George Raveling

George Henry Raveling (June 27, 1937 – September 1, 2025) was an American college basketball player and coach. He played for the Villanova Wildcats, and was the men's head coach for the Washington State Cougars (19721983), Iowa Hawkeyes (19831986), and USC Trojans (19861994). He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Early life Raveling was born in a segregated hospital in Washington, D.C. on June 27, 1937. He was enrolled at St. Michael's, a Catholic boarding school in Hoban Heights, Pennsylvania; it was founded as an orphanage in 1916 near Scranton and closed in 2010. His grandmother's employer helped him enroll and he converted to Catholicism while a student there. Raveling's father died when he was 9 and his mother was institutionalized when he was 13, so academics became among the most influential forces in his life.

College and early career Raveling attended college at Villanova University near Philadelphia and played basketball for the Wildcats. An outstanding rebounder, he set school single game and season rebounding records in his time. and led the Wildcats to consecutive appearances in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1959 and 1960.

Raveling became an assistant coach at his alma mater Villanova , then moved to Maryland in 1969 on the staff of new head coach Lefty Driesell. At College Park, he became the first African American coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

March on Washington with Martin Luther King Jr., 1963 On August 28, 1963, as Martin Luther King Jr. waved goodbye to an audience of over 250,000 "March on Washington" participants, Raveling asked King if he could have the speech. King handed Raveling the original typewritten "I Have a Dream" pages. Raveling was on the podium with King at that moment, having volunteered to provide security. He kept the original, and had been offered more than three million dollars for the speech in 2013. He declined the offer. In 2021, he selected Villanova University to be the new steward of the speech. The document was loaned to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., as part of a long-term arrangement, where it is on rotational display.

Head coaching career Washington State (1972–1983) Hired in Pullman in April 1972, Raveling was the first African-American basketball coach in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8, now Pac-12). The first was in 1980 and marked the first time WSU was included in the NCAA bracket since the runner-up finish in 1941;

While with the Cougars, Raveling was the UPI Pac-8 coach of the year twice (1976 (shared), 1983), and was the national runner-up for AP coach of the year in 1983. He was honored by WSU with his induction into the WSU Athletics Hall of Fame and Pac-12 Hall of Honor in 2004.

Iowa (1983–1986) Raveling succeeded Lute Olson as head coach at the University of Iowa in April 1983, and guided the Hawkeyes to consecutive 20-win seasons and NCAA tournament berths in 1985 and 1986.

The previous season, Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble were recruited to USC by former head coach Stan Morrison and his top assistant, David Spencer. They were joined by high school All-American, Tom Lewis, and Rich Grande as the "Four Freshmen" star recruiting class.

After Morrison's firing, it was reported that the players would not remain unless certain conditions were met, including having a say in the next coaching staff. Raveling's controversial statement was, "You can't let the Indians run the reservation," he said. "You've got to be strong, too. Sometimes you have to tell them that they have to exit." Grande remained at USC. and competed in the NIT in 1993 and 1994.

Raveling was named Kodak National Coach of the Year (1992), Basketball Weekly Coach of the Year (1992), Black Coaches Association Coach of the Year (1992) and CBS/Chevrolet National Coach of the Year (1994).

Car crash and retirement On the morning of September 25, 1994, Raveling's Jeep was blindsided in a two-car collision in Los Angeles. He was seriously injured, suffering nine broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and clavicle, and a collapsed lung. He was in intensive care due to bleeding in his chest cavity for two weeks. Citing the automobile crash and planned lengthy rehabilitation, he retired as head coach of USC at the age of 57 on November 14.

Team USA coaching career While at WSU, Raveling was an assistant coach for the USA team at the Pan American Games in 1979 (under head coach Bob Knight) and the West Regional coach at the 1979 U.S. Olympic Sports Festival. According to The New York Times, Raveling was instrumental in convincing Michael Jordan to sign with Nike in 1984, and the Air Jordan brand was born as a result of that partnership.

Raveling died on September 1, 2025, at the age of 88 from cancer.

Awards In 2013, he received the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

On November 21, 2013, he was a recipient of the Lapchick Award (in memory of Joe Lapchick, St. John's basketball coach), together with Don Haskins and Theresa Grentz.

Raveling was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

In popular media In 2023, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon produced a film called Air about Nike's signing of Michael Jordan and ultimately the Air Jordan brand. Marlon Wayans plays Raveling in the film. legend = no