Nate Thurmond: Nate the Great
Golden State Warriors Nate Thurmond (42) in action vs Milwaukee Bucks Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (33) at The Arena in Oakland on Apr. 13, 1973 (George Long via Getty Images)
On July 25th, 1941, Nate Thurmond was born in Akron, Ohio. He went on to be a 7 time All-Star and one of the best power forwards and centers during the 60’s and 70’s for the Golden State Warriors (NBA), the Chicago Bulls (NBA), and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Thurmond went to Bowling Green for 3 years (1960-1963). He was taken with the 3rd overall pick in the 1963 draft to the San Francisco Warriors. This Warriors team had Wilt Chamberlain on their team. The season before, they had been sold from Philadelphia to San Francisco. This marked the first of many seasons for Thurmond, as he would get 7 All-Star Appearances, 2x All-Defensive 1st Team, All-Rookie First Team, and his #42 is retired by both the Warriors and the Cavaliers.
Nate Thurmond average 15 points and 15 rebounds for his entire career, nothing crazy. The thing he is most known for though is recording the first ever quadruple-double in NBA History. On October 18th, 1974, playing in his first ever game for the Chicago Bulls, Thurmond recorded 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, and 12 blocks in a 120-115 overtime win against the Atlanta Hawks. “You have to love defense to get a quadruple-double,” he said. “There’s no way around it.” After Thurmond did it, only 3 other players have ever recorded a quadruple-double since (David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon twice, and Alvin Robinson.) So it’s a pretty rare feat and most of the players who have accomplished this feat have gone on to be Hall of Famers.
I hope you enjoyed this edition of This Day In History, please leave a comment on what player I should I do for a certain date.
