Lawrence Joseph Staverman (October 11, 1936 – July 12, 2007) 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.

Basketball career

A 6'7" forward from Villa Madonna College (now known as Thomas More College), Staverman was drafted in the 9th round of the 1958 NBA draft by the Cincinnati Royals. He had a five-year career as a player in the NBA, with the Royals, the Chicago Zephyrs/Baltimore Bullets, and the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

Coaching career

Staverman was the first coach 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 ...

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

. He coached the team for its first season, where they went 38–40 and lost in a three-game sweep in the playoffs. According to his family, Staverman made sure to keep the game ball of the first Pacers game ever played. He coached the first nine games of the next season before being replaced by

Bobby Leonard William Robert "Slick" Leonard (July 17, 1932April 13, 2021) was an American professional basketball player, coach and color commentator. He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball, Indiana Hoosiers, where he was a tw ...

. He later served as an interim coach for the

Kansas City Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

in the 1977–78 season after they had won just thirteen of 37 games to start the year. He went 18–27 as the Kings finished dead last in the Western Conference. He was replaced by Cotton Fitzsimmons as head coach for the next season, although he stayed with the Kings until May 1981, when he resigned organization to join the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

as an assistant to the team president.

Career playing statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

Playoffs

Head coaching record

ABA/NBA

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Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

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References

External links

Larry Staverman – National Basketball Association official website

1936 births 2007 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Baltimore Bullets (1963–1973) players Basketball coaches from Kentucky Basketball players from Kentucky Cincinnati Royals draft picks Cincinnati Royals players Chicago Zephyrs players Indiana Pacers head coaches Kansas City Kings head coaches Kansas City Steers players Newport Central Catholic High School alumni Sportspeople from Newport, Kentucky Sportspeople from Campbell County, Kentucky Power forwards Thomas More Saints men's basketball players {{1930s-US-basketball-bio-stub