He was Marshall’s greatest basketball player, but he was also a pioneer who broke the color line in West Virginia and paved the way for future generations.
Hal Greer is a name synonymous with Huntington, Marshall University and the NBA. A member of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, he is easily the most decorated basketball player in the Thundering Herd’s heralded history. On April 14, 2018, this true Son of Marshall passed away. He was 81. He is survived by his wife, Mayme, a son and two daughters.
When I think about the life of Hal Greer, two things come to mind. The first is Greer the athlete. The second, and even more important in my opinion, is Greer the pioneer. But, let’s start with his memorable basketball career.
Greer, a 6’2″ guard, played three outstanding seasons for Marshall (the NCAA did not permit freshmen to play varsity sports until 1972), where he had 1,377 points and a 19.4 scoring average in only 71 games — far short of today’s lengthy schedules. Greer’s finest season was his last, in which he had a 23.6 scoring average, which placed him 17th in the nation. When he ran off the court for the final time, he fell into Coach Jule Rivlin’s arms and the two shared an emotional embrace. It was one of the few times that the typically reserved young man showed emotion. The capacity crowd in the Memorial Field House rose to their feet to give Greer an inspiring 10-minute ovation.
He was the nation’s fifth best “sharpshooter” with a 54.6 field goal percentage, and his free-throw shooting percentage of 83.3 put him at No. 14 in the nation. These numbers were enough to earn him consensus All-American honors behind such NBA legends as Jerry West, Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain.
Greer was selected in the second round of the NBA draft by the Syracuse Nationals, which later became the Philadelphia 76ers. He played for the same franchise for all of his 15 seasons, averaged 19.2 points per game and became only the sixth man in league history to score more than 20,000 points. What’s more, he earned an NBA championship ring in 1967 and was voted the most valuable player of the All-Star Game in 1968. He even has a street named after him in Huntington. Not a bad resume.
Now let’s talk about Greer the pioneer. Harold Greer grew up in Huntington in an era of segregation and played basketball for Douglass High School. Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1954 that struck down school segregation, he was recruited to play basketball by another legend — Coach Cam Henderson. Ironically, Greer never played for Henderson. Instead, he was coached by Cam’s successor and protégé, Jule Rivlin. When Greer accepted a scholarship to Marshall, he became the first black athlete to play for a major college in the state. History credits him with breaking the color line in West Virginia.
The late local sports writer Ernie Salvatore once wrote, “The journey wasn’t easy for Hal. They seldom are when one is a social trailblazer.”
While his teammates and fellow students at Marshall were quick to welcome him, he wasn’t made to feel welcome in other places. Before a game in nearby Charleston, Coach Rivlin walked into a restaurant where the team had reservations only to return moments later looking upset. The team moved on in search of somewhere else to eat. Nothing was said, but Greer knew why they were turned away. In another incident in West Virginia, a motel clerk refused to let Greer register. Upon hearing this, Rivlin threatened to call the governor and the newspapers. Who knows how many more incidents like this took place during his four years at Marshall. But, Greer handled it all with grace. By all accounts he was a quiet, polite, reserved young man who stayed to himself much of the time.
Looking back, I realize that it was because of Greer and the door he opened that I was able to play alongside some gifted black athletes during my four years at Marshall. George Stone, another of the greatest players to ever wear a Thundering Herd jersey, was my teammate, roommate and friend. He invited me to his hometown of Covington, Kentucky, to meet his family and play ball with his friends. It was during those pickup games on an all-black playground that I got a small sense of how Hal must have felt. I was an outsider and sensed that I wasn’t welcome. But, George always had my back and the more we played the more the tension disappeared. I benefited both athletically and socially from being in that environment.
In college, I witnessed racism directed towards George and the other black players on our team. During a trip to Florida, we encountered some good ol’ boys at our motel who made some comments they shouldn’t have. A fight broke out and our team, both black and white, certainly met the challenge. That brawl was a way for the white players to stand up for our black teammates.
Reflecting on my years at Marshall in the late 1960s, the whole issue of race seemed pretty simple to me. I found that the more familiar two groups of people are with each other, the more tensions fade and the more people are accepted.
Today, I am married to a black woman and we have a teenage daughter. No matter where my career as a coach has taken us as a family, we have always been made to feel accepted in both the white and black communities. From my friendship with George Stone at Marshall, to the players I coached over the years, to my wife and daughter, my life has been positively impacted by pioneers like Hal Greer. If not for the path he helped pave, my life would never have been as rich. /To%20Su%20for%20Website/MU56_autumn2018-web-resources/image/9.png)
Dan D’Antoni is the head coach of Marshall men’s basketball program. He is also a former star point guard for the Thundering Herd (1966-1970) and a member of the Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame.