeles improved slightly in each of the next five seasons, peaking at 45-37 in 1991-92 and earning a playoff berth for the first time since the franchise was known as the Buffalo Braves in 1975-76. After one season, the school dismissed the head basketball coach and restricted the scholarships. In 1962-63, Baylor was no longer spending half his time marching with a rifle and he improved his overall game. Website. True to form, the Lakers lost to the Celtics in the Finals, four games to one. The watch was an Elgin. Get the latest news, stats, videos, highlights and more about not available Elgin Baylor on ESPN. In Game 5, Baylor ripped the net for 41 points and led the Lakers to a 121-117 win in Boston. With Baylor, West, Gail Goodrich and Archie Clark, the Lakers finished second in the Western Division in 1967-68, then blitzed through the playoffs all the way to the NBA Finals. “Elgin did nothing unusual in that game,” former Knicks player Johnny Green told Hoop magazine. The Lakers, several years removed from the glory days of George Mikan, were in trouble on the court and at the gate. Over several weeks, Chamberlain, a Philadelphia kid and the first 7-footer who mattered, scrimmaged Baylor on his home blacktop, just as the local phenom was introducing playground flair to the hoops realm. After taking Game 6, the Lakers ran out of steam as the Celtics escaped with a 95-93 Game 7 win and another title. Baylor ranked fourth with a 26.6 scoring average and returned to both the All-Star Game and the All-NBA First Team after a one-year absence. In 1954, Elgin Baylor left the largely black and wholly segregated metropolis of Washington, D.C., to play basketball at the College of Idaho, a small, almost all-white private institution located in the small, almost all-white town of Caldwell in ⦠NBA.com is part of Warner Media, LLC’s Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network. That same season, Baylor appeared in the NBA All-Star Game and shared the game’s Most Valuable Player honors with the Hawks’ Bob Pettit. After his playing career ended, Baylor coached the New Orleans Jazz (1974â79). He resigned from his post in L.A. in October of 2008 and filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the team in February 2009, claiming he was “discriminated against and unceremoniously released from his position with the team on account of his age and his race.”. He was and he did. The Lakers actually held a three-games-to-two lead in the Finals before the Celtics pulled out Games 6 and 7, clinching the series with a 108-106 victory in Los Angeles. “I say without reservation that Elgin Baylor is the greatest cornerman who ever played pro basketball,” he told the Los Angeles Times at Baylor’s retirement in 1971. Elgin Baylor starred for Seattle University in the 1950s before going on to play, coach and manage in the NBA. Baylor’s statue was, at the time, the sixth that decorates the front of Staples Center, joining Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Jerry West and Chick Hearn. In 1961-62, Baylor hit his stride along with hotshot second-year guard Jerry West. At season’s end, he was an easy choice for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. Elgin Baylor (born September 16, 1934) is an American former basketball player, coach, and executive. He is 86 years old and is a Virgo. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elgin-Baylor, NBA Encyclopedia Playoff Edition - Biography of Elgin Gay Baylor, Elgin Baylor - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Elgin Baylor is a Virgo and was born in The Year of the Dog Life. 1 overall pick in the 1958 NBA Draft to select Baylor after his junior year, then convinced him to pass up his final college season and join the pro ranks. Elgin Baylor. He was selected with the first overall pick of the 1958 National Basketball Association (NBA) draft by the Minneapolis Lakers (which relocated to Los Angeles in 1960) and earned Rookie of the Year honours in his initial season with the Lakers. The Minneapolis Lakers used the No. Elgin Gay Baylor (born September 16, 1934) is an American former basketball player, coach, and executive. He averaged 34.8 points in that first California season, second in the league behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 38.4. He also snared 25 rebounds that night. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).