John Graham Kerr (July 17, 1932 – February 26, 2009), also known as Red Kerr, was an American basketball player, coach, executive and broadcaster who devoted six decades to the sport at all levels. In 2009, he was honored with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to basketball.
The affable 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), 230-pound (104.3 kg) center starred for the University of Illinois (1951–1954) before he became a three-time All-Star and one-time league champion in the NBA (1954–66), primarily as a member of the Syracuse Nationals.
Kerr was the first of the NBA iron men in the early years of the league. From 1954 to 1965, he played in 917 consecutive games, including 844 in the regular season, a record that stood for 17 years. He averaged 13.8 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 905 games over 12 seasons, all except one with the Nationals (later the Philadelphia 76ers). More workmanlike than spectacular, Kerr averaged in double figures in points and rebounds in seven consecutive seasons (1956–64), when he earned the reputation as one of the best all-around big men in the league.
After retirement as a player, Kerr held several coaching and administrative positions, most notably coach of the Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns in their first-ever seasons. In his debut on the bench, the 1966–67 Bulls defied long odds to earn a postseason berth, the first expansion team in major professional team sports to do so.
The Chicago native concluded his career as a Bulls television analyst for thirty-three years, during which he was one of the most recognizable personalities of the Bulls dynasty in the 1990s decade.
Early life
Kerr was born on July 17, 1932, in Chicago. After that, Kerr received college basketball scholarship offers. Despite the loss of the 1950-51 team’s leading scorers, captain and Most Valuable Player Don Sunderlage and Ted Beach, from the No. 5 Associated Press (AP) nationally ranked Illini, Kerr and his teammates captured the 1951-52 Big Ten Conference championship with a 12–2 conference record (22–4 overall), and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Illini lost to St. John's in the semifinals, 61–59, then they beat Santa Clara in the third-place game, with Kerr scoring 26 points. He was selected to the 1952 NCAA All-Tournament team. Kerr led the Illini with a 13.7-points average in 26 games. Illinois finished the season with a final AP ranking of No. 2 in the nation.
By the time that Kerr entered his senior year, he had grown one inch to 6-foot-9 and become a full-time pivotman. While the finale was the best of his three varsity seasons individually, the team would be the least successful among them. The 1953–54 Illini finished third in the Big Ten with a 10–4 record (17–5 overall) and was ranked 19th in the country in the final AP poll. They lost 67–64 to Indiana in the Big Ten championship game. Kerr paced the team in scoring for the third straight season, shattering the single-season team record with 556 points in 22 games for a 25.3 points average, which also led the Big Ten in scoring. In three varsity seasons, Kerr scored 1,299 points, an average of 18.6 points per game.
Kerr was selected a first-team forward Big Ten All-Star, and the Big Ten's Most Valuable Player in 1954. He was elected to the University of Illinois All-Century Team in 2004.
Professional career
Syracuse Nationals-Philadelphia 76ers (1954–1965)
In 1954, the Syracuse Nationals selected Kerr at the sixth overall pick of the NBA draft. The 22-year-old played a bit role with the veteran-laden team in the early season. By the turn of the calendar year, he had earned enough trust from head coach Al Cervi to warrant an increased role. He went on to average 10.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in the regular season.
Come playoff time, Kerr was part of the core nucleus, starting alongside Dolph Schayes, Red Rocha, Paul Seymour and George King. In his postseason debut, the rookie dominated with 27 points and 14 rebounds in a 110–100 victory over the Boston Celtics that set the tone in the Eastern Division finals. The Nationals went on to beat the Celtics in four games, with Kerr averaging 16.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. The Nationals then beat the Fort Wayne Pistons in seven games in the NBA Finals to capture their first and only NBA championship in Syracuse. Kerr averaged 12.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per game in the finals, second only to Schayes in both categories. cast a shadow over his Nationals teammates as the team's preeminent star player, Kerr was also a three-time All-Star selection (1956, 1959, 1963) He was in the top-10 players in rebounding eight times and the top-five three times. Kerr also averaged a double-double over 76 playoff games, with 12.3 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. The veteran averaged 11.0 points and 8.3 rebounds during the 1965–66 season, after which he was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the 1966 NBA expansion draft. Instead, Kerr voluntarily retired as a player to become the head coach of his hometown team.
Career
Kerr finished his career with 12,480 points and 10,092 rebounds along with the NBA record for most consecutive regular season games played (844 from 1954-65). He averaged a double-double over his career (13.8 points and 11.2 rebounds per game). Yet while the majority of players with comparable achievements in the NBA's first 50 years of existence are Hall of Fame members, Kerr is not among them. He also lobbied for the acquisition of veteran floor leader and future Hall of Fame guard Guy Rodgers in a trade that sent guards Jim King (drafted from the Los Angeles Lakers) and Jeff Mullins (drafted from the St. Louis Hawks) to the San Francisco Warriors before the start of the season. The trade led the NBA to change the rules so that expansion teams were not permitted to make trades for one year after entering the league. In the first game in team history on October 15, 1966, the Bulls stunned the Hawks 104–97, with Rodgers scoring 36 points.
Kerr emphasized team defense and the Rodgers-led fast break to atone for the obvious shortage of talent on the roster. Rodgers went on to set a then NBA record with 908 assists during his one season with the Bulls (with a league leading 11.2 assists per game to go along with an 18 points per game scoring average). Rodgers and Bulls' teammate Don Kojis, who had great leaping ability, worked together and "introduced the back door baseline lob slam dunk to the NBA" (the alley-oop), which became the team's most popular play that year in Chicago. There is some dispute, however, over the origins of the alley-oop.
Sloan and Rodgers proved to be instrumental in the immediate success of the so-called "Baby Bulls", who quieted the naysayers with a 33–48 record, fourth best in the five-team Western Division. Both were selected to the Western Division All-Star team. This was the first (and so far only time) that an expansion NBA team has done so in league history. Kerr was awarded the NBA Coach of the Year Award,
The Bulls struggled the following season, after trading Rodgers in October to the Cincinnati Royals. They started with 15 losses in their first 16 games. The team regrouped to earn a playoff berth with a 29–53 record, only to be eliminated in five games by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. Kerr coached his last game with the Bulls on March 31, 1968, in the series ending loss to the Lakers. The inability to build off the momentum of the previous season coupled with philosophical differences with team ownership led to Kerr's dismissal after the season. It was also reported that the expansion Phoenix Suns enticed Kerr to leave the Bulls to become the Suns first head coach.
Phoenix Suns (1968–1970)
In April 1968, Kerr was hired as the first head coach of the expansion Phoenix Suns by the Suns first general manager (and Kerr's longtime friend), 28-year old Jerry Colangelo. Like Kerr, Colangelo worked for the expansion Chicago Bulls in 1966; serving as head scout and in the front office, before leaving the Bulls in 1968 to lead the Suns. Also like Kerr, Colangelo had attended Illinois and played college ball there.
Better things were expected in the 1969-70 season with the addition of future Hall of Famer Connie Hawkins, forward Paul Silas and number two draft pick Neal Walk (on a team that also included future Hall of fame guard Gail Goodrich and 1970 all-star guard Dick Van Arsdale). Even though the club made progress at the outset of the 1969–70 season with a 15–23 record, they had lost six of their last seven games,
He was replaced as interim coach by Colangelo, his close friend, who called it both his biggest thrill to become an NBA coach (his first coaching position), but his saddest day to be replacing his close friend. Kerr remained with the organization for the remainder of the season, serving as a scout joining his old teammate and Bulls assistant coach Al Bianchi, who was now the Squires' head coach and general manager. He became general manager in 1972. One of the Squires players Kerr signed was rookie Julius Irving, regarded by many as the greatest player of his time and the key player in leading to the ABA's merger with the NBA. Kerr also discovered future Hall of Famer George Gervin playing playground basketball.
Kerr returned to the Chicago Bulls in the front office as business manager from 1973-75, under coach and general manager Dick Motta. In 1975, the Bulls play-by-play announcer Jim Durham suggested that Kerr provide commentary during games, and Kerr remained as a color commentator until the end of the 2007–08 season.
As a broadcaster, Kerr was part of the Bulls' six championships in the 1990s and Michael Jordan's entire career with the team. He became best known for his emphatic call on "The Shot", Jordan's series-winning basket in Game 5 of the first round of the 1989 Eastern Conference playoffs. "The Bulls win it! We win it! ... Whooo!" Kerr screamed into his microphone.
Over the years, Kerr and Jordan collaborated in a pre-game ritual in which the Bulls superstar would head to Kerr's seat at courtside immediately prior to tip-off and playfully clap talcum powder in front of him. Jordan later said, "I don't know how it started. I think he had a nice suit on and I wanted to mess him up a little."
Kerr made occasional appearances as a halftime commentator in the first half of the 2008–09 season, but as his struggles with prostate cancer continued, public appearances became less frequent. The Bulls honored Kerr for his years of service at a February 10, 2009 halftime ceremony, where the team unveiled a sculpture of Kerr that would stand in the United Center. During the ceremony, Michael Jordan said "'Us players come and go ... but the one constant thing about the Chicago Bulls is Johnny (Red) Kerr.'"
At the ceremony, he also received the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Jerry Colangelo.
Personal life
Kerr's life and that of his family was marked by private and public service to other people. After his father died, Kerr's mother took in her four siblings and a cousin during the Great Depression. Kerr and his wife Betsy had five children and adopted her sister's three children when Betsy's sister died within months of her husband. Kerr had been married to Betsy (Nemecek) Kerr since 1954 until her death in 2000, having met her while they attended the University of Illinois. Their marriage was generally considered the center of his life.
Kerr has received the following awards and honors, among others;
- 1952 – 2nd Team All-Big Ten
- 1952 – NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team
- 1952 – Honorable Mention All-American
- 1953 – 2nd Team All-Big Ten
- 1953 – Honorable Mention All-American
- 1953 – 1st Team All-Big Ten
- 1954 – 2nd Team All-American
- 1954 – Illini Most Valuable Player
- 1954 – Big Ten Player of the Year
- 1954 – Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball Award
- 1967 – NBA Coach of the Year Award
- 1973 – Illinois Basketball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame as a player.
- 2004 – Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team.
- 2007 – 100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament.
- 2008 – Illini men's basketball honored jersey.
- 2009 – John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award.
- 2018 – Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame
Career statistics
College
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! width=40px style="; text-align:center" |Season
! width=40px style="; text-align:center" |Games
! width=40px style="; text-align:center" |Points
! width=40px style="; text-align:center" |PPG
! width=40px style="; text-align:center" |Field Goals
! width=40px style="; text-align:center" |Attempts
! width=40px style="; text-align:center" |Avg
! width=40px style="; text-align:center" |Free Throws
! width=40px style="; text-align:center" |Attempts
! width=40px style="; text-align:center" |Avg
! width=100px style="; text-align:center" |Big Ten <br/>Record
! width=100px style="; text-align:center" |Overall <br/>Record
! width=450px style="; text-align:center" |Highlight
|-
|1951–52
|26
|357
|13.7
|143
|365
|.392
|71
|124
|.573
|
|
|Honorable Mention All-American
|-
|1952–53
|22
|386
|17.5
|153
|397
|.385
|80
|123
|.650
|
|
|Honorable Mention All-American
|-
|1953–54
|22
|556
|25.3
|210
|520
|.404
|136
|213
|.638
|
|
|Big Ten Player of the Year
|-
|- class="sortbottom"
|Totals
|70
|1229
|18.6
|506
|1282
|.395
|287
|460
|.624
|
|
|
|}
NBA
Regular season
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Year
! Team
! GP
! MPG
! FG%
! FT%
! RPG
! APG
! PPG
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;" |†
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 72 || 21.2 || .419 || .682 || 6.6 || 1.1 || 10.5
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 72 || 29.4 || .403 || .655 || 8.4 || 1.2 || 13.3
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 72 || 30.4 || .403 || .719 || 11.2 || 1.3 || 12.4
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 72 || 33.1 || .399 || .664 || 13.4 || 1.2 || 15.2
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 72 || 37.1 || .441 || .766 || 14.0 || 2.0 || 17.8
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 75 || 31.6 || .392 || .752 || 12.2 || 2.2 || 14.7
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 79 || 33.9 || .397 || .729 || 12.0 || 2.5 || 13.4
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 80 || 34.6 || .443 || .735 || 14.7 || 3.0 || 16.3
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 80 || 32.0 || .474 || .753 || 13.0 || 2.7 || 15.7
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia
| 80 || 36.7 || .429 || .751 || 12.7 || 3.4 || 16.8
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia
| 80 || 22.6 || .370 || .696 || 6.9 || 2.5 || 8.2
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Baltimore
| 71 || 24.9 || .413 || .768 || 8.3 || 3.2 || 11.0
|-
|- class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career
| 905 || 30.7 || .418 || .723 || 11.2 || 2.2 || 13.8
|-
|}
Playoffs
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Year
! Team
! GP
! MPG
! FG%
! FT%
! RPG
! APG
! PPG
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;" |1954–55†
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 11 || 33.0 || .391 || .557 || 10.7 || 1.2 || 13.8
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 8 || 26.6 || .481 || .455 || 8.5 || 1.3 || 11.1
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 5 || 32.4 || .431 || .690 || 13.8 || 1.2 || 15.2
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 3 || 38.7 || .327 || .778 || 20.3 || 1.0 || 16.7
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 9 || 34.7 || .352 || .909 || 12.0 || 2.7 || 14.4
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 3 || 34.7 || .294 || .917 || 8.3 || 3.0 || 13.7
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 8 || 26.3 || .341 || .696 || 12.4 || 2.5 || 9.5
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 5 || 38.6 || .376 || .750 || 16.0 || 2.0 || 17.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 5 || 37.4 || .433 || .762 || 15.0 || 1.8 || 13.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia
| 5 || 37.0 || .482 || .750 || 13.8 || 3.2 || 19.0
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia
| 11 || 16.5 || .358 || .714 || 3.5 || 2.5 || 5.7
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Baltimore
| 3 || 16.3 || .182 || .500 || 5.7 || 1.3 || 1.7
|-
|- class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career
| 76 || 29.9 || .386 || .687 || 10.9 || 2.0 || 12.3
|-
|}
All-Star Games
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Year
! Team
! GP
! MPG
! FG%
! FT%
! RPG
! APG
! PPG
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 1 || 16.0 || .500 || .000 || 8.0 || 0.0 || 4.0
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 1 || 21.0 || .214 || .500 || 9.0 || 2.0 || 7.0
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Syracuse
| 1 || 11.0 || .000 || 1.000 || 2.0 || 1.0 || 2.0
|-
|}
Head coaching record
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|Chicago
| style="text-align:left;"|
|81||33||48||.407|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Western||3||0||3||.000
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Division semifinals
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|Chicago
| style="text-align:left;"|
|82||29||53|||| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Western||5||1||4||.200
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Division semifinals
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|Phoenix
| style="text-align:left;"|
|82||16||66||.195|| style="text-align:center;"|7th in Western||-||-||-||-
| style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|Phoenix
| style="text-align:left;"|
|38||15||23|||| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Western||-||-||-||-
| style="text-align:center;"|Fired
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:left;"|Total
| ||283||93||190|||||| 8||1||7||.125||
See also
- List of National Basketball Association career rebounding leaders
References
External links
- BasketballReference.com: Red Kerr (as player)
- BasketballReference.com: Red Kerr (as coach)