Spencer Haywood
Spencer Haywood was born in Silver City, Mississippi, United States on April 22nd, 1949 and is the Basketball Player. At the age of 75, Spencer Haywood biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 75 years old, Spencer Haywood has this physical status:
Spencer Haywood (born April 22, 1949) is an American retired professional basketball player and Olympic Gold Medalist.
Haywood was inducted in 2015 as a member of the Hall of Fame.
Personal life
Haywood now lives in Las Vegas. He was married to fashion model Iman from 1977 to 1987, and they had a daughter, Zulekha Haywood, born 1978. He remarried in 1990 and he and his partner, Linda, have three children.
In September 2015, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Haywood is a huge fan of jazz, and he has hosted weekly jazz shows in Seattle (1971–1975, KYAC) and New York (1976–1978, WRVR).
High school career
Haywood moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he lived in the Krainz Woods neighborhood in 1964. Haywood led the school's basketball team to the state championship in 1967 while attending Pershing High School.
College career and Olympics
Haywood played for Trinidad State Junior College in Trinidad, Colorado, where he scored 28.2 points and 22.1 rebounds per game during the 1967–68 college season. Haywood made the 1968 US Olympic team at the age of 19 as the youngest American basketball player in Olympic history, thanks in large part to his outstanding results and talent. Haywood was the leading scorer on the gold medal winning team at 16.1 points per game, and he set a new Team USA field goal percentage record of.719. Haywood earned his degree from the University of Detroit in the fall of that year and led the NCAA in rebounding with a 21.5 average per game and 32.1 points per game during the 1968-1969 season.
Haywood turned pro after his sophomore year, but the National Basketball Association (NBA) rules, which then barred a player from entering the league, barred him from participating in the sport for four years. The American Basketball Association (ABA) had a similar rule, but league executive Mike Storen introduced the idea for a hardship waiver. Haywood met the requirements despite his mother raising ten children while picking cotton at $2.50 a day in Mississippi. Since being chosen in the ABA draft, he joined the Denver Rockets.
Professional career
Haywood led the ABA in scoring at 30.0 points per game and rebounding at 19.5 rebounds per game, while the Rockets took home the Western Division Championship in 1969–70. Denver defeated the Washington Caps in 7 games in the Western Division Semifinals before losing to the Los Angeles Stars in the division finals, 4 games to 1. During the season, he was named both the ABA Rookie of the Year and theABA MVP, and the youngest ever winner of the MVP award at the age of 21. The all-time ABA records for a season include 986 field goals, 1,637 rebounds, and 19.5 rebound per game average. After scoring 23 points, 19 rebounds, and 7 blocked shots for the West team, Haywood also won the 1970 All-Star Game MVP.
Haywood joined the Seattle SuperSonics in 1970, and Sam Schulman, the NBA's incorporation attorney, brought an antitrust lawsuit against the league (Haywood vs. National Basketball Association). The lawsuit progressed all the way to the United States Supreme Court before the NBA agreed to a settlement. Marc J. Spears and Gary Washburn's book The Spencer Haywood Rule: Battles, Basketball, and the Making of an American Iconoclast was about the suit and its effects on college basketball and the NBA.
Haywood was selected to the All-NBA First Team in 1972 and 1973, as well as the All-NBA Second Team in 1974 and 1975. The SuperSonics' single-season record averages for these categories are Haywood's 29.2 points per game in the 1972–73 season and 13.4 rebounds per game in 1973–74. Haywood appeared in four NBA All-Star Games while in Seattle, including a good 23-point, 11-rebound performance in 1974. He was a contributing factor in the SuperSonics' first playoff appearance in 1974-1975. Haywood averaged 24.9 points per game and 12.1 rebounds per game during his five seasons with Seattle.
In 1975, the SuperSonics traded him to the New York Knicks, where he later teamed with Bob McAdoo. Haywood appeared with the New Orleans Jazz, Los Angeles Lakers, and the Washington Bullets later in life.
Haywood became addicted to cocaine in the 1970s. After being kicked out of the Lakers by then-coach Paul Westhead in 1980 NBA Finals for falling asleep during practice due to his heroin use.
Haywood played in Italy with Reyer Venezia Mestre (then under the sponsorship name "Carrera Reyer Venezia") before returning to the NBA to play two seasons with the Washington Bullets in the following seasons.
There are no people who have voted against Haywood's no. During a halftime celebration on February 26, 2007, 24 jerseys were retired by the SuperSonics.