American basketball player-coach
Damon Bailey
(born October 21, 1971) is an American former professional
basketball
player. He rose to national prominence after being recruited by
Indiana
coach
Bob Knight
as an 8th grader, an unusual move at the time. Bailey went on to become Indiana's men's all-time high school leading scorer and would earn All-America honors playing for the
Indiana Hoosiers
. He became a cult figure during the late 1980s and early 1990s in Indiana.
[1]
Bailey was an assistant coach of the
Butler University's women's basketball
team from 2014 to 2017.
[2]
[3]
Prep career
[
edit
]
In early 1986, when Bailey was a 14-year-old eighth-grader, Indiana coach
Bob Knight
watched two games featuring Bailey's team. At the time, Knight and his
1985?86
team were being covered by author
John Feinstein
for his book
A Season on the Brink
, which would later go on to be a national best-seller. After taking in the game, Knight remarked to his assistant coaches that "Damon Bailey is better than any guard we have right now. I don't mean potentially better, I mean better today."
[1]
Due to the national and statewide popularity of Feinstein's book, Bailey's legend took off.
Later that year, as Bailey was entering
Bedford North Lawrence High School
(BNL) and Feinstein's book was being published, the acclaimed basketball movie
Hoosiers
was released. Comparisons between the movie and Bailey's career were frequently made. He told
Sports Illustrated
, "BNL had a lot in common with Hickory. Not because we're a small school. We're one of the biggest in the state. But we had nobody over 6'3", and no one thought we could win it."
[4]
In November 1986, as his freshman year of high school was beginning,
Sports Illustrated
tabbed him the country's best ninth-grade hoopster.
[5]
That freshman year he led BNL to the state Final Four, averaging over 23 points a game in the process.
[5]
His team's tournament run ended to two-time defending champion
Marion
in the semifinals. Bailey scored 20 points in that game and BNL trailed 47?46 after three quarters, but he fouled out with 2:06 to go and the opposing team ? led by Lyndon Jones and
Jay Edwards
? prevailed 70?61 en route to their third straight state title.
[4]
Bailey was named First Team Indiana All-State that year, and every other year of his high school career.
The next season, with Bailey as a sophomore, BNL again qualified for the final four, this time facing
Muncie Central
. Bailey totaled 25 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, but it was not enough as Muncie Central went on to post a 60?53 victory.
[4]
As a senior Bailey led his team to the 1990 Indiana state championship. Their opponent,
Concord High School
, was undefeated and led by future University of Nebraska standout Jamar Johnson. Before a crowd of more than 41,000 people at the
Hoosier Dome
in
Indianapolis
? the most people to ever attend a high school basketball game ? Bailey scored 30 points, including his team's final 11, in a 63?60 come-from-behind win. Bailey told
Sports Illustrated
, "The greatest thrill in winning was proving to people that we could. We didn't walk out on the floor and scare anybody. We just had a lot of heart."
[4]
Bailey finished his high school career having appeared in three state Final Fours and scoring a record 3,134 points, a record that still stands today. He played in 110 varsity games and reached double figures in all of them, including a career high of 51 against Jeffersonville as a sophomore. He averaged 28.4 points per game over his four years. Bailey was named
Indiana Mr. Basketball
, earned McDonald's All-American honors, and was tabbed the 1990 consensus
National Player of the Year
.
[4]
Bailey elected to play college basketball for
Bob Knight
's
Indiana Hoosiers
. After winning the state championship, Bailey told reporters, "Now, I'm his boy."
[5]
College career
[
edit
]
Bailey was a four-year starter for
Bob Knight
and the
Indiana Hoosiers
from 1990 to 1994. In Bailey's first three seasons (1990?93), he and the Hoosiers posted 87 victories, the most by any Big Ten team in a three-year span, breaking the mark of 86 set by Knight's Indiana teams of 1974?76. Teams from these three seasons spent all but two of the 53 poll weeks in the top 10, and 38 of them in the top 5. They captured two Big Ten crowns in 1990?91 and
1992?93
, and during the
1991?92
season reached the
Final Four
. During the
1992?93
season, the 31?4 Hoosiers finished the season at the top of the
AP Poll
, but were defeated by
Kansas
in the
Elite Eight
.
Teammates from this era included
Greg Graham
, Pat Graham, All-American
Alan Henderson
, and 1993 National Player of the Year
Calbert Cheaney
. With such talented teammates around him, Bailey largely served as a role player, averaging 11.3 points per game his first three years. Nevertheless, Indiana's athletic offices got more requests for paraphernalia and autographs for Bailey than any of the team's other stars, including Cheaney.
[5]
In his senior season, 1993?94, with many of the team's previous stars having graduated, Bailey served as the team's leader. In a game on December 4, 1993 in the
Indiana?Kentucky rivalry
, UK was ranked number one in the nation, but Indiana upset the Wildcats. Bailey hit 16-of-19 free throws (record for a single game) to score 29 points.
[6]
Bailey's performance in the upset earned him a spot on the cover of
Sports Illustrated
, which has since become an iconic image among Indiana fans.
[7]
[8]
The Hoosiers finished the season 21?9 overall, 12-6 in the Big Ten (3rd), and advanced to the
NCAA Sweet 16
.
Bailey finished sixth on Indiana's all-time scoring list with 1,741 points. He averaged 13.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game for his career. He also garnered a third-team
All-American
award and a first-team All-
Big Ten
award.
College statistics
[
edit
]
Professional basketball career
[
edit
]
Bailey was selected with the 44th overall pick in the
1994 NBA draft
by his hometown team, the
Indiana Pacers
. Bailey was cut after one season of being on the team's injured list, and a series of pre-season games the following year.
[9]
Briefly in January 1999 he signed with the
Cleveland Cavaliers
, but was soon let go. Bailey never played in an NBA regular-season game.
Bailey played in the
Continental Basketball Association
(CBA) with the
Fort Wayne Fury
. He was selected to the All-CBA First Team in 1998, while ranking third in the league with 7.3 assists per game, and to the Second Team in 1999.
[10]
He was named American Conference Player of the Week three times in his CBA career. On November 1, 2003, Bailey retired from professional basketball.
Life after pro basketball
[
edit
]
He was later employed as the boys'
basketball coach
for his
alma mater
,
Bedford North Lawrence High School
. The team finished 11?10 in Bailey's first coaching year.
The Times-Mail
in
Bedford, Indiana
reported on March 1, 2007 that Bailey had resigned as coach of BNL after two seasons, he finished with a 23?19 overall record.
[11]
Bailey was the assistant coach of the BNL Lady Stars basketball team for four seasons, including the 2012?2013 Indiana high school state basketball championship winning team. Bailey was named the head coach of the Lady Stars in May 2013, replacing Kurt Godlevske, who left to be an assistant coach for the
Butler Bulldogs women's basketball
team. As the head coach in the 2013?2014 season, Bailey led the Lady Stars to their second consecutive state title.
[2]
In May 2014, Godlevske was promoted to head coach for Butler's women's team,
[12]
and Bailey again joined him as an assistant at Butler.
In April 2017, Bailey resigned as the
Butler Bulldogs women's basketball
assistant coach after three seasons. Bailey stated that he was leaving coaching to focus on Hawkins Bailey Warehouse distribution company, a business in
Bedford, Indiana
, which he is a co-owner.
[13]
[14]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Wertheim, L. Jon (2005).
Transition Game
.
ISBN
0-399-15250-4
.
- ^
a
b
Keffer, Zak (May 14, 2014).
"Indiana basketball legend Damon Bailey joins women's hoops at Butler"
.
Indianapolis Star
. Retrieved
10 May
2019
.
- ^
VanTryon, Matthew (April 18, 2017).
"Damon Bailey resigns as Butler women's basketball assistant coach"
.
Indianapolis Star
. Archived from
the original
on 10 May 2019
. Retrieved
10 May
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
McKee, Pat (15 March 2010).
"Sportswriter Memories: Bailey lived up to his billing"
. Archived from
the original
on 18 July 2013
. Retrieved
24 April
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Past Imperfect: The Boy From Bedford"
.
Rush the Court
. 10 February 2011
. Retrieved
24 April
2012
.
- ^
Brodess, Doug (9 December 2011).
"College Basketball: Top 10 Performances in Kentucky vs. Indiana History"
. Bleacher Report
. Retrieved
22 March
2012
.
- ^
Bailey, Damon (1995).
Damon ? Living A Dream
. Backroads Press.
ISBN
0-9642371-2-1
.
- ^
Bailey, Damon (2003).
Damon: Beyond the Glory
. Backroads Press.
ISBN
0-9724033-2-9
.
- ^
"SPORTS PEOPLE: BASKETBALL;Guard-Rich Pacers Release Damon Bailey"
.
The New York Times
. November 3, 1995.
- ^
Montieth, Mark (December 20, 2016).
"Above All Else, Damon Bailey Was a Winner"
.
NBA.com
. Retrieved
August 1,
2020
.
- ^
"TMnews.com ? Times-Mail: Bedford, Indiana news"
. Archived from
the original
on 2007-09-28
. Retrieved
2007-04-13
.
- ^
"Kurt Godlevske Named Butler Women's Basketball Coach - Butler"
. Archived from
the original
on 2014-05-15
. Retrieved
2014-05-14
.
- ^
indystar.com ? Damon Bailey resigns as Butler women's basketball assistant coach
- ^
"Damon Bailey: 'I wouldn't change anything.'
"
. Archived from
the original
on 2013-11-01
. Retrieved
2013-10-30
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Krider, Dave (2007), "Damon Bailey: Fairy-Tale Career",
Indiana High School Basketball's 20 Most Dominant Players
, Bloomington, Indiana: Rooftop, pp. 15?32,
ISBN
978-1-60008-028-9
.
Links to related articles
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