Bill Erickson

Bertil William Erickson (June 8, 1928 – September 21, 1987) was an NCAA All-American basketball player at the University of Illinois during a career that spanned from 1947 to 1950, and then a player in the National Professional Basketball League for the Saint Paul Lights.

High school A native of Rockford, Illinois, Erickson attended Rockford East High School from 1942–43 to 1945–46. In his 24 games as a junior, Erickson scored 188 points, averaging 7.8 points per game and was named first team all-conference at forward.

As a senior, Erickson's team would dominate the conference, losing only to Elgin mid-season and finish the conference portion of the campaign with a 9–1 record. In the 26 games played during the season, Erickson would lead the team in scoring at 380 points, averaging 11.4 points per game and he would, once again, be named first-team all-conference at the forward position. When the conference portion of the season ended, the E-Rabs compiled an overall record of 15 wins and only 3 losses. During district and sectional play, Erickson's team would defeat all of the competition until the "final-four" where they would lose to eventual champion Champaign High School on the afternoon of March 16, 1946 at Huff Gymnasium in Champaign. In a twist of irony, the team from Champaign was coached by Erickson's future University of Illinois head coach, Harry Combes. The loss to Combes' team placed the East E-Rabs in the third place game versus Dundee Community High School. Unfortunately, Erickson's team lost the game, finishing in fourth place for the season. During the four game tournament, Erickson's teammate, Louis Proctor, would lead all scorers with 86 points and be named to the all-tournament team while Erickson finished fifth in scoring with 55 points. In his two years of varsity basketball, Erickson scored 568 points in 50 games, averaging 11.4 points per game.

In 1973, Erickson was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame as a player.

College Erickson chose to play basketball at Illinois after high school. He played in every single game during his four-year career and was a starter for the final three. He never ended up playing for them, however, and instead played the 1950–51 season in two leagues, the NPBL with the Saint Paul Lights and in the ABL with the Wilkes-Barre Barons. Erickson followed his NPBL/ABL season by touring with the Harlem Globetrotters (Erickson would always play for the Globetrotters' opponents).

After his brief professional basketball career ended he returned home to Rockford. He coached basketball at Freeport High School from 1953 to 1955 followed by an opportunity to start the Rockford College men's basketball program, of which he was the first head coach. Erickson died September 21, 1987, at the age of 59.

Statistics

College basketball

NPBL/ABL career statistics

Regular season