Michael Barnwell Silliman (May 5, 1944 – June 16, 2000) 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. He was born in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. Silliman was a 6'6" forward from

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

, where he played for coach

Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (October 25, 1940 – November 1, 2023) was an American men's college basketball coach (basketball), coach. Nicknamed "the General", he won 902 NCAA Division I men's basketball games, a record at the time of his retire ...

and took Army to the NIT Semi-Finals in 1964, 1965, and 1966. He participated in the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

and won a gold medal as captain of the

United States national basketball team The USA Basketball Men's National Team, commonly known as Team USA and the United States men's national basketball team, is the basketball team representing the United States. It is the most successful men's team in international competition, ...

. He also played for the

United States men's national basketball team The USA Basketball Men's National Team, commonly known as Team USA and the United States men's national basketball team, is the basketball team representing the United States. It is the most successful men's team in international competition, ...

at the

1967 FIBA World Championship The 1967 FIBA World Championship was the 5th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Montevideo, Uruguay from 27 May to 11 June 1967. Venues Competing nations Compet ...

and the

1970 FIBA World Championship The 1970 FIBA World Championship was the 6th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia in Sarajevo, Split, Croatia, Spli ...

.1970 USA Basketball
He later played one season ( 1970–71) with the

Buffalo Braves The Buffalo Braves were an American professional basketball team based in Buffalo, New York. The Braves competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference ...

of 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 ...

. Silliman scored 91 points in 36 NBA games. Silliman had 55 scholarship offers coming out of St. Xavier High School in Kentucky. He was Army's all-time leading scorer at the time of his 1966 graduation and now stands 10th in Academy history with 1,342 points. A three-year basketball letter winner and All-American, Silliman netted more than 1,000 points without the benefit of the three-point line and without the

shot clock A shot clock is a countdown timer used in a variety of games and sports, indicating a set amount of time that a team may possess the object of play before attempting to score a goal. Shot clocks are used in several sports including basketball, w ...

to speed up shooting. In addition to his career averages of a double-double with 19.7 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game, Silliman was also an Academic All-American. Silliman also earned three letters in baseball while at West Point. He was a member of the 1966 team that finished 16-4 and won its second straight Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League championship. Silliman was inducted into the Army Sport Hall of Fame in 2008. His jersey (#20) was retired by West Point in January, 2015. Army is the fourth Hall of Fame to induct Silliman, joining the Kentucky Athletic, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association and St. Xavier's. Bob Knight said on several occasions that Silliman was the best college player he ever coached. Silliman died of a heart attack at age 56 in 2000. He is interred at Calvary Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

References

External links

*
1968 Summer Olympics
at USABasketball.com 1944 births 2000 deaths 1967 FIBA World Championship players 1970 FIBA World Championship players Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American men's basketball players Army Black Knights men's basketball players Basketball players at the 1967 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1968 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Louisville, Kentucky Buffalo Braves players Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics New York Knicks draft picks Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in basketball Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Small forwards United States men's national basketball team players {{Louisville-stub