RIP George Raveling

[vonnegutnaked2]

College hoops coach/broadcaster. He brought some dudes into Iowa, but never had great success. You could say the same for his time at USC. I didn’t realize he was an assistant for Bob Knight at the ‘84 Olympics.

https://hoopdirt.com/coaching-icon-george-raveling-passes-away/

 

[ChrisLong]

This news is so sad. I covered his USC teams. The last time I saw him was at a restaurant in West L.A. He was past coaching and was working for a shoe company then. He didn't look good. I approached and apologized for bothering him during dinner, but he was friendly and gracious. I re-introduced myself and he cut me off. "I know who you are," he said. "Thanks for coming over. If you ever need anything, give me a call."

Before I got to know him, I wasn't a fan, especially when it became known that when he got the USC job he ran off Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble, Tom Lewis and Jeffty Connelly. He just accepted being accused of running them off, but it eventually came out that previous coach Stan Morrison and assistant David Spencer had circumvented NCAA rules in getting those guys to USC. If they had stayed, USC probably would have wound up on NCAA probation. I grew to really like Raveling. I also covered LMU and got to know Gathers and Kimble as great guys and wondered how they would have done as Trojans. Side note: one year, the WCAC All-Tournament team was Gathers, Kimble, Lewis, Connelly and Corey Gaines (transfered from UCLA to LMU).

One of Raveling's best stories was of him as a college freshman at Villanova. Raveling, who was an imposing figure at 6-foot-7, and a couple of his teammates attended a Martin Luther King speech in Washington D.C. He was grabbed by aides of Dr. King to stand behind him during the speech. After the "I Have A Dream" speech, Dr. King handed him the notes.

From Google: George Raveling received the original "I Have a Dream" speech manuscript from Martin Luther King Jr. at the 1963 March on Washington after volunteering as a security guard at the podium. He kept the historically significant document for decades, declining multi-million dollar offers to buy it, and in 2021, he placed it on "on loan" with Villanova University, where it is currently displayed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

He was a wonderful person. Rest In Peace, George.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

They covered Raveling having the speech in the Amazon Prime movie Air.

 

[micropolitan guy]

George was an excellent coach at Wazzu. His go-to line was, "Pullman's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there."

One time he dressed up in uniform and went through the layup line with the team.

A very funny banquet speaker, and a better-than-average coach. RIP.

 

[ChrisLong]

George was an excellent coach at Wazzu. His go-to line was, "Pullman's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there."

One time he dressed up in uniform and went through the layup line with the team.

A very funny banquet speaker, and a better-than-average coach. RIP.

I have a cousin who lived in Pullman. One of the sons was a "little person" and he was the mascot for the Cougars. They always had high praise for Raveling.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

The guys he brought to Iowa fueled their Elite Eight run under Tom Davis in 1987. Amazing recruiter, and felt like it was a struggle to fit in at Iowa.

Seemed to be a genuinely good guy who cared about his players.

RIP.

 

[Starman]

They covered Raveling having the speech in the Amazon Prime movie Air.

Yeah -- with no explanation. You might have guessed Raveling found it in a recycling bin.

 

[Songbird]

I covered preps at my first paper in Long Beach but because I was in the office 7 days a week they threw me a few bones like the USC hoops game against Augusta State in December 1990. I was 19 and stoked. I spent many Saturday and Sunday afternoons eating Trojans hoops on the TV including Raveling's early days at USC. Their studs in '90-91 were Ronnie Coleman and Harold Miner and Robert Pack. Trojans whomped 'em pretty good. I don't remember many of Raveling's quotes but it was a bit surreal to be in the room with him.

 

[Songbird]

I also covered LMU and got to know Gathers and Kimble as great guys and wondered how they would have done as Trojans.

As freshmen they beat Arkansas by 14, the first unranked non-con to win at Barnhill in several years.

It was the first time as a Trojans diehard where I thought USC coulda been a contenda!

Can you imagine had Kimble, Gathers, and Lewis stayed at 'SC all 4 years?

(Keeping in mind what happened to Gathers.)

 

[MTM]

 

[ChrisLong]

Yeah -- with no explanation. You might have guessed Raveling found it in a recycling bin.

I was under the impression that Dr. King was done and wanted to get rid of the paper. Didn't want to drop it on the ground or look for a trash can, so he just handed it to somebody nearby. Rav was smart enough to keep it.

 

[Starman]

Yeah, I don't think Raveling ever claimed to be a close confidant of MLK or anything, but he was there, and that's a lot more than most people can say.

 

[Shelbyville Manhattan]

Also briefly roommates with Terry Holland. When Lefty Driesell took the Maryland job in 1969, he took Holland with him from the Davidson staff, as the Wildcats hired Larry Brown -- yes, that Larry Brown -- to replace him as head coach. Holland and Raveling were Charles G.'s two lieutenants and bunked together while getting acclimated in College Park. When Brown walked away three months later -- record time, even for him -- over Davidson's admissions standards for recruits, Holland returned.

Many years later, Raveling was one of Lefty's presenters at the Basketball Hall of Fame.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

Raveling appeared at a banquet when he was the coach at Wazzu and told the crowd his bosses wanted him to recruit more white players. “So I did. Willie White. Tyrone White …”

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

As freshmen they beat Arkansas by 14, the first unranked non-con to win at Barnhill in several years.

It was the first time as a Trojans diehard where I thought USC coulda been a contenda!

Can you imagine had Kimble, Gathers, and Lewis stayed at 'SC all 4 years?

(Keeping in mind what happened to Gathers.)

They played at Barnhill in January 1986 (Nolan Richardson's first season, Eddie Sutton had crawled to Lexington and the Razorbacks were awful).

No surprise USC won. I found Mal Florence's advance on that game in the LAT. Probably one of those made-for-TV mid-conference games that Arkansas liked to schedule in the 80s against the likes of North Carolina, Wake Forest, Florida State etc. Usually when at home, those games were scheduled at the 7,000-seat Pine Bluff Convention Center.

The Hogs famously beat the No. 1 Jordan-Worthy-Perkins Tar Heels on a Sunday at the Bluff in 1984 a day after struggling to beat SMU. Still known as the Balentine's Day Massacre.

 

[tapintoamerica]

I was under the impression that Dr. King was done and wanted to get rid of the paper. Didn't want to drop it on the ground or look for a trash can, so he just handed it to somebody nearby. Rav was smart enough to keep it.

He told me the story 25 years ago now. As I recall, he said he asked Dr. King for the speech and King didn’t seem to think the text was that big a deal. “Sure,” he said. For years, Raveling kept it in a safe deposit box in L.A.