George Raveling
George Raveling (born June 27, 1937)
Teams coached: Washington State Cougars, Iowa Hawkeyes, USC Trojans
Washington State record: 167-136 (.551)
Iowa record: 54-38 (.587)
USC record: 115-118 (.494)
Overall record: 336-292 (.535)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 6 (1980, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1991, 1992)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 2 (1993, 1994)
Awards:
- NABC Coach of the Year: 1 (1992)
- Pac-12 Coach of the Year: 3 (1976, 1983, 1992)
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2013)
- National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2015)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 1986-1994 | USC |
| 1983-1986 | Iowa |
| 1972-1983 | Washington State |
| 1969-1972 | Maryland (asst) |
| 1963-1969 | Villanova (asst) |
George Raveling Facts
- George Henry Raveling
- Born June 27, 1937
- Hometown: Washington, DC
- Alma Mater: Villanova University (BS, 1960)
- Grew up in DC and later attended St. Michael’s Catholic boarding school in Hoban Heights, PA
- Played at Villanova under head coach Alex Severance; selected as team captain for his senior year 1959-60
- Volunteered to provide security for Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963 as the civil rights leader gave his “I Have a Dream” speech to an audience of over 250,000 people at the March on Washington
- King gave Raveling the original typewritten pages of the speech that day, which Raveling still owns to this day
- Volunteered to provide security for Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963 as the civil rights leader gave his “I Have a Dream” speech to an audience of over 250,000 people at the March on Washington
- Started his coaching career at Villanova in 1963, spending six seasons as one of Jack Kraft‘s assistants there
- Became the first African-American coach in the ACC in 1969 when he became one of Lefty Driesell‘s assistants at Maryland, a role he stayed in for three seasons
- First head coaching job came in 1972 when Raveling was hired at Washington State
- Won 167 games in eleven seasons in Pullman, leading the Cougars to two NCAA Tournament appearances
- Spent three years as the head coach at Iowa, finishing 55-38 overall with two NCAA berths
- Final head coaching role was an eight-year stint at USC, during which he led the Trojans to four straight postseason appearances (two NCAA, two NIT)
- Twice served as an assistant with Team USA Basketball; first under Bob Knight in 1984 (gold medal in Los Angeles) and then under John Thompson in 1988 (bronze medal in Seoul)
- Raveling was involved in a two-car collision on September 25, 1994, leaving him with serious injuries and what would be a lengthy recovery period
- On November 15 of that year, Raveling retired as head coach at USC
- Since leaving coaching, Raveling has been a long-time Nike employee and authored two books on rebounding
- Raveling has served as Director of Grass Roots Basketball and Director of Global Basketball at Nike and is currently the company’s Director of International Basketball
- Honored with the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, recognizing his lifetime of contributions to basketball
- Inducted into the College Basketball HOF the same year and the Naismith HOF two years later (as a contributor)
George Raveling Coaching Tree
- Mike Dunlap (Loyola Marymount, Charlotte Bobcats, Metro State, Cal Lutheran)
- Kevin Gamble (Illinois-Springfield)
- Brad Greenberg (Radford, numerous international teams)
- Brian Hammel (Northern Illinois)
- Paul Hewitt (Ontario Clippers, George Mason, Georgia Tech, Siena)
- Dean Keener (James Madison)
- Len Stevens (Nevada, Washington State)
