Nate Thurmond

Enshrined 1985
Born: July 25, 1941
Akron, OH

Critics suggest that the 6-foot-11 Nate Thurmond provided the best mix of offense and defense in basketball history. With quickness, long arms, smooth outside shooting touch, tenacious rebounding, classic shot-blocking ability, strength, and total team attitude, Thurmond was a perfectly balanced player. First starring at Bowling Green State University under Hall of Fame coach Harold Anderson, Thurmond then logged fourteen NBA seasons with San Francisco, Golden State, Chicago, and Cleveland. The defender Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar least wanted to face, Thurmond made NBA history by grabbing eighteen rebounds in one quarter against Baltimore (1965). On opening night in 1974, his tally of 22 points, fourteen rebounds, thirteen assists and twelve blocked shots made him the first player to ever record a quadruple double (double figures in four categories in one game).