James Clifford Pollard (July 9, 1922 – January 22, 1993) 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. As a player in the

National Basketball Association 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 ...

(NBA), Pollard was considered one of the best forwards in the 1950s and was known for his leaping ability, earning him the nickname "The Kangaroo Kid". A five-time NBA champion and four-time

NBA All-Star The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition basketball game. It is the main event of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Traditionally, the All-Star Game featured a conference-based format, featuring a team composed of ...

, Pollard spent his entire eight-year professional career with the

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, having played and won championships in both the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) prior to ...

. Pollard was inducted into the

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 ...

in 1978."The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame :: Jim Pollard"
Accessed on June 10, 2017. He has also been inducted into the Bay Area Hall of Fame, Stanford Hall of Fame, and Pac-12 Hall of Honor.

Early life

Pollard attended

Oakland Technical High School Oakland Technical High School, known locally as Oakland Tech or simply "Tech", is a public high school in Oakland, California, United States, and is operated under the jurisdiction of the Oakland Unified School District. It is one of six compre ...

in his hometown of

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. He led the school's basketball team to three consecutive conference titles from 1937–38 to 1939–40. He averaged 19.8 points per game in his senior year, setting a school record.Sutton, Jeff
"NBA Hall of Famer Jim Pollard was ahead of his time"
'' Lodi News-Sentinel''. June 3, 2002. Accessed on June 10, 2017.

College career and military service

Pollard was recruited to

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

by former Stanford star and future Hall of Famer, Hank Luisetti."Jim Pollard, a Star In N.B.A. in 50's; Ex-Laker Was 70"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. January 25, 1993. Accessed on June 10, 2017. Pollard played for the Stanford Indians for two seasons, under head coach

Everett Dean Everett Sterling Dean (March 18, 1898 – October 26, 1993) was an American college basketball and baseball coach. Biography Born in Livonia, Indiana, Dean played basketball for three years at Indiana University, where he was also a member of th ...

. During his sophomore season, he was a key member of the team's 1942 national championship team, but, due to illness, he did not play in the championship game. At Stanford, Pollard joined the Sigma Rho chapter of

Delta Kappa Epsilon Delta Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as ''DKE'' or ''Deke'', is one of the oldest Fraternities and sororities, fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active Colony (fraternity or sorority), colonies across No ...

fraternity. Pollard's college career was ended early due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and he served with the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

from 1942 to 1946. During his service, he starred with the Coast Guard basketball team in Alameda, winning a Northern California title in 1943 and the Service League championship in 1946. Pollard went on to graduate from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1954.

Amateur career

After World War II, Pollard played amateur basketball for one season with the San Diego Dons of the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

. The following season, he played for the Oakland Bittners in the same league. He led the AAU in scoring and earned Most Valuable Player honors both years. His teams were runners-up in the national AAU tournament both seasons. Pollard also played amateur baseball for Jordan, Minnesota's Town Team baseball club, during his NBA career. He was reputed to be "a good pitcher and a powerful hitter." It was there that Pollard famously "hit a ball that didn't stop until it got to Chicago", because it landed in a gondola car in a freight train passing by the ballpark.Town Ball, the Glory Days of Minnesota Amateur Baseball, Armand Peterson and Tom Tomashek, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis and London, page x (introduction),

Professional career

Pollard began his professional basketball career in 1947 after signing with the

while the team was a part of the National Basketball League. On the team, Pollard was a member of a future

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

frontcourt alongside center

George Mikan George Lawrence Mikan Jr. (; June 18, 1924 – June 1, 2005), nicknamed "Mr. Basketball", was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Minneapolis Lakers of ...

and power forward Vern Mikkelsen, as well as fellow Hall of Famer Slater Martin at shooting guard. Led by coach John Kundla, this core group of players have been called the "first legacy in the history of professional basketball". The Lakers won the NBL championship in 1948, the BAA championship in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

, and four NBA championships in

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 ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

and

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

. Pollard was a four-time

, and was named to the All-NBA First Team in 1949 and 1950, and Second Team in 1952 and 1954. Pollard was renowned for his tremendous leaping ability, and subsequently earned the nickname "The Kangaroo Kid". He could reportedly touch the top of the backboard and dunk from the foul line, being one of the few players in his era who was capable of dunking a basketball. Pollard was also known for his corner jumpshot, and was a respected player and teammate. In 1952, the Basketball Association of America selected Pollard as the best player of the era. Pollard retired from playing basketball after eight seasons, and finished with career averages of 13.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game."Jim Pollard Stats"
Basketball Reference. Accessed on June 10, 2017.

Coaching career

Pollard immediately moved into coaching after retiring, taking the head coach position at

La Salle University La Salle University () is a private university, private, Catholic university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The university was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and named for St. Jean-Bapt ...

for the Explorers men's basketball team in 1955. Over three seasons with the team, Pollard compiled a record of 48–28. Pollard was named interim head coach of the Lakers midway through the 1959–60 NBA season on January 2, 1960, and recorded a 14–25 record.Galluzzo, Steve
"Jim Pollard"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. February 12, 2011. Accessed on June 11, 2017. He was named the head coach of the newly established Chicago Packers in 1961, and managed an 18–62 record in the team's first NBA season. He moved to 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 league's inaugural season in 1967, and coached the Minnesota Muskies, which relocated to Miami and became the Miami Floridians the following season. He was fired by the team midway through the 1969–70 season.

BAA/NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Head coaching record

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Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

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Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, style="text-align:left;", 1967–68 , 78, , 50, , 28, , , , style="text-align:center;", 2nd in ABA Eastern Division, , , 10, , 4, , 6, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in Conference finals , - , style="text-align:left;",

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

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References

External links

*
BasketballReference.com: Jim Pollard (as player)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, Jim 1922 births 1993 deaths All-American college men's basketball players Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from Oakland, California Chicago Stags draft picks Chicago Packers head coaches La Salle Explorers baseball coaches La Salle Explorers men's basketball coaches Miami Floridians coaches Minneapolis Lakers players Minneapolis Lakers head coaches Minnesota Muskies coaches Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees NBA All-Stars Philadelphia Warriors draft picks Small forwards St. Louis Bombers (NBA) draft picks Stanford Cardinal men's basketball players United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II Oakland Technical High School alumni