Johnny Kerr

John Graham Kerr (July 17, 1932 – February 26, 2009), also known as Red Kerr, was an American basketball player, coach, and color commentator.

John Graham Kerr was born on July 17, 1932, in Chicago, Illinois.

Although Johnny Kerr's first passion was soccer, an eight-inch growth spurt during his senior year at Tilden Technical High School, and some friendly persuasion from basketball Head Coach Bill Postl and school principal Robert Lakemacher, Kerr turned his attention to basketball.

The 6' 9" center soon led his school's basketball team to the 1950 Chicago Public League Championship. Kerr graduated mid-year from Tilden (January 1950) and was all set to attend Bradley in the fall; however, after a visit from Illini freshman Irv Bemoras, touting the benefits of playing for Harry Combes and the Fighting Illini, Kerr made a visit to Champaign and quickly changed his mind.

After committing to Illinois in the fall of 1950, Kerr played on the freshman team for the 1950–51 season.

As he played on the freshman team, the 1950–51 Fighting Illini varsity team would not only win the Big Ten Championship, they would also play in the NCAA tournament, placing third.

Unfortunately for Kerr, the following season would see the two leading scorers, team MVP and captain Don Sunderlage (471 points) and Ted Beach (295 points), graduate.

Even with the loss of 766 points, the Illini picked up where they had left off making Kerr's sophomore season a huge success.

He was named the starting center for the 1951–52 Fighting Illini and would lead the team to a Big Ten Conference Championship with a 12–2 conference record and a 22–4 record overall and advanced to the NCAA tournament.

Illinois would defeat Dayton and Duquesne to earn a berth in the Final Four (only sixteen teams played in the tournament back then), but would lose to St. Johns, 61–59.

They would defeat Santa Clara in the third place game.

This was Illinois’ third Big Ten Championship and 20-game winning team within a four-year span and completed the season with a final AP ranking of No. 2 in the nation.

Kerr would score a team-high 357 points in 26 games for an average of 13.7 points per game.

Kerr joined three other starters from the previous season on the 1952–53 Illini team; however, the team would not enjoy the same amount of success.

The team would lose four conference games during the Big Ten season and finish at 18–4 overall with a conference record of 14–4, which would give them a second-place finish to National Champion Indiana.

Kerr, on the other hand, would find his successes to be just as fruitful as the previous campaign.

Kerr would score a team-high 386 points in 22 games for an average of 17.5 points per game while the team would finish the season with a final AP ranking of No. 11 in the nation.

Kerr's senior season was personally the best of his three varsity seasons; however, the team would be the least successful during the same time frame.

The 1953–54 Illini would finish third in the Big Ten with a 10–4 record and an overall record of 17–5 and they would also finish the season with a final AP ranking of No. 19 in the nation.

As for Kerr, for the third year in a row, he would lead the team in scoring by shattering Illinois’ single-season scoring record by tallying 556 points in just 22 games for a 25.3 points per game average.

Over his three varsity seasons, Kerr scored 1,299 points giving him an overall average of 18.6 points per game.

He played in the NBA from 1954 to 1966, mainly as a member of the Syracuse Nationals.

He later held several coaching and administrative positions before embarking on a thirty-three-year career as a television color commentator for the Chicago Bulls.

In 1954, the Syracuse Nationals selected Johnny Kerr with the sixth overall pick of the NBA draft.

During his first season (1954–55), Kerr averaged 10.5 points and 6.6 rebounds and helped the Nationals capture their first NBA Championship.

He became a three-time All-Star (1956, 1959, 1963) with the Nationals, despite playing in the shadow of future Hall-of–Famer Dolph Schayes.

In 1963, the Nationals relocated to Philadelphia and became known as the 76ers.

On September 22, 1965, Kerr was traded to the Baltimore Bullets for Wali Jones.

He averaged 11.0 points and 8.3 rebounds for the Bullets during the 1965–66 season.

He ended his career on November 4, 1965, with a 108–107 loss to New York, with respectable totals of 12,480 points and 10,092 rebounds, along with the NBA record for most consecutive games played (844) until 1983 when he was surpassed by Randy Smith.

Kerr is credited with bringing Jerry Sloan to the Chicago Bulls.

On May 1, 1966, Kerr was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the 1966 NBA Expansion Draft.

However, Kerr voluntarily retired so that he could become the coach of his hometown's new basketball team.

The team went 33–48 in 1966–1967 and became the first expansion team to make the playoffs in its inaugural season.

For this accomplishment, Kerr was awarded the NBA Coach of the Year Award.

He is also the only coach to receive this award after his team finished with a losing record.

The Bulls went 29–53 the following season, rallying from a 1–15 start to earn another playoff berth.

However, feuds with team owner Dick Klein forced Kerr to leave the Bulls during the summer of 1968.

Kerr signed with the Phoenix Suns, another expansion team in need of its first coach.

He was elected to the University of Illinois' "All-Century Team" in 2004.