Five Things to Know About Hall of Famer Nick Galis
9/6/2017 9:43:00 AM | Men's Basketball
A 2007 FIBA Hall of Fame inductee. A 1991 Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame inductee. A European Championship gold medalist and MVP in 1987. On Sept. 8, former Pirate Nick Galis will add Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member to his decorated legacy, becoming only the sixth non-NBA participant to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.
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Here are five things you need to know about Galis:
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1. He was an NBA Draft Pick
Galis was selected by the Boston Celtics in the fourth round of the 1979 NBA Draft, 68th overall. This was back when the draft was 10 rounds as opposed to today's two. Three picks before Galis was selected, future Hall of Famer Bill Laimbeer was taken by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Unfortunately, Galis never made it to the NBA, suffering an injury during Celtics training camp. After recovering, Galis opted to play professionally for Aris of Thessaloniki in Greece. Red Auerbach, the legendary coach of the Celtics at the time, was quoted as saying that not signing Galis was the single biggest mistake of his career.
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2. He was an unstoppable scoring threat
Galis averaged 33.4 points per game in his professional career while leading the Greece A-1 League in scoring for 12 straight seasons. Galis also ranks as the all-time leading scorer with 12,849 points. In his 13 seasons with Thessaloniki, Galis averaged 30 points or more in every season. In 1980, his second year in the league, he scored over 1,000 points and averaged 44.0 points per game. After moving to the Panathinaikos team, Galis led them to the 1994 FIBA European League Final Four, scoring 30 points and shooting 75 percent from the floor. In the semifinals of the EuroBasket 1989, Galis scored 45 points against future Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame member Arvydas Sabonis' Soviet Union team in an 81-80 win. Wojeck Krajowski of Lech Poznan, a European club in Poland, said after a game that, "before the game we made our plans on how we will stop the four players of Aris. For Galis, we made our prayers."
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3. Even Michael Jordan could not stop him
In 1983, Galis and the Greek national team paid a visit to Chapel Hill to take part in an exhibition game with the North Carolina Tar Heels. Galis was the starting shooting guard for the Greeks and naturally was matched up with Jordan and exploded for 50 points. Afterwards, Jordan said, "I did not expect to find such a good offensive player in Europe."
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CONGRATS to @NickGalis6 on his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame! @Hoophall #HALLin #PiratePride #17HoopClass pic.twitter.com/k2NAzzZ5HA
— Seton Hall MBB (@SetonHallMBB) April 1, 2017
4. He didn't need the three-pointer to dominate at Seton Hall
Galis had a breakout season during his senior year in 1978-79, averaging 27.5 points per game, finishing third in the nation behind Idaho State's Lawrence Butler (30.1 ppg) and Indiana State's Larry Bird (28.6 ppg), while shooting over 50 percent from the floor. He sits 11th in Pirates' history with 1,651 career points, 743 of which he scored during his final season. All of his points were scored before the inception of the three-point line, which the NCAA didn't adopt until 1986. The 743 points in his senior season rank are the fifth most points ever scored in a single season by a Pirate. He was not only a scoring threat but could also dish it out as well, sitting 10th in Seton Hall history with 410 assists and 15th in assists per game with 3.83. He also ranks sixth in career free throw percentage, sinking it 81.7 percent of the time he was at the charity stripe.
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5. He is the Latest to Go "From Hall to Hall"
When Galis goes into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, he will be joining three other Pirate greats. Former guard Bob Davies, who was named the sixth greatest player in the first half of the century by Sport magazine in 1970, was also enshrined in Springfield, Mass., in 1970. Bobby Wanzer was enshrined in 1987, and was revered as one of the first NBA players to shoot over 90 percent from the free throw line. Wanzer and Davies both played for the Rochester Royals. Galis will also join Honey Russell in the Hall of Fame. Russell played professionally for three decades, playing in over 3,200 games, before coaching the Pirates to a NIT championship in 1953.
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The 2017 Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony will take place on Friday, Sept. 8 at 6:30 p.m., at Springfield Symphony Hall in Springfield, Mass., and it will be televised live on NBA TV. For more information, visit www.hoophall.com/events/enshrinement.
