The Admiral, David Robinson, was born on this day in 1965. He was born in Key West, Florida, but moved around since his father was in the Navy. The Robinson family finally settled in Virginia. Robinson played a number of sports, but not basketball until he was a 6-7 senior in high school. He earned All District honors, but received little college attention. He was an excellent student though (1320 SAT) and eventually enrolled at Navy.
In college he had a growth spurt and it became apparent that he had a future in professional basketball. He could have left the Naval Academy after his 2nd year, and doing so would have meant he wouldn't need to serve in the Navy after graduation. But he stayed, and became the greatest basketball player in service academy history. He was a 1st Team AP All American as a junior and senior, and the Naismith Player of the Year as a senior.
For his career he averaged a double-double with 21 points and 10.3 rebounds. He would go on to serve two years in the Navy after being selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA.
Hank Iba was born on this date in 1904. Iba would go on to become one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time, winning two national titles at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State), and two gold medals as the US Olympic coach (also "losing" to the Soviet Union in 1972). Iba ran a slow, methodic system, and is largely responsible for the goaltending rule. He was the first to employ a 7-footer to stand under the net and swat away shots. He also demanded excellence in ball handling from all his players. "Unless you plan to out-rebound and out-shoot everyone you play," he said, "then you better learn to handle the ball."
Arthur Schabinger was born on this day in 1889. In addition to being known as the first man to throw a forward pass in college football, he was also an accomplished basketball coach, coaching at Creighton, and co-founder of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Other birthdays include: Ron Feiereisel 1931 (DePaul), Charlie Tyra 1935 (Louisville), Dale Ellis 1960 (Tennessee), Alvin Williams 1974 (Villanova), Taquan Dean 1983 (Louisville), Daniel Orton 1990 (Kentucky)
