18.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 4.7 APG, 46 FG%, 81 FT%
“Gail Goodrich spent a good part of his professional career as “the other guy.” That characterization masked the steady growth of a fine player who continually confounded his skeptics. When he was a 6-1 All-City guard at Los Angeles Polytechnic High School, he was told he was too small for college basketball. After becoming an All-American at UCLA he was told he was too frail to become a pro. When he turned professional he played in the shadows of Jerry West, Pete Maravich and other more renowned guards.
But the fiery lefthander invariably proved his critics wrong. He responded to his detractors’ remarks with perseverance, discipline and improvement — all typical Goodrich traits. In a career that spanned 1,031 games in 14 NBA seasons, he scored 18.6 points per contest and was a five-time All-Star. He was also the leading scorer on one of the greatest teams in NBA history: the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers.
Born in 1943 in Los Angeles, Goodrich starred at Polytechnic High in Pasadena and then accepted a scholarship to play for John Wooden at UCLA. He was part of a powerful Bruins team that won NCAA Championships in 1964 and 1965, his junior and senior seasons. Goodrich averaged more than 20 points in the two championship years, scoring 24.8 as a senior.
The Los Angeles Lakers selected Goodrich as a territorial pick in the 1965 NBA Draft (the last one), then kept him on the bench for three seasons. His height was an obvious handicap Elgin Baylor took one look at him and nicknamed him “Stumpy” because Goodrich, slightly over 6 feet tall, was trying to make his mark in the land of giants.” [Read]
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[Sources: NBA.com, YouTube, Basketball-Reference.com]
