William Walton Sharman (May 25, 1926 – October 25, 2013) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and coach. He is mostly known for his time with the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

in the 1950s, partnering with Bob Cousy in what was then considered the greatest backcourt duo of all time. As a coach, Sharman won titles in the ABL, ABA, and

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

, and is credited with introducing the now-ubiquitous morning shootaround. Sharman was the first North American sports figure to win a championship as a player, coach, and executive. He was a 15-time NBA champion (having won four titles as a player with the Celtics, one as head coach of the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

, and ten as a Lakers executive), and a 17-time champion in basketball overall counting his ABL and ABA titles. Sharman is also a two-time

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

inductee, having been inducted in 1976 as a player, and in 2004 as a coach. Only

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, nati ...

Lenny Wilkens Leonard Randolph Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is an American former professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, fi ...

, Tommy Heinsohn and

Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played Center (basketball), center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. He was t ...

share this double honor. Sharman is also notable for coaching the 1971–72 Los Angeles Lakers to an NBA record 33-game win streak, a then-record regular season 69–13 win–loss mark, and the first Lakers championship in Los Angeles.

Early life

William Walton Sharman was born on May 25, 1926, in

Abilene, Texas Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor County, Texas, Taylor and Jones County, Texas, Jones counties, Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan ar ...

. The family moved to California when he was a child, and he grew up in Lomita, California. He originally attended Narbonne High School where he was on a championship basketball team in ninth grade. As a sophomore, he began attending Porterville High School (PHS), a high school in the Central California city of Porterville, California, after his father obtained a newspaper dealership there. Narbonne's season had ended, and he joined PHS's basketball team and won another championship in the same year. This enabled Sharman to win five high school basketball championships in four years. He was a 15-letter athlete at PHS, excelling in

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, competing in track, and winning the state amateur tennis title. He graduated in 1944, and was named California's Outstanding Athlete. He gave credit to PHS for its contributing to his later success in life. Sharman died one day before his induction into the inaugural class of the Porterville High Athletic Hall of Fame.

College career

Sharman served during World War II from 1944 to 1946 in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, and was a graduate of the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. He started on both the baseball and basketball teams. USC records describe him as playing on the school’s baseball team for two years, in 1949 and 1950, and not as a member the 1948 USC Trojans baseball team. Sharman played basketball for four years at USC (1946-1950). He averaged 15.9 points per game as a junior (1948-1949), and 18.6 as a senior (1949-1950). Sharman was twice selected All-

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a collegiate athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (includin ...

and twice as the Conference's MVP. Following his senior year, Sharman was selected as a member of the

1950 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans The consensus 1950 College Basketball All-American team, as determined by aggregating the results of five major All-American teams. To earn "consensus" status, a player must win honors from a majority of the following teams: the Associated Press, ...

, first team, along with his future Boston Celtic teammate Bob Cousy. Sharman played USC basketball under Hall of Fame head coach Sam Barry. In addition to Sharman, Barry coached two other future hall of fame coaches in college, Tex Winter and

Alex Hannum Alexander Murray Hannum (July 19, 1923 – January 18, 2002) was an American professional basketball player and coach. As a player, Hannum played for six different teams, most notably with the Milwaukee (later St. Louis) Hawks, where he played ...

. Sharman was Hannum’s teammate from 1946-48 at USC. They both played with Winter during the 1946-47 USC season.

Professional baseball career

In 1950, the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

offered him a contract with a $12,000 signing bonus, at a time when professional baseball was more prestigious than professional basketball. However, Sharman knew he had been taken by the Washington Capitols in the NBA draft, so he got the Dodgers to agree that he not be prevented from playing professional basketball.

Minor leagues

From

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

to 1955, Sharman played

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

in the

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

system. He played for the Pueblo Dodgers, Elmira Pioneers,

Fort Worth Cats The Fort Worth Cats was a professional baseball team based in Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States. The Cats were a member of the South Division of the now disbanded United League Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Baseba ...

, St. Paul Saints, and the Mobile Bears. He had a lifetime .281 batting average in 638 games. He was called up to the Dodgers late in the

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

season but did not appear in a game. He was part of a September 27 game in which the entire Brooklyn bench was cleared from the dugout for arguing with the home plate umpire over a ruling at the plate. This has led to the legend that Sharman holds the distinction of being the only player in baseball history to have ever been ejected from a major league game without ever appearing in one. However, although Sharman was among the Dodger bench players that had to go to the clubhouse, none of them were actually barred from playing in the game. In fact, in the top of the ninth, one of the other dismissed players, Wayne Terwilliger, was used as a pinch-hitter in the game. Sharman continued to play baseball until breaking his basketball shooting hand while sliding into home plate, after which he decided to focus solely on basketball.

Professional basketball career

During the same time periond he was playing professional baseball, Sharman also played professional basketball for two different teams.

Washington Capitols (1950–1951)

Sharman was drafted by the Washington Capitols in the second round of the 1950 NBA draft. His future Celtics teammate Bob Cousy was taken in the first round of the same draft. The team offered him $5,000, the most ever paid to a rookie. After refusing the initial offer, and telling the Capitols he wanted to play baseball, the team increased the offer to $8,000 and Sharman joined the Capitols. The team failed financially 35 games into the 1950-1951 season. Earl Lloyd, the African American player who broke the NBA's color barrier was a Capitols' teammate. Lloyd did not have a car, and Sharman would drive over to Lloyd's home in segregated Washington, D.C. to pick Lloyd up, so Lloyd would not have to take long bus rides. Lloyd said of Sharman, "'Bill was a decent guy when it wasn't fashionable...."

Boston Celtics (1951–1961)

Following the disbanding of the Capitols, Sharman was selected by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the dispersal draft and was subsequently traded to the Boston Celtics (possibly with Bob Brannum) for Chuck Share prior to the 1951–52 season. Sharman played a total of ten seasons for the Celtics, leading the team in scoring between the 1955–56 and 1958–59 seasons, and averaging over 20 points per game during three of them. Sharman was one of the first NBA guards to shoot better than .400 from the field, with a .450 percentage in 1953-1954. He led the NBA in free throw percentage a record seven times (including a record five consecutive seasons), and his mark of 93.2% in the 1958–59 season remained the NBA record until Ernie DiGregorio topped it in 1976–77 (94.5%). His career percentage was .883. Sharman still holds the record for consecutive free throws in the playoffs with 56. Sharman was named to the All-NBA First Team from 1956 through 1959, and was an All-NBA Second Team member in 1953, 1955, and 1960. He won four NBA championships with the Celtics. Sharman played in eight NBA All-Star games, scoring in double figures in seven of them. He was named the 1955 NBA All-Star Game MVP after scoring ten of his fifteen points in the fourth quarter. Sharman still holds the NBA All-Star Game record for field goals attempted in a quarter with 12. The pairing of Sharman and fellow Celtics guard Bob Cousy, combining a pure shooter with a playmaker, formed the first modern backcourt. In one NBA ranking of the greatest backcourt duos in league history, Sharman and Cousy were ranked ninth out of seventy pairs. Sharman ended his NBA playing career after 11 seasons in 1961.

Coaching career

Los Angeles Jets and Cleveland Pipers (1961–1962)

After retiring from the NBA in 1961, in the 1961-1962 season, he became a player-coach for the Los Angeles Jets of the American Basketball League, appearing in 19 games; but the franchise folded during the season. He remained in the ABL and coached the Cleveland Pipers to the league championship in 1962.

California State-Los Angeles

The ABL folded altogether, and Sharman next became a college coach at Los Angeles State (now California State, Los Angeles) for two seasons. The team went 27-20 during that time, before Sharman left to become a broadcaster for two years.

San Francisco Warriors (1966–1968)

In 1966, Sharman became the coach of the NBA's San Francisco Warriors. In their first season under Sharman, the Warriors won the Western Division and made it to the Finals, where they lost to the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

. In his second and final season with the Warriors, the team finished third and lost in the Division Finals to the Lakers.

Los Angeles / Utah Stars (1968–1971)

Sharman became coach of the

Los Angeles Stars LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

for the 1968-1969 season. He was a co-recipient of the ABA Coach of the Year honors in 1969-1970, with Joe Belmont of the Denver Rockets. The Stars moved to Utah for the 1970-71 season, when Sharman coached the

Utah Stars The Utah Stars were an American Basketball Association (ABA) team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround. History prior to moving to ...

to an ABA title. The championship team’s star player was league MVP and future hall of fame center Zelmo Beaty. The Stars defeated the Kentucky Colonels, and their future hall of fame center Dan Issel, four games to three for the championship.

Los Angeles Lakers (1971–1976)

After resigning as coach for the Utah Stars, Sharman signed a contract to coach the

. Controversy later ensued when the owner of the Utah Stars brought suit against Sharman for breach of contract stemming from his resignation, and a tort case against the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers for inducing such breach of contract. Sharman was originally ordered to pay $250,000 in damages, but later appealed the trial court decision and the

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (in case citations, 10th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Colorado * District of Kansas * Dist ...

reversed the judgement. The following season, Sharman guided the

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...

and

Jerry West Jerry Alan West (May 28, 1938 – June 12, 2024) was an American basketball player and executive. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...

-led

to an NBA record 33 game win streak, a then-record 69–13 win–loss mark, the first Lakers championship in Los Angeles and the first for the team in more than a decade. They had been to the finals seven times since moving from Minneapolis, losing each time. That season, Sharman was named

NBA Coach of the Year The National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1962–63 NBA season. The winner receives the Red Auerbach Trophy, which is named in honor of the head coach who l ...

. He is one of two men to win NBA and ABA championships as a coach; coincidentally, the other,

, also coached a Chamberlain-led team (the 1967

) to an NBA championship, defeating the Sharman-coached San Francisco Warriors. Hannum and Sharman had been teammates at USC, under coach Sam Barry. Including the ABL, Sharman is the only coach to win championships in three different professional leagues. The Lakers went to the 1973 NBA finals, but lost to the Knicks 4-1. By 1974, Chamberlain and West had both retired, but the Lakers had traded for

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( ; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. , April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Associatio ...

in 1975. Sharman ended his coaching career after the 1975-1976 season to become the Lakers general manager. Sharman invented the morning shootaround as a way to burn off nervous energy on game days. He took the shootaround with him to his first coaching jobs in the ABL, the ABA, and later, the NBA. After the Lakers won the championship in 1972, every other team in the league added the shootaround to its game-day regimen.

Post-playing career

Sharman was enshrined in the

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

in 1976 as a player and again in 2004 as a coach. He is one of only five people to be enshrined in both categories, the others being

, and his former teammates Tom Heinsohn and

. In 1971, Sharman was named to the NBA 25th Anniversary Team. On October 29, 1996, Sharman was named one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players. In October 2021, Sharman was again honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the

NBA 75th Anniversary Team The NBA 75th Anniversary Team, also referred to as the NBA 75, was chosen in 2021 to honor the 75th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was the fourth and most recent anniversary team in the league. S ...

Executive career

As Lakers general manager, Sharman built the 1980 and 1982 NBA championship teams, and as Lakers president he oversaw the 1985, 1987, and 1988 NBA championship teams after naming West his successor as GM in 1982. Sharman retired from the Lakers front office in 1991 at age 65. In the 1971-72 season, Sharman suffered a vocal cord injury while coaching that never fully healed. In 1988, he spent a year in total silence, but a medical procedure that involved crushing a vocal cord left his voice permanently strained, making it an effort for him to speak. The voice problems later limited his ability to function as an executive. Sharman was the author of two books, ''Sharman on Basketball Shooting'' and ''The Wooden-Sharman Method: A Guide to Winning Basketball'' with John Wooden and Bob Selzer. The gymnasium at Porterville High School is named after Sharman. After his former basketball team the Los Angeles Jets dissolved in 1962, he sued to enforce his employment contract with the Jets, culminating in the case ''Sharman v. Longo'' (1967) 249 Cal.App.2d 948. In 2013, Sharman sold his 2010 NBA championship ring from the Lakers to benefit charity.

Personal life and death

Sharman's marriage to his first wife, Illeana, lasted over 20 years and resulted in four children before their divorce in 1968. He was married to his second wife, Dorothy, from 1969 until her death from cancer in 1975. Sharman married Joyce McLay in 1981, with whom he remained married until his death. Sharman died at his home in

Redondo Beach, California Redondo Beach (Spanish for ) is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent Beach Cities, beach c ...

, on October 25, 2013, at the age of 87, after having had a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

the week prior.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Head coaching record

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San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

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NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...

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Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

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Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

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NBA Championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...

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References

External links

* * *
Profile as a player

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharman, Bill 1926 births 2013 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American Basketball League (1961–62) coaches American Basketball League (1961–62) players American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players from Texas Boston Celtics players Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles men's basketball coaches Los Angeles Lakers head coaches Los Angeles Lakers executives Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees NBA All-Stars NBA championship–winning head coaches NBA players with retired numbers Sportspeople from Porterville, California San Francisco Warriors head coaches Shooting guards Sportspeople from Abilene, Texas USC Trojans men's basketball players Utah Stars coaches Washington Capitols draft picks Washington Capitols players United States Navy personnel of World War II Porterville High School alumni

Early life

College career

Professional baseball career

Minor leagues

Professional basketball career

Washington Capitols (1950–1951)

Boston Celtics (1951–1961)

Coaching career

Los Angeles Jets and Cleveland Pipers (1961–1962)

California State-Los Angeles

San Francisco Warriors (1966–1968)

Los Angeles / Utah Stars (1968–1971)

Los Angeles Lakers (1971–1976)

Post-playing career

Executive career

Personal life and death

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Head coaching record

See also

References

External links