Buddy Jeannette
American basketball player and coach
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harry Edward "Buddy" Jeannette (September 15, 1917 – March 11, 1998)[2] was an American professional basketball player and coach.
Jeannette in 1948 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 15, 1917 |
| Died | March 11, 1998 (aged 80) Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Listed height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) |
| Listed weight | 175 lb (79 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | New Kensington (New Kensington, Pennsylvania) |
| College | Washington & Jefferson (1934–1938) |
| Playing career | 1938–1950 |
| Position | Guard |
| Number | 26, 6, 14 |
| Coaching career | 1946–1970 |
| Career history | |
Playing | |
| 1938–1939 | Warren Penns / Cleveland White Horses |
| 1939–1942 | Detroit Eagles |
| 1942–1943 | Rochester Eber Seagrams |
| 1943 | Sheboygan Red Skins |
| 1943–1946 | Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons |
| 1946–1950 | Baltimore Bullets |
Coaching | |
| 1946–1951 | Baltimore Bullets |
| 1952–1956 | Georgetown Hoyas |
| 1958–1961 | Baltimore Bullets (EPBL) |
| 1964–1965 | Baltimore Bullets |
| 1966–1967 | Baltimore Bullets (interim) |
| 1969–1970 | Pittsburgh Pipers |
| Career highlights | |
| |
| Stats at NBA.com | |
| Stats at Basketball Reference | |
| Basketball Hall of Fame | |
| Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame | |
Biography
Jeannette was widely regarded as the premier backcourt player between 1938 and 1948. He was named to the First Team of the National Basketball League (NBL) four times, and won titles with the NBL's Sheboygan Red Skins in 1943 and Fort Wayne Pistons in 1944 and 1945. Jeannette also won a title with the American Basketball League's Baltimore Bullets in 1948.
Most of his playing career came prior to the formation of the modern National Basketball Association (NBA) in its predecessor leagues the National Basketball League (NBL) and Basketball Association of America (BAA) including three years as a player-coach for the original Baltimore Bullets of the Basketball Association of America (BAA). In the 1948 BAA playoffs, he became the first player-coach to win a professional championship. After his playing career ended in 1950, he coached the original Bullets for one more season. He then became the head coach at Georgetown University for four seasons, leading the team to an appearance in the 1953 National Invitation Tournament. Jeannette served as head coach of the Baltimore Bullets in the Eastern Professional Basketball League (EPBL) from 1958 to 1961.[3]
Jeannette returned to the ranks of professional coaching in the NBA to lead the modern Baltimore Bullets twice, once for a full season and once as an interim coach. He later would coach the American Basketball Association's Pittsburgh Pipers for part of a season.
In 1994, Jeannette was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Jeannette attended Washington and Jefferson College, in Washington, Pennsylvania.[4]
Career playing statistics
NBL
| GP | Games played | FGM | Field goals made |
| FTM | Free throws made | FTA | Free throws attempted |
| FT% | Free throw percentage | PTS | Total points |
| PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| † | Denotes seasons in which Jeannette's team won an NBL championship |
NBL
Source[5]
Regular season
| Year | Team | GP | FGM | FTM | FTA | FT% | PTS | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1938–39 | Warren/Cleveland | 26 | 54 | 65 | 173 | 6.7 | ||
| 1939–40 | Detroit | 26 | 46 | 54 | 146 | 5.6 | ||
| 1940–41 | Detroit | 23 | 75 | 54 | 86 | .628 | 204 | 8.9 |
| 1942–43† | Sheboygan | 4 | 24 | 14 | 17 | .824 | 62 | 15.5 |
| 1943–44† | Fort Wayne | 22 | 68 | 48 | 65 | .738 | 184 | 8.4 |
| 1944–45† | Fort Wayne | 27 | 85 | 82 | 111 | .739 | 252 | 9.3 |
| 1945–46 | Fort Wayne | 34 | 99 | 105 | 136 | .772 | 303 | 8.9 |
| Career | 162 | 445 | 422 | 415 | .730 | 1,324 | 8.2 | |
Playoffs
| Year | Team | GP | FGM | FTM | FTA | FT% | PTS | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Detroit | 3 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 6.7 | ||
| 1941 | Detroit | 3 | 8 | 5 | 21 | 7.0 | ||
| 1943† | Sheboygan | 5 | 16 | 17 | 49 | 9.8 | ||
| 1944† | Fort Wayne | 5 | 12 | 10 | 34 | 6.8 | ||
| 1945† | Fort Wayne | 7 | 22 | 23 | 67 | 9.6 | ||
| 1946 | Fort Wayne | 4 | 7 | 5 | 6 | .833 | 19 | 4.8 |
| Career | 27 | 71 | 68 | 6 | .833 | 210 | 7.8 | |
BAA/NBA
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| † | Won an NBA championship | * | Led the league |
Regular season
Playoffs
Head coaching record
Sources[6]
BAA/NBA/ABA
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win–loss % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win–loss % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore | 1947–48 | 28 | 20 | 48 | .583 | 2nd in Western | 11 | 8 | 3 | .727 | Won BAA Championship |
| Baltimore | 1948–49 | 60 | 29 | 31 | .483 | 3nd in Eastern | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 | Lost in Division Semifinals |
| Baltimore | 1949–50 | 68 | 25 | 43 | .368 | 5th in Eastern | – | – | – | – | Missed playoffs |
| Baltimore | 1950–51 | 37 | 14 | 23 | .378 | – | – | – | – | – | Fired |
| Baltimore | 1964–65 | 80 | 37 | 43 | .463 | 3rd in Western | 10 | 5 | 5 | .500 | Lost Division Finals |
| Baltimore[7][note 1] | 1966–67 | 16 | 3 | 13 | .188 | – | – | – | – | – | Interim |
| Pittsburgh[8][note 2] | 1969–70 | 45 | 15 | 30 | .333 | – | – | – | – | – | Missed playoffs |
| Career (BAA/NBA) | 309 | 136 | 173 | .440 | 24 | 14 | 10 | .583 | |||
| Career (overall) | 573 | 326 | 247 | .569 | 24 | 14 | 10 | .583 |
College
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgetown Hoyas (college independent) (1952–1956) | |||||||||
| 1952–53 | Georgetown | 13–7 | – | – | |||||
| 1953–54 | Georgetown | 11–18 | – | – | none
| ||||
| 1954–55 | Georgetown | 12–13 | – | – | none
| ||||
| 1955–56 | Georgetown | 13–11 | – | – | none
| ||||
| Total: | 49–49 | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
Notes
- Jeannette was one of three head coaches for Baltimore during the season. Mike Farmer had coached Baltimore to a 1–8 record in its first nine games when Jeannette took over. Jeannette served as interim head coach for the next 16 games. Gene Shue then took over as head coach, posting a 16–40 record to lead Baltimore to a 20–61 finish.
- Jeannette was Pittsburgh's second head coach of the season, taking over the team from John Clark after it had gone 14–25 in its first 39 games. Jeannette coached Pittsburgh's remaining 45 games, leading the team to a 29–55 finish.
