George Raveling

On August 28, 1963, as Martin Luther King Jr. waved goodbye to an audience of over 250,000 "March on Washington" participants, Raveling asked King if he could have the speech. King handed Raveling the original typewritten "I Have a Dream" pages.[12] Raveling was on the podium with King at that moment, having volunteered to provide security.[13] He still has the original, and had been offered more than three million dollars for the speech.[14][15]

Hired in Pullman in April 1972,[1][6][10][16] Raveling was the first African-American basketball coach in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8, now Pac-12).[11] He guided the Washington State Cougars from 1972–1983 with two NCAA tournament appearances during his eleven years. The first was in 1980 and marked the first time WSU was included in the NCAA bracket since the runner-up finish in 1941; the second was three years later in 1983. Raveling was one of the winningest coaches in Washington State basketball history, with a 167–136 (.551) record and seven winning seasons, including five straight from the 1975–76 campaign through the 1980 season.

While at WSU, Raveling was the West Regional coach at the 1979 U.S. Olympic Sports Festival, and an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1980.

Among his outstanding players were James Donaldson, Craig Ehlo, Don Collins, Bryan Rison, and Steve Harriel, who all earned All-Pac-10 first team honors. Donaldson went on to play in the NBA for 14 years and was on the Western Conference team for the All-Star Game in 1988. Collins played in both the NBA and CBA after setting the WSU record for career steels and finishing third in scoring. Ehlo, a junior college transfer from Texas, was selected in the third round of the 1983 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets; he played fourteen seasons with four NBA teams, amassing respectable career totals of 7,492 points, 2,456 assists, and 3,139 rebounds.

Raveling was the UPI Pac-8 Coach of the Year winner in 1976, its coach of the year in 1976 and 1983, and was the national runner-up for AP coach of the year in 1983.[17] He was honored by WSU with his induction into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor.

Raveling succeeded Lute Olson as head coach at the University of Iowa in April 1983,[18][19][20] and guided the Hawkeyes to consecutive 20-win seasons and NCAA tournament berths in 1985 and 1986.

At the Olympics in 1984 in Los Angeles, he served as the assistant coach for the USA team, composed of collegians. Bob Knight was the head coach, and Steve Alford and Michael Jordan were guards on that team. Shooting 63.9 percent from the floor, the U.S. team captured the ninth Olympic title with a convincing 96–65 victory over Spain in the gold medal game.

During his three years at Iowa, Raveling is probably best known for his recruits and outstanding players, including B.J. Armstrong, Kevin Gamble, Ed Horton, Roy Marble, and Greg Stokes, all of whom went on to play in the NBA.

In March 1986, he returned to the Pac-10 as head coach for the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles.[21]

Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble were recruited to USC by Head Coach Stan Morrison and his top assistant, David Spencer. They were joined by high school All-American, Tom Lewis, and Rich Grande as the "Four Freshmen" star recruiting class.[22][23] Following an 11–17 season coaching USC, Morrison and Spencer were fired after the 1985–86 season was over, despite winning the Pac-10 the previous year. It was reported that the players would not remain unless certain conditions were met, including having a say in the next coaching staff.[22] USC hired Raveling as the next head coach of the Trojans.[24] Raveling gave the players a deadline to respond whether they would remain on the team. When they did not respond, he revoked the scholarships of Gathers, Kimble, and Lewis.[25] Raveling's controversial[26] statement was, "You can't let the Indians run the reservation," he said. "You've got to be strong, too. Sometimes you have to tell them that they have to exit."[22] Kimble and Gathers transferred together from USC to Loyola Marymount. Lewis transferred to Pepperdine. Grande remained at USC.

During Raveling's career at USC, the Trojans advanced to the NCAA tournament in 1991 and 1992 and competed in the NIT in 1993 and 1994.

Raveling was named Kodak National Coach of the Year (1992), Basketball Weekly Coach of the Year (1992), Black Coaches Association Coach of the Year (1992) and CBS/Chevrolet National Coach of the Year (1994).

Raveling and Sonny Vaccaro had been close friends, to the point that he was the best man at Sonny's second wedding. But, Raveling had a falling out with Sonny over the business of summer high school basketball camps that Sonny ran.[27]

On the morning of September 25, 1994, Raveling's Jeep was blindsided in a two-car collision in Los Angeles. He was seriously injured, suffering nine broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and clavicle, and a collapsed lung.[28][29] He was in intensive care due to bleeding in his chest cavity for two weeks.[30] Citing the automobile accident and planned lengthy rehabilitation, he retired as head coach of USC at the age of 57 on November 14.[31][32][33]