Greg Kelser

Kelser grew up in a military family, spending part of his childhood in Okinawa. He credits his exposure to military discipline with contributing to his later success in athletics.[1]

Upon graduating from Detroit Henry Ford High School in 1975, Kelser was brought to Michigan State by Gus Ganakas, who left the head coach position after Kelser's freshman season.[1] His impressive on-court skills earned him the sobriquet "Special K", after the locally-made cereal.[2] In his junior year (the freshman year for Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Jay Vincent) under coach Jud Heathcote, the Spartans squad had an impressive season, racking up a 25–5 record, the Big Ten Conference title, and a berth in the 1978 NCAA tournament,[3] where they made it to the regional finals before losing narrowly to eventual champion Kentucky.[4] As a senior, he along with Johnson led the Spartans to the 1979 NCAA tournament championship, the first in the school's history. He was often on the receiving end of spectacular alley-oop passes from Johnson. He later wrote a book about his basketball experiences at MSU.[5]

Kelser finished his career at Michigan State as a 2-time Academic All-American, something he credits Jud Heathcote for keeping him on task to achieve. He was the very first Big-10 player, and remains the only player in Spartan Basketball history, to score over 2,000 points with over 1,000 rebounds.[6]

He was drafted by the Pistons in 1979, but was later traded to the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for Vinnie Johnson in 1981. Kelser also spent a season with the San Diego Clippers and part of a season with the Indiana Pacers. Kelser noted that Larry Bird brutally went after Kelser whenever one of Kelser's teams played Boston, surmising that this was because Kelser's Michigan State team beat Bird's Indiana State Sycamores for the 1979 title; Kelser also said that he never sought or wanted to have a friendly relationship with Bird (Bird said when asked for a response that he didn't recall Kelser ever doing anything of note in the NBA).

Since leaving the NBA, Kelser has worked extensively as a sports announcer and/or commentator on radio and television.[2] He is a commentator for Pistons games on Fox Sports Detroit with his partner George Blaha and on the Big Ten Network.

Kelser, who likes to diversify his activities, has had many interests away from basketball, including collecting soul and jazz records, fishing for silver bass and walleye, playing softball, criminal law, with a special interest in juvenile delinquents, and he has worked in a Lansing, Michigan television station in which he and Magic Johnson had a vested interest.[7]

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 2000 points and 1000 rebounds

• Career NBA stats