George Yardley: Bird

On August 13th, 2004, George Yardley passed away at the age of 75 in Newport Beach, California. He was a 6x All Star and a great scorer during the 1950’s.

Yardley went to 3 years of college at Stanford (1947-1950). He played 1 year of AAU basketball in 1951, then served in the United States Navy for 2 years (1951-1953). He was drafted by the Fort Wayne Pistons with the 7th overall pick in the 1950 NBA Draft. He made his debut in 1953. He was a great scorer, making 6 All Star appearances in 7 seasons, the one missing year being his rookie season. He led the Fort Wayne Pistons to 2 NBA Finals losing both times. The team moved to Detroit in 1957. In 1957-58, the Piston’s first year in Detroit, Yardley led the league in scoring with 27.8 points per game, scoring 2,001 points in total that season. That was the first time a player has scored more than 2,000 points in a single season. He broke George Mikan’s record of 1,932 points in a season. Yardley also led the league in free throws attempted with 808, and most free throws made with 655. He was named to his first and only All NBA 1st Team this season. Following another All-Star season in 1959-60 with the Syracuse Nationals, Yardley retired from the NBA. He came back in 1961-62 for a brief stint in the American Basketball League with the Los Angeles Jets, before retiring for real. In his best season, Yardley averaged 27.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 1957-58. Overall, Yardley was a 6x All Star, All NBA First Team (1958), All NBA 2nd Team (1957), NBA Scoring Champion (1958), First Team All PCC (1950). He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Yardley was one of the first great scoring players in the NBA, and the 1st great Detroit Piston. Although he never won a championship, I would have liked to see somebody like Yardley play.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of This Day in History, please leave a comment on which player I should do next and on which day.