Slater Martin

Slater Nelson "Dugie" Martin Jr.[1] (October 22, 1925 – October 18, 2012) was an American professional basketball player and coach who was a playmaking guard for 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born in Elmina, Walker County, Texas and played in seven NBA All-Star Games.

Slater Martin
Personal information
Born(1925-10-22)October 22, 1925
Elmina, Texas
DiedOctober 18, 2012(2012-10-18) (aged 86)
Houston, Texas
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Listed weight170 lb (77 kg)
Career information
High schoolJefferson Davis
(Houston, Texas)
CollegeTexas (1943–1944, 1946–1949)
Playing career1949–1960
PositionPoint guard
Number22, 7
Career history
As player:
1949–1956Minneapolis Lakers
1956New York Knicks
1956–1960St. Louis Hawks
As coach:
1957St. Louis Hawks
1967–1969Houston Mavericks
Career highlights and awards
Career statistics
Points7,337 (9.8 ppg)
Rebounds2,302 (3.4 rpg)
Assists3,160 (4.2 apg)
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Basketball Hall of Fame as player
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2006

Martin was one of the NBA's best defensive players in the 1950s, playing for the George Mikan-led Minneapolis Lakers that won four NBA championships between 1950 and 1954.[2] In 1956, he joined Bob Pettit's St. Louis Hawks and won another NBA title in 1958.[3]

Martin, circa 1953–54

Martin was an alumnus of Jefferson Davis High School in Houston, where he led his school to two state basketball championships in 1942 and 1943. He is also a graduate of University of Texas at Austin, where he set a scoring record in 1949 with 49 points in a game for the Longhorns against Texas Christian University (or TCU).[3] Throughout his career with the Longhorns, he averaged 12.7 points per game.[4] His former high school now holds an annual fund raiser in his name, the "Slater Martin Golf Tournament", which successfully raises tens of thousands of dollars each year for high school student clubs and athletic teams.

He was head coach of the Houston Mavericks of the American Basketball Association in the 1967–68 season and part of 1968–69,[3] and led the Mavericks into the 1968 ABA Playoffs.

Martin was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on May 3, 1982 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is the only Longhorn to be so honored. His jersey number 15 was retired by the University of Texas on January 31, 2009, making him only the second Longhorn basketball player to have his number retired.

He died of a brief illness on October 18, 2012, in Houston, Texas, aged 86, and is survived by sons Slater Jr and Jim.[3]

NBA career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
 †  Won an NBA championship

Regular season
Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1949–50† Minneapolis 67 – .351 .634 – 2.2 4.0
1950–51 Minneapolis 68 – .362 .684 3.6 3.5 8.5
1951–52† Minneapolis 66 37.6 .375 .747 3.5 3.8 9.3
1952–53† Minneapolis 70 36.5 .410 .780 2.7 3.6 10.6
1953–54† Minneapolis 69 35.8 .388 .724 2.4 2.9 9.9
1954–55 Minneapolis 72 38.7 .381 .769 3.6 5.9 13.6
1955–56 Minneapolis 72 39.4 .358 .833 3.6 6.2 13.2
1956–57 New York 13 32.8 .344 .830 3.2 3.0 8.5
1956–57 St. Louis 53 37.3 .330 .782 4.6 4.3 11.5
1957–58† St. Louis 60 35.0 .336 .746 3.8 3.6 12.0
1958–59 St. Louis 71 35.3 .347 .776 3.6 4.7 9.7
1959–60 St. Louis 64 27.4 .371 .726 2.9 5.2 6.2
Career 745 35.9 .364 .762 3.4 4.2 9.8

Playoffs
Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1950† Minneapolis 12 – .420 .583 – 2.1 4.7
1951 Minneapolis 7 – .353 .519 6.0 3.6 7.1
1952† Minneapolis 13 40.2 .345 .732 2.8 4.3 9.0
1953† Minneapolis 12 37.8 .398 .765 2.6 3.6 10.1
1954† Minneapolis 13 41.0 .330 .743 2.2 4.6 9.7
1955 Minneapolis 7 45.0 .298 .816 4.0 4.4 13.7
1956 Minneapolis 3 40.3 .459 .833 2.3 5.0 18.0
1957 St. Louis 10 43.9 .355 .757 4.2 4.9 16.6
1958† St. Louis 11 37.8 .321 .619 4.4 3.6 11.5
1959 St. Louis 1 18.0 .800 – 3.0 2.0 8.0
1960 St. Louis 3 19.3 .077 .250 1.0 2.7 1.0
Career 92 39.4 .351 .715 3.4 3.8 10.0

See also

References
  1. Slater Martin Player Statistics
  2. "Passings: Slater Martin", Los Angeles Times, October 19, 2012
  3. Goldstein, Richard (October 20, 2012), "Slater Martin, Hall of Fame Lakers Guard, Dies at 86", The New York Times
  4. "SR / College Basketball: Slater Martin". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.