Harry Gallatin

Harry Junior "The Horse" Gallatin (April 26, 1927 – October 7, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and coach.

Harry Junior "The Horse" Gallatin was born on April 26, 1927, in Roxana, Illinois, where he grew up.

Gallatin had taken interest in all sports and has been quoted as saying, "Competition has always been my cup of tea."

His drive for competition was amplified during his first year in high school as he attended Wood River High School from 1940 to 1941.

Since Roxana and some other outlying communities like Bethalto had no high school of their own at the time, all the athletes in the area attended Wood River, thus increasing the level of competition among them for varsity positions.

The following year, however, Roxana got its own high school.

He graduated from Roxana High School in 1944, and was granted a basketball scholarship by Northeast Missouri State Teachers' College (now known as Truman State University).

But after graduating from Roxana High School, he enlisted in the United States Navy and served until the end of World War II.

At Northeast Missouri, Gallatin averaged 12.9 points per game and lead his team to a 59–4 record and two appearances in the NAIA tournament.

On July 1, 1947, Gallantin was drafted by the Baltimore Bullets in the 4th round of the 1947 BAA Draft.

Gallatin played nine seasons for the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1948 to 1957, as well as one season with the Detroit Pistons in the 1957–58 season.

On May 10, 1948, the New York Knicks selected Gallatin in the 1948 BAA draft.

"It was a dream come true. I really didn't know what to expect; it was my first plane ride, from St. Louis to New York. Here I am a boy from Wood River, a country boy, and going to the Big Apple", Gallatin explained.

"All I knew was that I loved to play basketball, and the Knicks had taken me with their number one choice. So I knew that they thought I had the kind of abilities they were looking for."

He played his entire career as an undersized center at 6'6" and 215 lbs., but made up for it with tremendous physical strength. He played nine seasons for the New York Knicks, from 1948 to 1957. His best statistical year was in 1954, when he led the NBA in rebounding, averaging 15.3 rebounds per game. That same year, he was also named to the All-NBA First Team. His most dominating single-game performance was on the last regular season game of the 1952–53 season. That night, against the Fort Wayne Pistons, Gallatin pulled down 33 rebounds, a Knicks record which still stands today. In the six seasons he played when rebounds were recorded, he was among the leaders in the league in rebounds per game. For his career, he averaged 11.9 rebounds per game. Gallatin still holds the Knick team record of consecutive games played, with 610.

On March 21, 1949, Gallatin was drafted by the New York Knicks in the 2nd round (20th pick) of the 1949 BAA Draft.

During the off-seasons between his first three seasons in the NBA, he played for the Class B Decatur, Illinois Cubs/Commodores of the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League, which was an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs in 1949 and the Cincinnati Reds in 1950.

He appeared in 46 games in those two seasons, winning 7, losing 9 and batting .227 in 75 at-bats.

After the 1950 baseball season, however, he made basketball his only professional sport.

In his third year in the NBA, Gallatin was selected for the first NBA All-Star Game in 1951, and from 1951 to 1957 was chosen for seven consecutive NBA All-Star games.

It was in the NBA where he earned the nickname "The Horse".

Gallatin led the NBA in rebounding and was named to the All-NBA First Team in 1954.

The following year, he was named to the All-NBA Second Team.

For his career, Gallatin played in seven NBA All-Star Games.

A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, he is also a member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, the SIU Edwardsville Athletics Hall of Fame, the Truman State University Athletics Hall of Fame, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, two Illinois Basketball Halls of Fame, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) Hall of Fame, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Hall of Fame, and the SIU Salukis Hall of Fame.

He earned his bachelor's degree from Northeast Missouri in only two years and would later receive his master's degree in physical education from the University of Iowa in 1954.

After nine strong years with the Knicks, Gallatin was traded to the Detroit Pistons with Richard Atha and Nathaniel Clifton for Mel Hutchins and Charlie Tyra on April 3, 1957.

He played only one season for the Pistons before retiring as one of the most dominating post players of his era.

In addition to basketball, Gallatin also played baseball.

He played two seasons of varsity baseball at Northeast Missouri.

After his retirement from playing in 1958, Gallatin became the head coach of the Southern Illinois University Salukis.

In four seasons there, he led his teams to a 69–35 record and post-season tournament appearances every year.

The 1961–62 team made it to the NCAA Small College (now Division II) Tournament semifinals before barely losing to eventual champion Mount St. Mary's College 58–57, then took third place by beating Nebraska Wesleyan University 98–81.

Gallatin returned to the NBA in 1962 as coach of the St. Louis Hawks.

In his first season, he led the Hawks to the division finals and was named NBA Coach of the Year.

The 1963–64 season saw the Hawks again advance to the division finals.

The eighth coach since the franchise's arrival in St. Louis in 1955, he was fired on December 28, 1964, despite the Hawks being in second place in the NBA Western Division.

He was replaced by Richie Guerin.

Gallatin returned to New York to coach the Knicks which were developing into a championship team, but the pieces were not yet all in place and Gallatin left the Knicks and the NBA midway through the 1965–66 season.

Gallatin became Assistant Dean of Students at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 1966, then the first athletic director and basketball coach in 1967.