Cliff Hagan
Personal information
Born (1931-12-09) December 9, 1931
Owensboro, Kentucky, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
High schoolOwensboro (Owensboro, Kentucky)
CollegeKentucky (1950–1954)
NBA draft1953: 3rd round, 22nd overall pick
Selected by the Boston Celtics
Playing career1956–1969
PositionSmall forward
Number6, 17, 16
Career history
As player:
1956–1966St. Louis Hawks
1967–1969Dallas Chaparrals
As coach:
1967–1970Dallas Chaparrals
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA and ABA statistics
Points14,780 (17.7 ppg)
Rebounds5,555 (6.6 rpg)
Assists2,646 (3.2 apg)
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Basketball Hall of Fame as player
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2006

Clifford Oldham Hagan (born December 9, 1931)[1] is an American former professional basketball player. A 6′ 4″ forward[1] who excelled with the hook shot,[2] Hagan, nicknamed "Li’l Abner",[1] played his entire 10-year NBA career (1956–1966) with the St. Louis Hawks. He was also a player-coach for the Dallas Chaparrals in the first two-plus years of the American Basketball Association's existence (1967–1970).[3] Hagan is a five-time NBA All-Star and an ABA All-Star. He won an NCAA basketball championship in 1951 as a member of the Kentucky Wildcats, and he won an NBA championship with the Hawks in 1958.

College and military career

University of Kentucky

Hagan played college basketball at the University of Kentucky under legendary coach Adolph Rupp.[2] As a sophomore in 1951, he helped Kentucky win the NCAA championship with a 68–58 victory over Kansas State.

Hagan as a senior at UK.

In the fall of 1952, a point shaving scandal involving three Kentucky players forced Kentucky to forfeit Hagan's senior season. Hagan graduated from Kentucky in 1953 and, as a result, became eligible for the NBA draft. Despite having graduated, and despite being drafted by the Boston Celtics, he returned to play at Kentucky for the 1953–1954 season. On December 5, 1953, Hagan set a Kentucky single-game record of 51 points; this performance would not be surpassed until 1970. After finishing the regular season with a perfect 25–0 record and a #1 ranking in the Associated Press, Kentucky was offered a bid into the NCAA tournament. However, then-existing NCAA rules prohibited graduate students from participating in post-season play; the Wildcats declined the bid because their participation would have forced them to play without Hagan and two of his teammates. Hagan averaged 24 points per game that season.

At Kentucky, Hagan had scored 1,475 points,[4] which ranked him third in school history. He also grabbed 1,035 rebounds, which placed him second. In 1952 and 1954, he was named an All-American and was named First Team All-Southeastern Conference. Hagan still holds the record for rebounding average (min. 60 games) with 13.4 for his 77 total games from 1951–1952 and 1954. His uniform number 6 was retired by the University of Kentucky.

U.S. Air Force

Hagan served in the U.S. military for two years after being drafted. In both of his years in the military (1954 and 1955), Hagan, stationed at Andrews Air Force Base, won Worldwide Air Force basketball championships.

Professional career

National Basketball Association (NBA)

After his military service, Hagan and Ed Macauley were traded to the St. Louis Hawks for the draft rights to Bill Russell.[5] In 1958, the Hawks won the NBA championship, defeating the Boston Celtics 4–2 in the NBA Finals.[6] The Hawks won four Western Conference titles during Hagan's tenure with them. Hagan was named to five consecutive NBA All-Star Games from 1958 to 1962.[1]

In The Breaks of the Game, David Halberstam wrote that Hagan was the only white star on the Hawks who welcomed African American teammates like Lenny Wilkens to the team and did not treat them with prejudice.

Hagan played 745 games over 10 NBA seasons. He scored 13,447 points for an 18.0 points per game average.[1]

American Basketball Association (ABA)

In 1967, the Dallas Chaparrals of the newly formed ABA hired Hagan as a player-coach. He scored 40 points in his team's first game. He also played in the first ABA All-Star Game that season, becoming the first player to play in all-star games in both the NBA and ABA. He retired as a player three games into the 1969–70 season and remained as coach of the Chaparrals until midway into the season.

Hagan played in 94 ABA games and scored 1,423 points for a 15.1 points per game average.[1]

University of Kentucky

In 1972, Hagan returned to the University of Kentucky as the school's assistant athletic director and took over the top job in 1975. He was forced to resign due to recruiting and eligibility violations in November 1988 and was replaced by one-time Kentucky teammate C. M. Newton, the head basketball coach at Vanderbilt University the year before.

Legacy

Hagan was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978.[2] He is the first former University of Kentucky player to be so honored.

In 1993, the University of Kentucky renamed its baseball field in honor of Hagan.[7]

Personal life

Hagan married his wife, Martha, on September 4, 1954.[8]

NBA/ABA career statistics

Legend
  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

Regular season

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1956–57 St. Louis 67 14.5 .361 .690 3.7 1.3 5.5
1957–58† St. Louis 70 31.3 .443 .768 10.1 2.5 19.9
1958–59 St. Louis 72 37.5 .456 .774 10.9 3.4 23.7
1959–60 St. Louis 75 37.3 .464 .803 10.7 4.0 24.8
1960–61 St. Louis 77 35.1 .444 .820 9.3 4.9 22.1
1961–62 St. Louis 77 36.2 .470 .825 8.2 4.8 22.9
1962–63 St. Louis 79 21.7 .465 .800 4.3 2.4 15.5
1963–64 St. Louis 77 29.6 .447 .813 4.9 2.5 18.4
1964–65 St. Louis 77 22.6 .436 .799 3.6 1.8 13.0
1965–66 St. Louis 74 25.0 .445 .854 3.2 2.2 13.7
1967–68 Dallas(ABA) 56 31.0 .489 .789 6.0 4.9 18.2
1968–69 Dallas(ABA) 35 16.5 .510 .854 2.9 3.5 11.1
1969–70 Dallas(ABA) 3 9.0 .615 .500 1.0 2.0 5.7
Career 839 28.7 .454 .799 6.6 3.2 17.7
All-Star 5 17.8 .324 1.000 3.0 2.2 6.2

Playoffs

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1957 St. Louis 10 31.9 .361 .730 11.2 2.8 17.0
1958† St. Louis 11 38.0 .502 .838 10.5 3.4 27.7
1959 St. Louis 6 43.2 .512 .833 12.0 2.7 28.5
1960 St. Louis 14 38.9 .422 .817 9.9 3.9 24.2
1961 St. Louis 12 37.9 .443 .812 9.8 4.5 22.0
1963 St. Louis 11 23.2 .464 .698 5.0 3.1 18.5
1964 St. Louis 12 32.7 .429 .833 6.2 4.8 16.3
1965 St. Louis 4 30.8 .453 .500 6.5 1.8 18.5
1966 St. Louis 10 20.0 .454 .926 3.4 1.8 11.3
1968 Dallas(ABA) 3 23.3 .378 .692 4.3 3.0 12.3
1969 Dallas(ABA) 2 22.5 .357 .800 3.0 7.0 9.0
Career 95 32.4 .451 .798 8.0 3.5 19.9

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Cliff Hagan Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft Status and more". Basketball-Reference.com.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame :: Cliff Hagan". www.hoophall.com.
  3. ↑ Kleber, J.E. The Kentucky Encyclopedia. University Press of Kentucky. p. 397. ISBN 978-0-8131-2883-2. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Cliff Hagan College Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
  5. ↑ "Bill Russell — He could easily have been ours". Brooklyn Eagle. August 8, 2022.
  6. ↑ "History of Celtics vs. Hawks in NBA playoffs is full of memorable moments". RSN. April 13, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Kentucky baseball's stadium was more than a ballpark: 'It's the people'". The Courier-Journal.
  8. ↑ Russell, Joseph (August 31, 2021). "Hagan fashioned prolific career". Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer.
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