Bookmark/Share

Get Lakers Stuff


Get Tickets


Blogs


Media Sites



Clyde Lovellette



Position: Center
Full Name: Clyde Edward Lovellette
Nickname: Cloudburst Clyde, The Prolific Pachyderm
Born: September 7, 1929 in Petersburg, Indiana
Height: 6-9
Weight: 235
High School: Garfield High School in Terre Haute, Indiana
College: Kansas
Drafted: 1st Round, 10th Pick - Minneapolis Lakers, 1952
Jersey#: 4

Played for the Lakers from 1953 to 1957
Inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1988


Clyde Lovellette was a gentle giant who emerged from basketball-crazy Indiana to become one of the game's premier big men. A noted jokester, Lovellette accumulated a bundle of nicknames ('Cloudburst Clyde,' 'the Prolific Pachyderm') to go with a Hall of Fame resume that included 11,947 points, 6,673 rebounds, and three All-Star Game appearances. A winner at every level, he was the first player to compete on championship teams in college, in the Olympic Games, and in the professional ranks.

The son of a locomotive engineer, Lovellette was born in 1929 in Terre Haute, Indiana. Already tall by the time he reached high school, he was painfully self-conscious about his height, but that didn't stop him from excelling on the basketball court. One of the top prep hoopsters in the state, he led Garfield High School to the finals of the 1947 state tournament.

Nearly 50 colleges vied for the chance to recruit the 6-foot-9 Lovellette, who chose to play for the legendary Forrest 'Phog' Allen at the University of Kansas. Lovellette had a spectacular college career. In his sophomore season he ranked fourth in the nation in scoring with 21.8 points per game; a year later he was the nation's No. 5 scorer at 22.8 points per contest.

Everything came together for Lovellette and the Kansas Jayhawks during his senior season. Lovellette led the nation's collegians in scoring with 28.4 points per game, and he led his team to the 1952 NCAA Championship. 'It seemed like from the first time we stepped on the court that year against Creighton, good things were going to happen,' Lovellette told the Kansas City Star in 1988. 'We had been up and down in two years, but we all still liked each other and got along. Phog was still a ball of fire then.. It just all came together. It was a great experience.'

Lovellette was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament after scoring a record total of 141 points for an average of better than 35 points per contest. He left Kansas as the top scorer in Jayhawks history (until surpassed by Danny Manning in 1988) and a three-time All-American.

During his college years Lovellette not only blossomed into the top player in the country but also overcame his shyness and developed into a noted extrovert. While at the university he hosted a radio show at WIBW in Topeka called 'Hill Billy Clyde and his Hound Dog Lester.' According to the 1964 Boston Celtics Yearbook, Lovellette's 'nice big smile, his salute, and motorcycle were a popular sight on the Jayhawk campus.'

After nailing down the NCAA title Lovellette, six other Kansas players, and Coach Allen were chosen to form the nucleus of the 1952 U.S. Olympic Team. Playing in Helsinki, Finland, the team beat the Soviet Union in the final game, 36-25, to win the gold medal. 'Going to the Olympics and representing the United States [had] to be the biggest thrill of my entire basketball career,' Lovellette said in 1979. 'Winning the gold medal was icing on the cake.'

After the Olympics, Lovellette spent a season playing amateur basketball. He then signed a contract with the defending NBA-champion Minneapolis Lakers for the 1953-54 NBA season.

The Minneapolis team that Lovellette joined was the best outfit in basketball. The league's first dynasty, the Lakers had won NBA titles in three of the previous four seasons, and they featured an awesome lineup that included future Hall of Famers Jim Pollard and Slater Martin and a standout forward in Vern Mikkelsen.

But the team's real power was 6-10 behemoth George Mikan, one of the league's first superstars. Although Mikan was 29 years old and his knees were already beginning to trouble him, he was still the dominant force in the game. The addition of Lovellette gave Minneapolis a formidable one-two punch at the center position. 'For six years, [opposing teams] have been running up against George Mikan at the pivot,' one Minneapolis reporter wrote. 'Now they've got Mikan one minute, and Lovellette the next-and then maybe both of them together.'

Lovellette turned in a fine rookie campaign. As Mikan's understudy and replacement he averaged 8.2 points and 5.8 rebounds in 17.4 minutes per game. The Lakers outdueled the Rochester Royals for the top spot in the Western Division, ousted the Royals in the playoffs, then earned a third consecutive NBA title by besting the Syracuse Nationals in seven games. Lovellette was an important factor in the Lakers' title drive, averaging 10.5 points and 9.7 rebounds in 13 playoff games.

Two important rule changes were made shortly after the end of the 1954 postseason. The 24-second clock was introduced, and a limit of six team fouls per quarter was instituted. The new regulations were intended to speed up the action on the court and to take away the tactical advantage of fouling the player with the ball late in the game.

As the following season got underway the biggest question was what effect the new rules would have on the Lakers, a team built around the size and power of George Mikan. The question was left unanswered, however, when Mikan retired before the 1954-55 season began.

The job of filling Mikan's shoes fell to Lovellette. He proved that he was up to the challenge by finishing in the NBA's top 10 in scoring, rebounding, and field-goal percentage. The Lakers posted a 40-32 record, good enough for a second-place finish behind the Fort Wayne Pistons. They then fell to Fort Wayne in the playoffs in four games.

Minneapolis dropped below the .500 mark during the next two seasons (although a 34-38 record was still sufficient to earn the club a tie for first in the Western Division in 1956-57). For Lovellette, however, both were standout years. In 1955-56 he ranked fourth in the NBA in scoring with 22.1 points per game, third in rebounds with 14.0 boards per contest, and sixth in shooting with a .434 field-goal percentage. He also appeared in his first NBA All-Star Game. One year later he finished sixth in the NBA in scoring (20.8 ppg) and fifth in rebounding (13.5 rpg).

After the 1957 NBA Playoffs, Lovellette was dealt to the Rochester Royals along with Jim Paxson for Ed Fleming, Bob Burrow, Art Spoelstra, and a first-round draft pick (which the Lakers used to select Rod Hundley). The Royals were in the process of moving from Rochester to Cincinnati and were trying to rebuild a contender after three years at or near the bottom of the Western Division.

For 1957-58 Lovellette joined a promising young frontcourt that consisted of 23-year-old Jack Twyman and 24-year-old Maurice Stokes. But the Royals were still not quite ready to compete with the best teams, and they finished with a 33-39 record. Lovellette paced the club in scoring with 23.4 points per game (fourth in the NBA) and finished fifth in the league with a .441 field-goal percentage.

Lovellette's stay in Cincinnati proved to be a short one. After a single season he was traded to the reigning NBA-champion St. Louis Hawks. The club featured Cliff Hagan and Bob Pettit at forward and Jack McMahon and Slater Martin (who had played with Lovellette at Minneapolis) in the backcourt.

The addition of Lovellette made the Hawks even better. St. Louis won 49 contests during the 1958-59 season to take the Western Division by 16 games, but the team was shocked in the division finals by Minneapolis, now a promising young club led by rookie Elgin Baylor. The Lakers took the series in six games.

The Hawks bounced back the following season and fought their way to the NBA Finals after winning the Western Division by 16 games for the second year in a row. St. Louis overpowered the opposition, with Hagan, Pettit, and Lovellette each averaging better than 20 points. All three were named to the West All-Star Team. In the 1960 NBA Finals the Hawks bowed to the Boston Celtics in seven games.

The 1960-61 season brought similar results. St. Louis claimed another Western Division crown as the Hawks' frontcourt trio all turned in averages above 20 points per game. Lovellette made his third All-Star Game appearance, scoring 21 points and pulling down 10 rebounds as the West trounced the East, 153-131.

Two weeks later he reached a major milestone when he scored his 10,000th career point in a game at Madison Square Garden. Hawks Head Coach Paul Seymour presented Lovellette with a trophy to commemorate the event and also got in a jab at Lovellette's sometimes-suspect defensive skills. 'Here is a well-earned memento for you, Clyde, a fitting souvenir to mark the 25,000 points you've accounted for,' Seymour said. Then he added, 'That's right, 25,000 points-10,000 that you scored and the 15,000 that you gave to your opponents.'

St. Louis outlasted Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and the Los Angeles Lakers in a seven-game division finals to set up a fourth meeting between the Hawks and the Celtics in the 1961 NBA Finals. Boston was at its peak and trounced St. Louis in five games.

The Hawks fell hard in 1961-62 as Lovellette missed half of the season with a back injury. Compounding Lovellette's absence was the loss of guard Lenny Wilkens to active military service in the wake of the Berlin crisis. St. Louis finished 22 games below their previous season's record at 29-51.

With age and back trouble taking their toll on Lovellette, the Hawks decided that his best days were behind him, so they allowed the Boston Celtics to sign the 33-year-old veteran. Red Auerbach picked up Lovellette for the 1962-63 season to provide experienced relief for Bill Russell at center. Lovellette, who had started his career as George Mikan's backup, finished it as Russell's replacement. In his first season in Boston he averaged just over 9 minutes and only 6.5 points, but he did the job Auerbach had asked him to do and played a significant role as the Celtics won a fifth straight championship.

Lovellette put in one more season as Russell's backup and earned a third championship ring. He retired after the 1964 NBA Finals and finished his 11-year career with 11,947 points, an average of 17.0 points per game.

The transition to life after basketball proved difficult for Lovellette. During the next decade and a half he worked as a sports broadcaster, a sheriff, a car salesman, a cattle rancher, a nursing home administrator, and a lacrosse coach. He also spent time as an administrative assistant to the governor of Illinois, ran for mayor of Terre Haute, and opened an antiques store on Cape Cod. But in the early 1980s the newly religious former basketball star found his niche as a teacher, counselor, and basketball coach at White's Institute, a school for troubled youths.

'It's not a big, fancy job,' he explained, 'but Clyde Lovellette's had his glory. Now it's time to give myself to these kids.'



Regular Season Stats


YEAR TEAM G MIN FGM FGA PCT FTM FTA PCT 3PM 3PA PCT REB RPG AST PF STL TO BLK PTS PPG
1954 MIE 72 1255 237 560 .423 114 164 .695 0 0 - 419 5.8 51 210 0 0 0 588 8.2
1955 MIE 70 2361 519 1192 .435 273 398 .686 0 0 - 802 11.5 100 262 0 0 0 1311 18.7
1956 MIE 71 2518 594 1370 .434 338 469 .721 0 0 - 992 14.0 164 245 0 0 0 1526 21.5
1957 MIE 69 2492 574 1348 .426 286 399 .717 0 0 - 932 13.5 139 251 0 0 0 1434 20.8
1958 CIN 71 2589 679 1540 .441 301 405 .743 0 0 - 862 12.1 134 236 0 0 0 1659 23.4
1959 STL 70 1599 402 885 .454 205 250 .820 0 0 - 605 8.6 91 216 0 0 0 1009 14.4
1960 STL 68 1953 550 1174 .468 316 385 .821 0 0 - 721 10.6 127 248 0 0 0 1416 20.8
1961 STL 67 2111 599 1321 .453 273 329 .830 0 0 - 677 10.1 172 248 0 0 0 1471 22.0
1962 STL 40 1192 341 724 .471 155 187 .829 0 0 - 350 8.8 68 136 0 0 0 837 20.9
1963 BOS 61 568 161 376 .428 73 98 .745 0 0 - 177 2.9 27 137 0 0 0 395 6.5
1964 BOS 45 437 128 305 .420 45 57 .789 0 0 - 126 2.8 24 100 0 0 0 301 6.7
CAREER 704 19075 4784 10795 .443 2379 3141 .757 0 0 - 6663 9.5 1097 2289 0 0 0 11947 17.0


Playoff Stats


YEAR TEAM G MIN FGM FGA PCT FTM FTA PCT 3PM 3PA PCT REB RPG AST PF STL TO BLK PTS PPG
1954 MIE 13 265 54 120 .450 28 58 .483 0 0 - 126 9.7 7 37 0 0 0 136 10.5
1955 MIE 7 197 44 98 .449 29 40 .725 0 0 - 64 9.1 3 32 0 0 0 117 16.7
1956 MIE 3 69 19 39 .487 19 32 .594 0 0 - 25 8.3 6 13 0 0 0 57 19.0
1957 MIE 5 181 51 118 .432 19 26 .731 0 0 - 47 9.4 11 21 0 0 0 121 24.2
1958 CIN 2 72 12 31 .387 9 14 .643 0 0 - 21 10.5 1 9 0 0 0 33 16.5
1959 STL 6 161 35 70 .500 22 28 .786 0 0 - 59 9.8 8 23 0 0 0 92 15.3
1960 STL 14 426 95 242 .393 56 68 .824 0 0 - 151 10.8 39 53 0 0 0 246 17.6
1961 STL 8 191 46 114 .404 31 47 .660 0 0 - 52 6.5 11 23 0 0 0 123 15.4
1963 BOS 6 40 7 26 .269 4 6 .667 0 0 - 5 0.8 1 13 0 0 0 18 3.0
1964 BOS 5 40 8 34 .235 4 4 1.000 0 0 - 7 1.4 2 8 0 0 0 20 4.0
CAREER 69 1642 371 892 .416 221 323 .684 0 0 - 557 8.1 89 232 0 0 0 963 14.0