Cliff Hagan Won Championships in High School, College, and the NBA
Cliff Hagan, who teamed up with fellow Hall of Famer
Bob Pettit to lead the 1957-58 St. Hawks to the franchise’s only NBA title, passed away on Thursday at the age of 94. Hagan was a potent scorer who led Owensboro High School to the 1949 Kentucky state title before staying near home to play for the University of Kentucky, helping the Wildcats win the 1951 NCAA championship. In 10 NBA seasons, Hagan's Hawks reached the NBA Finals four times and played in the Western Division Finals eight times. Hagan was a player-coach for the 1968 Dallas Chaparrals when they advanced to the ABA Western Division Finals. Hagan made the All-Star team six times in 13 professional seasons, including five selections in 10 seasons with the Hawks plus one selection in his first two seasons with the Chaparrals before retiring at age 38 midway through his third season in Dallas. Hagan averaged 17.7 ppg in 839 career regular season games and 19.9 ppg in 95 career playoff games.
After a record-setting prep career, Hagan was a two-time All-America selection (1952, 1954) at Kentucky. The NCAA suspended the Wildcats for the 1952-53 season as a result of an infamous point shaving scandal in which Hagan was not implicated. Hagan led the Wildcats to an undefeated 1953-54 regular season and a number one ranking in the season-ending AP poll. Hagan, Frank Ramsey and Lou Tsioropolous graduated from Kentucky in 1953, so NCAA rules at that time permitted them to participate in the regular season but not the NCAA Tournament, which is why Kentucky declined its invitation to the 1954 NCAA Tournament. During Hagan's three varsity seasons, the Wildcats went 86-5 and won three regular season Southeastern Conference titles; he played in 77 of those games. Hagan averaged 19.2 ppg and 13.4 rpg in three varsity seasons.
The Boston Celtics drafted Hagan in 1953, but Hagan served in the Air Force from 1953-56. Hagan led Andrews Air Force Base to the Worldwide Air Force Basketball Championship in 1954 and 1955. On April 30, 1956, the Celtics traded Hagan--who still had not played in the NBA--and three-time All-NBA First Team center Ed Macauley for the draft rights to Bill Russell, who led the Celtics to 11 NBA titles in his 13 seasons.
After the trade, the Celtics faced the Hawks in four of the next five NBA Finals, with the Celtics winning three of those four matchups. The Hawks defeated the defending champion Celtics in the 1958 NBA Finals. During the Finals, Hagan ranked second on the team to Pettit in scoring (25.2 ppg) and rebounding (9.7 rpg), but Hagan was the NBA's overall 1958 playoff scoring leader in both total points (305) and average (27.7 ppg). Hagan also led the NBA in playoff scoring average (28.5 ppg) in 1959, when the Hawks lost to the Minneapolis Lakers 4-2 in the Western Division Finals.
Hagan ranked in the top 15 in the NBA in scoring six times when the rankings were determined by total points (not scoring average), peaking at fifth in 1958-59 and 1959-60. He finished in the top five in field goal percentage for three straight seasons (1958-60), demonstrating that he was an efficient scorer.
In addition to being a top scorer,
Hagan was a crafty and effective passer. He ranked in the top 10 in total assists for three straight seasons (1960-62), and in the top ten in assists per game for four straight seasons (1959-62). In his first ABA season, Hagan ranked seventh in total assists and second in apg, the highest ranking for a forward in single season apg until LeBron James ranked second in the NBA in 2017-18 before leading the NBA in 2019-20.
After retiring from the Hawks, Hagan spent one season as a television commentator before coming out of retirement to join the ABA's Dallas Chaparrals as a player-coach. Hagan is the first player selected as an All-Star in both the NBA and the ABA. Hagan averaged 18.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg, and 4.9 apg as a 36 year old as the Chaparrals went 46-32 in the ABA's debut season. Hagan took a smaller role as a player in his second season in Dallas, and in his third ABA season he played in just three games before resigning as coach after the team started with a 22-21 record.
Hagan is the first UK Wildcat player to be inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1978). He served as the university's athletics director from 1975 to 1988. Kentucky won the 1978 NCAA men's basketball title.
It is easy for modern fans and commentators to overlook Hagan because his career professional totals (14,870 points, 5555 rebounds, 2646 assists) are not eye-popping, but it is important to remember several key factors when evaluating Hagan and other players from his era:
1) Both the regular season and the playoffs had fewer games, so total numbers from that era are inevitably lower.
2) Careers tended to be shorter because players could make a better living outside of pro basketball than inside pro basketball.
3) Playing conditions were harsher--scheduling, travel, and training/medical care were all markedly worse than they are today--which impacted productivity/efficiency while also truncating careers.
Cliff Hagan's basketball career began when he was a high school player in the pre-shot clock era in the 1940s, and lasted until the ABA's 1969-70 season. He should be remembered as one of the sport's pioneers whose teams won championships at the prep, collegiate, and professional levels.
Labels: ABA, Cliff Hagan, Dallas Chaparrals, NBA, St. Louis Hawks, University of Kentucky
posted by David Friedman @ 11:07 AM
Larry Jones' Forgotten Streak of 30 Point Games
Larry Jones, who passed away on August 16, 2025 just over a month before his 83rd birthday, earned four straight ABA All-Star selections (1968-71), made the All-ABA First Team three times (1968-70), and twice finished in the top five in ABA regular season MVP voting (fourth in 1968, third in 1969). He averaged a career-high 28.4 ppg in 1968-69, ranking third in the league in scoring behind Hall of Famers Rick Barry (34.0 ppg) and Connie Hawkins (30.2 ppg).
Jones' professional career began in the Eastern Basketball League in 1964 before he averaged 5.7 ppg in 23 games for the Philadelphia 76ers during the 1964-65 season. He then spent two seasons in the Eastern Basketball League before signing with the Denver Rockets in the ABA's inaugural season. Jones turned down an offer from the L.A. Lakers before joining the Rockets. Jones averaged 22.9 ppg for the Rockets in 1967-68, and the Rockets went 45-33 in the regular season before losing 3-2 to the New Orleans Buccaneers in the playoffs.
In an interview with the Be a Baller podcast, Jones talked about his streak of 23 straight games scoring at least 30 points during the 1968-69 season. I pride myself on my knowledge of basketball history and I know a lot about Jones' career, but I had no idea that he had put together such a streak. It appears that Connie Hawkins posted the second longest such streak in ABA history (16 games in the 1968-69 season), and I know of only two longer streaks in NBA history (there are various lists of 30 point game streaks online, but many of the lists have information that does not match up with the game log data at BasketballReference.com): Wilt Chamberlain (of course) scored at least 30 points in 65 straight games en route to averaging a record 50.4 ppg in the 1961-62 season, and James Harden flopped and flailed his way to at least 30 points in 32 straight games in the 2018-19 season.
Harden's presence on the list is yet another example of how the NBA's emphasis on helping offensive players/hindering defensive players has skewed the record book. Harden repeatedly committed blatant traveling offenses, including traveling during his signature step back move into a three point shot--making a mockery of the legitimate and beautiful step back moves utilized by players such as Adrian Dantley, Larry Bird, and Dell Curry.
The only good thing about Harden's fraudulent streak is that it brought some attention to Jones' streak. Jones mentioned during the podcast interview that he received some phone calls from media members asking his thoughts about Harden approaching and then surpassing his streak. Jones indicated that he did not think much about Harden's streak--but that on reflection he realized the magnitude of what he accomplished during his own streak as a young ABA player.
During his 23 game streak of 30 point games, Jones averaged 35.6 ppg. The Rockets went 13-10 in those games--they finished the season with a 44-34 record--and Jones also averaged 6.4 rpg, 1.3 apg, and just .7 tpg during those 23 games. He was an excellent rebounder for a 6-2 guard, and he was much more of a scorer than a playmaker, but in 1969-70 he ranked fourth in the ABA in assists with a career-high 5.7 apg.
Jones averaged 24.9 ppg in 1969-70 (sixth in the ABA) and 24.3 ppg in 1970-71 (seventh in the ABA) before being slowed by injuries. Jones bounced around the ABA to the Floridians, Utah Stars, and Dallas Chaparrals before finishing his pro career averaging 10.0 ppg in 72 games (including 60 starts) for the 1974-75 Philadelphia 76ers.
Jones was from Columbus, Ohio, and he enjoyed a successful college career at the University of Toledo, averaging 20.9 ppg and 9.0 rpg in 63 games. After Jones retired as a professional player, he spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons and he was the head coach of the Las Vegas Dealers in the Western Basketball Association in 1978-79 before that league folded. He also worked as director of player personnel for the Women's Professional Basketball League, and he later coached the Columbus Minks in the Women's American Basketball Association. Jones earned a master's degree in education from Ohio State, and he worked in Columbus as a substitute teacher while also running youth basketball camps.
Labels: ABA, Connie Hawkins, Dallas Chaparrals, Denver Rockets, Floridians, James Harden, Larry Jones, Philadelphia 76ers, Toledo, Utah Stars, Wilt Chamberlain
posted by David Friedman @ 10:42 PM
Deron Williams Did Not Set Nets' Single Game Scoring Record
On Saturday night, Deron Williams scored a career-high 57 points in New Jersey's 104-101 victory at Charlotte. That is the most points an NBA player has scored in a game since
Kobe Bryant dropped 61 points on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden--but, contrary to what you may have read or heard, Williams did not break the Nets' franchise single game scoring record. The Nets franchise began in the ABA in 1967 when they were known as the New Jersey Americans. After the 1967-68 season they changed their name to the New York Nets and after the 1976-77 season they changed their name to the New Jersey Nets. During nine ABA seasons the Nets won two ABA titles (1974 and 1976) and that second championship run featured
one of the greatest single series performances in pro basketball history as Julius Erving led both teams in scoring (37.7 ppg), rebounding (14.2 rpg), assists (6.0 apg), steals (3.0 spg) and blocked shots (2.2 bpg) in the 1976 ABA Finals. During the previous season, Erving scored a career-high 63 points in a 176-166 quadruple overtime loss to the San Diego Conquistadors,
one of the 48 regular season games in which Erving scored at least 40 points during his ABA/NBA career.
Erving still holds the Nets' single game scoring record as surely as Joe Namath's 4007 passing yards in 1967 for the then-AFL New York Jets remains the Jets' single season record in that category. Unfortunately, the NBA has been engaged in Orwellian-style historical revisionism for decades;
James Silas once lamented to me that the Spurs' record book does not acknowledge that he scored more than 10,000 points in his career even though the team gave him a commemorative ball at the time that he reached that milestone achievement. Silas mentioned this to me several years ago, so I just checked the Spurs' 2012 Media Guide online to see if anything as changed but in the former players section the Media Guide inexplicably does not include Silas' first season with the franchise--when he scored 1071 points for the team then known as the Dallas Chaparrals--and it segregates Silas's ABA Spurs points from his NBA Spurs points without listing a combined total (there is a section of the Media Guide that briefly discusses the Spurs' ABA history and lists the team's ABA statistics but that history and those numbers are artificially separated from the rest of the team's statistics and history).
No matter how much the NBA, the Elias Sports Bureau and complicit media outlets try to deny the real history the truth cannot and should not be buried: ABA statistics exist and
they should be fully acknowledged by the NBA just like the NFL fully acknowledges AFL statistics. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is finally recognizing ABA legends like
Mel Daniels and
Artis Gilmore so the next step is for the NBA and its four former ABA franchises (Pacers, Nets, Nuggets and Spurs) to proudly and fully acknowledge ABA history and ABA statistics.
Labels: Dallas Chaparrals, Deron Williams, James Silas, Julius Erving, New Jersey Nets, New York Nets, San Antonio Spurs
posted by David Friedman @ 5:05 AM
