Remembering Elgin Baylor: Born September 16, 1934
- Jake C
- Sep 16
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 16
*Cover photo: The Los Angeles Lakers' Elgin Baylor shoots against the Boston Celtics' Bailey Howell in Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals on May 5, 1969. Baylor registered 20 points, 15 rebounds, and 7 assists in the game. Photo credit: Harold P. Matosian, Associated Press.
Before Dr. J. Before Jordan. Before Kobe and Vince Carter and LeBron and other dazzling superstars, there was one man who originated style and skills. A man who pioneered the way that future generations of star guards and forwards would play the game.
Elgin Baylor was a player before his time, a scoring and rebounding superstar who established himself as one of the NBA’s greatest players in a time of racial tension in America when there were constant mental hurdles for African-Americans in the United States. This was a time when people like him could not stay in certain hotels or eat at certain establishments. But Elgin Baylor, like the other great African-American athletes of his time, made sure you respected his basketball game. He would make his lifetime imprint on the sports world and earn the respect of millions.
Prior to his NBA superstardom, Baylor starred at Seattle University, a stint that followed one year at the College of Idaho. In 54 career games with SU, he averaged 31.2 points and 19.8 rebounds per game. He was a consensus 1st team All-American in his senior year, a season in which he averaged 32.5 points and 19.3 rebounds per game. In the ‘58 National Championship game, SU lost to the University of Kentucky 84-72. Despite the loss, Baylor registered 25 points and 19 rebounds. This was with injured ribs that he suffered in the National Semifinal against Kansas State. He scored 135 total points in the tournament, a record.
Baylor was drafted 91st overall by the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1956 NBA Draft and 1st overall by the Lakers in 1958.
In January 1960, the Lakers’ team plane landed in a cornfield in Carroll, Iowa. The harrowing ordeal concluded with the players riding hearses into the city (a mortician was the first to contact the team upon their landing). The team stayed the night at a senior retirement hotel.
The Hall of Fame tandem of Baylor and Jerry West (1960-61, West’s rookie season, was the Lakers’ first in Los Angeles) became quick friends upon meeting - Baylor an African-American man from Washington D.C. and West a white man from West Virginia. The two bonded as roommates, and West throughout his life counted Baylor as one of his best friends and best man that he ever knew. The pair was also the best duo in the NBA.
Despite their regular season success (54 wins in 1962, 53 wins in 1963, 52 wins in ‘68, and 55 wins in ‘69), Baylor and West were 0-7 in the NBA Finals together, going up against the vaunted and dynastic Boston Celtics of Bill Russell and company - the Celtics won every championship from 1959-66, and defeated the Lakers in 1969. Finally in 1972, the Lakers broke through - West winning his first. Baylor, hindered by knee issues, retired nine games into the 1971-72 season.
In his first seven NBA seasons, Baylor was an All-Star.
Elgin Baylor Stats - First Seven NBA Seasons
1958-59: 24.9 points, 15.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 40.8 minutes, 70 games, Rookie of the Year, 1st team All-NBA, 3rd in MVP voting
1959-60: 29.6 points, 16.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 8.1 FTM (1st), 41.0 minutes, 70 games, 1st team All-NBA, 5th in MVP voting
1960-61: 34.8 points, 19.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 9.3 FTM (1st), 42.9 minutes, 73 games, 1st team All-NBA, 3rd in MVP voting
1961-62: 38.3 points, 18.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 44.4 minutes, 48 games, 1st team All-NBA, 4th in MVP voting
*Baylor only played 48 games in the ‘61-‘62 season due to military service. In the United States Army Reserves, he played in Laker games on weekends when time would allow. In a 151-147 Laker win over the Philadelphia Warriors at the City of Brotherly Love’s Convention Hall, Baylor scored 63 points and grabbed 31 rebounds with 7 assists. Wilt Chamberlain posted 78 points and 43 rebounds. The pair’s 141 points represent the most ever scored between two players in an NBA game.
1962-63: 34.0 points, 14.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 42.1 minutes, 80 games, 1st team All-NBA, 2nd in MVP voting
1963-64: 25.4 points, 12.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 40.6 minutes, 78 games, 1st team All-NBA, 6th in MVP voting
1964-65: 27.1 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 41.3 minutes, 74 games, 1st team All-NBA
Baylor played 65 games in the ‘65-’66 season (30.4 minutes) and averaged 16.6 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. This season came after a ‘65 playoffs’ knee tear that happened in the Western Division Finals against the Baltimore Bullets. In Baylor’s Finals’ series absence against the Celtics, West averaged 33.8 points per game. From 1966-70, Baylor was an All-Star in each season.
Elgin Baylor Last Four All-Star Seasons
1966-67: 26.6 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 38.7 minutes, 70 games, 1st team All-NBA
1967-68: 26.0 points, 12.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 39.3 minutes, 77 games, 1st team All-NBA, 3rd in MVP voting
1968-69: 24.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 40.3 minutes, 76 games, 1st team All-NBA, 5th in MVP voting
1969-70: 24.0 points, 10.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 41.0 minutes, 54 games
In his final two seasons (11 games), Baylor averaged 10.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and 11.8 points and 6.3 rebounds.
For his 14-year career, Baylor averaged 27.4 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game (40.0 minutes) in 846 games.
Baylor’s 27.4 points per game average remains the fifth-best mark in NBA history. His 13.6 rebounds per game are ninth all-time, remarkable for a 6 foot, 5 inch, 225 pound forward. In Game 5 of the 1962 NBA Finals, Baylor scored 61 points in the Lakers’ 126-121 win. The 61 points remains an NBA Finals’ record. His 71 points scored on November 15, 1960 against the New York Knicks is tied for the sixth-highest single-game points output in league history.
In 1977, Baylor was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The Lakers retired his No. 22 jersey in 1983. From 1976-79, he was head coach of the New Orleans Jazz, and from 1986-2008, he was the Vice President of Basketball Operations of the Los Angeles Clippers. He won the NBA's Executive of the Year award in 2006.
Former NBA forward Ray Scott, drafted in 1961 and a 9-year league veteran until 1970, told me in 2024 of Baylor and other superstars of the time:
“Wilt, Russell, Baylor and Oscar, they were such great athletes that they brought interest to the NBA. Those four guys, they were lynchpins, in my opinion. I think the history of the league started with those four guys. Those four guys. The NBA is built on interest, and we had white people interested in seeing black people play. That’s how the league was built. Those guys, along with Jerry West and Bob Pettit. They had people come out and buy tickets.”
Said West upon Baylor’s passing on March 22, 2021, “He was a great, great player and a better teammate…He just was a great person. He was very balanced in life. He never called attention to himself. He was just classy.”
On his birthday, we remember the great Elgin Baylor.
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