American professional basketball player and coach
Paul Seymour
|
Born
| (
1928-01-30
)
January 30, 1928
Toledo, Ohio
, U.S.
|
---|
Died
| May 5, 1998
(1998-05-05)
(aged 70)
Jensen Beach, Florida
, U.S.
|
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Nationality
| American
|
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Listed height
| 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
|
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Listed weight
| 180 lb (82 kg)
|
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High school
| Woodward
(Toledo, Ohio)
|
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College
| Toledo
(1945?1946)
|
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Playing career
| 1946?1960
|
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Position
| Point guard
/
shooting guard
|
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Number
| 24, 25, 8, 5
|
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|
|
1946?1947
| Toledo Jeeps
|
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1947?1948
| Baltimore Bullets
|
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1948?
1960
| Syracuse Nationals
|
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|
1956
?
1960
| Syracuse Nationals
|
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1960
?
1962
| St. Louis Hawks
|
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1965?1966
| Baltimore Bullets
|
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1968?1969
| Detroit Pistons
|
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|
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|
As player:
As coach:
|
|
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|
Points
| 5,836 (9.4 ppg)
|
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Rebounds
| 1,694 (3.1 rpg)
|
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Assists
| 2,341 (3.8 apg)
|
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|
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Stats
at NBA.com
|
Stats
at Basketball-Reference.com
|
|
Paul Norman Seymour
(January 30, 1928 ? May 5, 1998) was an American professional
basketball
player and coach. Seymour played
college basketball
for the
Toledo Rockets
before playing professionally in the
National Basketball Association
(NBA). In the NBA, he played for the
Baltimore Bullets
and
Syracuse Nationals
. While with the Nationals, Seymour was named to the
NBA All-Star game
in three consecutive years, from 1953-1955. He also coached in the NBA for the Nationals,
St. Louis Hawks
,
Baltimore Bullets
, and
Detroit Pistons
.
Playing career
[
edit
]
A 6'1"
guard
, Seymour played collegiately at the
University of Toledo
, and had a 12-year career in the
NBA
and its predecessor, the
Basketball Association of America
(BAA). He played his first season for the
Baltimore Bullets
of the BAA; the remainder of his career was with the
Syracuse Nationals
.
Seymour was named to the
All-NBA second team
in the 1954?55 and 1954?55 seasons and played in three
NBA All-Star Games
during his career. He won a championship with the Nationals in the
1954?55
season. For a good part of his career, Seymour was a
player-coach
for the Nats.
Seymour still shares, with former teammate
Red Rocha
, the
NBA record
for most minutes in a playoff game with 67.
[1]
Coaching career
[
edit
]
After finishing his playing career, Seymour continued a successful coaching career in the NBA, coaching three more teams. Altogether he coached four teams in eight seasons. In 1961, he was the head coach of the Western Division Team in the All Star Game.
Seymour was mentioned in the
ESPN
documentary, Black Magic, which told the story of
African-Americans
and basketball. In a segment about
Cleo Hill
, it was revealed that during the 1961?62 season,
Bob Pettit
and
Cliff Hagan
approached management and complained that Hill was taking too many shots. (Allegedly, this was just a cover-up for their desire to not play with an African-American teammate.) Management granted their wish, telling Seymour to severely diminish Hill's offensive role. Seymour's refusal resulted in his dismissal 14 games into the season on November 17, 1961. His replacement on an interim basis was Pettit. Seymour had no ill feelings towards team owner
Ben Kerner
, stating, "He didn't fire me. The players did."
[2]
While coaching at Baltimore during the 1965?1966 season, Seymour deliberately ended
Johnny Kerr
's then-record consecutive-games-played streak of 844 games by benching the team captain for one game. According to Kerr, only after the game did Seymour tell Kerr about his intention to end Kerr's streak, saying, "This will take the pressure off you."
[3]
Later years
[
edit
]
Seymour was featured in the book, Basketball History in Syracuse, Hoops Roots by author Mark Allen Baker published by The History Press in 2010. The book is an introduction to professional basketball in Syracuse and includes teams like (Vic Hanson's) All-Americans, the Syracuse Reds and the
Syracuse Nationals
(1946?1963).
Seymour was elected to the first class of the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame in 1987 along with owner Dan Biasone and NBA all-time great Dolph Schayes.
[4]
BAA/NBA career statistics
[
edit
]
Regular season
[
edit
]
Playoffs
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"A March Marathon ? Flashback: 1953's Four-OT Thriller ? Boston Celtics vs. Syracuse Nationals"
,
Basketball Digest
, March 2003, archived from
the original
on March 30, 2006
, retrieved
May 28,
2008
- ^
"Hawks Fire Head Coach Paul Seymour,"
The Associated Press
(AP), Saturday, November 18, 1961.
Retrieved March 4, 2023.
- ^
"Commentary: Boss ends amazing streak"
,
CNN
, June 14, 2009
- ^
"Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame"
. Retrieved
November 4,
2018
.
External links
[
edit
]
Links to related articles
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# denotes interim head coach
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# denotes interim head coach
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# denotes interim head coach
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