Hal Greer (1985) - Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame

Hal Greer

Induction:
1985
Class:
1958

When he agreed to play basketball for Coach Cam Henderson out of all-black Douglass High School in Huntington, Harold Everett Greer didn’t just start an amazing basketball career, he became a trailblazer. The first African-American to receive an athletic scholarship at a predominantly white college in the state of West Virginia, Greer played one season on the Marshall freshman team and then immediately became a star in Coach Jule Rivlin’s rookie season of 1955-56. The 6-foot-2 forward finished second in the nation by making 60% of his shots and averaged 15.5 points per game as Marshall won its first Mid-American Conference title and received the school’s first NCAA Tournament berth. Greer averaged 19.4 points and 10.8 rebounds per game over his three varsity seasons, winning All-MAC honors as a junior and senior as Marshall finished second in the conference each season, and received honorable mention All-America accolades as a senior.

Selected by the Syracuse Nationals in the second round of the 1958 NBA Draft, Greer averaged 11.1 points per game as a rookie, by his third season played in the NBA All-Star Game and in his fourth year averaged 22.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game and became known as one of the league’s strongest defenders. The Nationals moved to Philadelphia for the 1962-63 season and Greer settled into a stretch where he averaged at least 20 points per game for seven consecutive years, playing in the All-Star Game each season. In the 1966-67 campaign, Greer averaged 22.1 points per game – second on the team to Wilt Chamberlain’s 24.1 points per game – as the Sixers won the NBA championship, breaking an eight-year streak of titles by the Boston Celtics. The following year, Greer averaged a career-high 24.1 points per game and was voted MVP of the All Star Game as he scored 21 points to lead the East to a 144-124 victory over the West in Madison Square Garden. By the time his career was complete Greer had played 15 NBA seasons and was a 10-time All Star. He averaged 19.2 points per game and his 21,586 career points were third most in league history at the time of his retirement, and he also was credited with 4,540 career assists.

Greer was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982. In 1996 he was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History as part of the league’s 50-year anniversary celebration. The City of Huntington renamed 16th Street “Hal Greer Boulevard” in his honor in 1978, the same year Greer was inducted into the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. Greer was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985.