Daniel James "Gus" Gerard (born July 27, 1953) is an American former professional basketball player. He played for the

Carolina Cougars The Carolina Cougars were a basketball franchise in the American Basketball Association that existed from 1969 through 1974. The Cougars were originally a charter member of the ABA as the Houston Mavericks in 1967. The Mavericks moved to North Ca ...

and

Spirits of St. Louis The Spirits of St. Louis were a basketball franchise based in St. Louis that played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1974 to 1976. This was the third and last city of a franchise that had begun as a charter member in 1967 as the ...

and Denver Nuggets of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

(ABA) and the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

, Buffalo Braves, Detroit Pistons, Kansas City Kings and San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Career

College

Gerard played college basketball at the University of Virginia.

NBA

Gerard was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in the third round (14th pick, 50th overall) of the

1975 NBA draft The 1975 NBA draft was the 29th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 29, 1975, before the 1975–76 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players a ...

.Basketball-Reference.com page on Gus Gerard
/ref> He was on the 1974–75 ABA All-Rookie First Team and made the 1976 ABA All Star Team. He played in all 84 games of his rookie season. Gerard's best NBA season came in 1976–77 when he averaged 10 points a game for the Denver Nuggets. He finally retired the NBA after the 1980–81 season. Gerard's ABA and NBA careers were hampered by drug problems; after leaving professional basketball Gerard became a licensed chemical dependency counselor and was involved in a program called Bouncing Back, in which athletes like himself, former Spirits of St. Louis teammate Marvin Barnes and former NBA player Dirk Minniefield travel to schools and businesses, sharing their stories about addiction and recovery.Former University of Virginia Basketball Standout Gus Gerard Returns April 7 to Discuss Road to Recovery From Cocaine Addiction

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerard, Gus 1953 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Pennsylvania Buffalo Braves players Denver Nuggets players Detroit Pistons players Kansas City Kings players Sportspeople from Uniontown, Pennsylvania Portland Trail Blazers draft picks San Antonio Spurs players Small forwards Spirits of St. Louis players Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball players 1974 FIBA World Championship players