Nate Thurmond
Nate Thurmond was born in Akron, Ohio, United States on July 25th, 1941 and is the Basketball Player. At the age of 74, Nate Thurmond biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 74 years old, Nate Thurmond has this physical status:
Nathaniel Thurmond (July 25, 1941 – July 16, 2016) was an American basketball player who spent the majority of his 14-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Golden State Warriors franchise.
He played in center and power forward positions.
Thurmond was a seven-time All-Star and the first NBA player to reach a career double-double.
He grabbed 42 rebounds in a game in 1965; only Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell had more rebounds in an NBA game.
Thurmond was both a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Both the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers have retired 42 jerseys.
Personal life
Thurmond returned to San Francisco and opened Big Nate's BBQ, a restaurant. When living in San Francisco with his wife, Marci, he sold the restaurant after 20 years. The Chase Center, the Golden State Warriors' home base, has a Big Nate's BBQ grill with dishes attributed to his work.
The Warriors group gave him the honor of "Warriors Legend & Ambassador."
Thurmond died on July 16, 2016, nine days before his 75th birthday, after a brief bout with leukemia. The Warriors paid tribute to Thurmond by patching his number to their jerseys during the 2016–17 season.
High school and college career
Thurmond began attending Central High School in Akron, where he competed with fellow NBA star Gus Johnson. Thurmond, a high school rival, chose Bowling Green over a scholarship from Ohio State to avoid being a back-up to Jerry Lucas, a high school rival.
Thurmond led the Mid-American Conference in rebound averages during all three of his varsity seasons (with a college average of 17.0 rebounds per game), and was named a first-team All-American by The Sporting News in 1963. He helped lead the team to the NCAA Tournament in Thurmond's last two years as a student, posting a school record of 31 rebounds in his last college game.
NBA career
In the 1963 NBA draft, Thurmond was drafted 3rd overall by the San Francisco Warriors (now known as the Golden State Warriors). He mainly served as a support guy for Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain as a rookie. In his first NBA season, Thurmond averaged 7 points and 10.4 rebounds and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1964.
Thurmond blossomed into a solid starting center for the Warriors after Chamberlain was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers during the upcoming season. Thurmond set a new record for rebounds in a quarter with 18, and posted 21.3 and 22.0 rebounds per game in the 1966–68 seasons. Thurmond finished second in the MVP voting from 1967-69 to 1971-72, and appeared in seven NBA All-Star Games as a member of the Warriors.
Thurmond's also had a shady defensive reputation in the NBA. Thurmond was the hardest defender he's ever faced in his 20-season professional career, according to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. During the first half of NBA All-Star center Bob Rule's first match, Thurmond blocked six of his seven shots. "Keep putting 'em up," his coach advised him. "I can't prevent it from blocking 'em all," Rule replied, "Well, if I hadn't made the layup, it would have been all 'em."
Despite the contributions of celebrity teammates like Rick Barry and Thurmond's stalwart play at center, the Warriors were unable to win a championship. They reached the 1967 NBA Finals but lost to Chamberlain's 76ers.
On September 3, 1974, a 33-year-old Thurmond was acquired by the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Clifford Ray and $100,000 prior to the 1974–75 season. Rather than continue with a three-man rotation of Ray, Tom Boerwinkle, and Dennis Awtrey, the Bulls felt the need for one starting center rather than continuing with a three-man rotation. When wrapping the deal, the Warriors gained more fiscal stability. In his first as a Bull, he scored 22 points, 14 assists, and 12 blocked shots on October 18, 1974, becoming the first NBA player to record a quadruple-double (blocked shots were not counted until 1973–74).
Thurmond and Rowland Garrett were traded along with Rowland Garrett to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Steve Patterson and Eric Fernsten on November 27, 1975. Thurmond's agility on the court struggled to fit with an offense designed for a more centralized center, resulting in reduced playing time on a team that was losing streaks for the first nine games. The now 35-year-old Thurmond led Cleveland's "Miracle at Richfield" team to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals before the Cavaliers lost to the Boston Celtics in 1976.
Thurmond, a role player restricted to limited minutes and mid-single digit scoring and rebounds, has left before retiring at the end of the 1976–77 season.