Al Hairston

Alan Leroy Hairston (born December 11, 1945) is an American former professional basketball player and a college and high school head coach. His high school coaching career has garnered him multiple league, district and state championships, as well as numerous individual awards..

A guard from Bowling Green State University, Hairston was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the fifth round of the 1968 NBA draft and by the Kentucky Colonels in the 1968 ABA draft. Hairston appeared in two seasons for the Sonics, averaging 2.2 points per game.

After a stint with the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers in 1970–71, Hairston was released. He went into coaching, serving as head coach at Seattle Central College (formerly Seattle Central Community College) 1975–79. He led the team to the Northwest championship in 1977 .

Hairston has made a contributions to the sport of basketball as a prep coach at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington. In assuming the O'Dea post, he took over for the late Phil Lumpkin – also a former NBA basketball player and prep coaching star..

Hairston later served as head coach of the Seattle University men's basketball team (which competed as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics – NAIA) and as assistant coach of the University of Washington Husky men's basketball team under former head coach Bob Bender..

As an assistant Huskies coach during the 1997–98 season, Hairston helped guide a team led by future NBA player Todd McCullough and Donald Watts Jr. (son of former Seattle Sonic Slick Watts) to the NCAA Sweet 16. There, the Washington Huskies lost to a Jim Calhoun coached University of Connecticut team on a buzzer-beater by future NBA star Richard "Rip" Hamilton..

Career statistics

NBA Source

Regular season Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG