Chet Giermak

Chester Frank Giermak (May 25, 1927 – March 16, 2015) was an All-American basketball player for William & Mary from 1946 to 1950.

High school Prior to matriculating at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, Giermak attended Lindblom Technical High School in Chicago, Illinois, where he was a four-year stand-out center on the basketball team. In 1945, Giermak's senior year, he led Lindblom to the semi-finals of the All-Chicago high school basketball tournament and earned Second Team All-City for the center position. In April 1945, Chet enlisted into the Navy, where he spent the next 14 months serving as a corpsman. He made the junior varsity team but did not stay on it long. During the team's first intra-squad game, Gallagher noticed Chet's ability and immediately promoted him to the Tribe's varsity team. On January 13, 1949, Chet scored 45 points against the University of Baltimore, establishing a new Blow Gymnasium record. This total set the all-time Virginia state collegiate mark, plus the national, conference, and state individual single game marks for the 1948–49 college basketball season. 4 years All-State 3 seasons All-Southern Conference 2 years as team captain Numerous All-America honors (1950) 2,052 career points (second all-time at W&M) Giermak's career mark was set in 1950. It stood for 65 years – the longest-lasting NCAA Division I school record in the nation at the time it was broken by Marcus Thornton on February 25, 2015. 740 single season points in 1948–49 (school record) His jersey number (#32) was retired years later

In the 1950 NBA draft, the Rochester Royals selected Giermak as their ninth pick in the 4th round (45th overall) Though he was drafted, Chet never made the team's final cut and thus never played in an actual NBA game.

Giermak died on March 16, 2015, in Erie, Pennsylvania, due to complications from a stroke.