Tom Loren Burleson (born February 24, 1952) is an American former professional basketball player. A 7′2″ center, Burleson played for

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

's 1974 NCAA national championship team.

Early life

Burleson is a native of Avery County, North Carolina. He was an All-American at Newland High School and Avery County High School, as well as North Carolina State University.

College

As a collegian, Burleson teamed with

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

David Thompson, guard

Monte Towe Monte Corwin Towe (born September 27, 1953) is an American basketball coach and retired basketball player. He was a starting point guard on the 1973-74 North Carolina State Wolfpack men's basketball team, 1973–74 North Carolina State Wolfpack ...

and forward Tim Stoddard (who would go on to have success as a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

) to dethrone

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and win the 1974 NCAA Championship. Burleson was the MVP of the 1973 and 1974 ACC Tournaments and was All-Final Four in 1974. Burleson's defense of UCLA superstar

Bill Walton William Theodore Walton III (November 5, 1952 – May 27, 2024) was an American basketball player and television Sports commentator, sportscaster. He played college basketball, collegiately for the UCLA Bruins men's basketball, UCLA Bruins an ...

was key to the Wolfpack's semifinal win. He was a member of the 1973 World University Games Gold Medal basketball team. When Burleson was recruited he was officially measured at tall, but the coaching staff at North Carolina State decided to list him at . Burleson wanted to be listed at his actual height but the coaching staff said he would officially be the tallest player in American basketball and it would bring a lot of good exposure to him and the school. The ploy worked and Burleson was featured on the cover of ''Sports Illustrated'' in 1974.

Olympic team

During the 1972 Olympics held in Munich, Burleson unwittingly walked into a parking lot where the Israeli hostages were brought before they were removed by helicopter from the Olympic village and later massacred. Burleson was held at gunpoint against a wall by one of the terrorists, and told not to move or look at the hostages as they came through the parking lot. He is the last athlete who had any contact with the Israeli Olympians 45 minutes before they died. Burleson was also a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team that lost a controversial gold medal game to the Soviet Union. The entire 1972 Olympic Basketball team believed they had been cheated and voted unanimously to not accept the silver. Burleson did not play vs. the USSR, suspended by coach Hank Iba for bringing his fiancé' to the Olympic village, a violation of team rules.

Pro career

Before the 1974 NBA draft, it appeared almost certain that Burleson would be taken by the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

. But because Seattle traded Dick Snyder to the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

at the last minute, the Sonics gained the right to pick before the Suns, so the two teams vied for a contract with Burleson. After considering both offers, Burleson chose Seattle. Drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics as the third overall player in the 1974

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

, Burleson entered the league tied with Artis Gilmore and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the tallest active NBA player at 7 feet 2 inches. He was named to the 1974–75

NBA All-Rookie Team The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches who are not allowed to vote for play ...

. Playing under coach

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 ...

, Burleson recorded strong playoff performances in both 1974-75 and 1975-76 for Seattle. For his playoff career, Burleson averaged 20.7 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game in 15 career playoff games. His second season as a professional proved to be his best, as he averaged 15.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game. Just as he began to come into his own in the NBA, he was injured when

Maurice Cheeks Maurice Edward Cheeks (born September 8, 1956) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as assistant coach for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also served as head coach of ...

crashed into his knee while trying to stop Phil Ford from scoring. The injury was instrumental in his steady decline over the next several years. Burleson was known throughout his amateur and pro career as a good shot blocker. He played seven seasons in the

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 ...

with Seattle, 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 ...

and the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

Personal life

Burleson lives in

Avery County, North Carolina Avery County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 17,806. The county seat is Newland, North Carolina, Newland. The county seat was ...

with his wife Denise. In 2022 he retired after 28 years as the county's Planning and Inspections/Building and Code Department Director. He previously served as an Avery County commissioner. He also operates Tommy Burleson and Sons Christmas Trees farm. He is credited with having rescued a woman from an apartment fire in Newland in 1985 and suffered smoke inhalation injury. He and his wife have three sons: Robert, David, and Quentin. He is an avid supporter of North Carolina State University. He has served for several years as a Special Ambassador to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games.

Honors

In 2002, Burleson was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team honoring the fifty greatest players in

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

history.

Basketball camp

In 1983 Burleson founded the Tommy Burleson Basketball Camp, which is held in collaboration with the Avery County Parks and Recreation Department in North Carolina.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

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Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

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, 82 , , 82 , , 32.3 , , .481 , , , , .750 , , 9.0 , , 2.2 , , .9 , , 1.8 , , 15.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 82 , , 22.0 , , .442 , , , , .731 , , 6.7 , , 1.1 , , .9 , , 1.4 , , 9.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, 76 , , , , 20.1 , , .434 , , , , .794 , , 6.3 , , 1.7 , , .8 , , 1.1 , , 8.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 56 , , , , 16.6 , , .459 , , , , .716 , , 5.0 , , .9 , , .5 , , 1.0 , , 7.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , , , 7.4 , , .346 , , .000 , , .575 , , 1.9 , , .5 , , .2 , , .4 , , 2.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, 31 , , , , 11.7 , , .414 , , – , , .488 , , 3.0 , , .4 , , .3 , , .6 , , 3.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 446 , , 164 , , 21.1 , , .445 , , .000 , , .726 , , 6.3 , , 1.3 , , .7 , , 1.3 , , 9.4

Playoffs

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !FT% !RPG !APG !SPG !BPG !PPG , - , style="text-align:left;",

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 9 , , 40.4 , , .513 , , .750 , , 10.7 , , 1.4 , , .8 , , 2.0 , , 20.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 6 , , 34.7 , , .600 , , .761 , , 9.5 , , 1.7 , , 1.0 , , 1.3 , , 20.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 15 , , 38.1 , , .542 , , .756 , , 10.2 , , 1.5 , , .9 , , 1.7 , , 20.7

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burleson, Tommy 1952 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks players Basketball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Basketball players from North Carolina Carolina Cougars draft picks Centers (basketball) Kansas City Kings players Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics NC State Wolfpack men's basketball players Olympic silver medalists for the United States in basketball Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Avery County, North Carolina Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Seattle SuperSonics players United States men's national basketball team players