Catching up with 无毛视频� Gus Gerard
Sometimes even Gus Gerard is surprised at what he was able to accomplish in the sport of basketball when he reflects on his career.
Gerard scored 1,198 points in just three years at Laurel Highlands, starred at the University of Virginia and played seven seasons of professional basketball in the ABA and NBA.
无毛视频淲hen I look back on it, I无毛视频檓 just amazed a kid from Hatfield School playground here growing up and shoveling snow off the court actually made it to that level,无毛视频� Gerard said.
Gerard, who spoke to a local contingent of 1,000-point high school basketball players at Rizz无毛视频檚 restaurant in Uniontown at its 无毛视频 Wall of Recognition dinner in May, looked back on his own basketball journey which began at Laurel Highlands under head coach Harold 无毛视频淗orse无毛视频� Taylor and assistant coach Ron Fudal.
无毛视频淢y first year at Laurel Highlands we were coming off the state championship in 1968,无毛视频� Gerard recalled. 无毛视频淏asketball was crazy at LH. We had legendary coach Horse Taylor and Ron Fudala. I was a scared, skinny sophomore afraid I wouldn无毛视频檛 make the team.无毛视频�
Gerard did make the team and played for the Mustangs无毛视频� junior varsity as a sophomore.
But not for long.
无毛视频淲e were playing a JV game against Donora and I had a horrible first half,无毛视频� Gerard said. 无毛视频淎t halftime they told me to stay in the locker room, and I didn无毛视频檛 know if I was being cut or whatever.
无毛视频淲ell, what it was about was Coach Taylor wanted me on the varsity team. I started against Donora, had like 39 points and 19 rebounds and we won. I was never out of the starting lineup after that.
无毛视频淭hat无毛视频檚 kind of where my career took off.无毛视频�
Gerard, at 6-foot-7, was the Mustangs center and an outstanding rebounder as well as a great scorer.
无毛视频淚 used to play with Rick Hauger and Barry Taylor and I used to tease them, I无毛视频檇 say, 无毛视频楪o ahead, take all the shots you want, I无毛视频檒l just get your misses and put them back in,'无毛视频� Gerard said with a chuckle.
Gerard earned a slew of honors at LH, including being named all-section, all-county and all-state. He was named to the High School All-America team and played in the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic, helping the Pennsylvania team beat the United States team, 110-98.
The top college coaches in the country took note.
无毛视频淚 was being heavily recruited by over 100 schools, everywhere from Kansas to Texas to Florida State,无毛视频� Gerard said. 无毛视频淣orth Carolina really put a lot of pressure on me as did Duke and Maryland and Virginia.无毛视频�
Local ties eventually swayed him to the Cavaliers.
无毛视频淚 ended up in Virginia. Jim Hobgood had gone there and their coaches had a real good relationship with the LH coaches,无毛视频� Gerard said. 无毛视频淥ur whole team went to their camp, which was in Gettysburg of all places, and I got to know their coaches real well. From my sophomore summer on they wouldn无毛视频檛 let me out of their sight, I mean they were at my house all the time.无毛视频�
The Tar Heels were in the running to land Gerard until the very end.
无毛视频淚t came down to North Carolina and Virginia and I chose Virginia and never looked back.无毛视频�
Gerard enjoyed all the recruiting attention.
无毛视频淚t was pretty cool being recruited back then,无毛视频� he explained. 无毛视频淭here was Lefty Dreisell of Maryland, he would come here and (Maryland assistant coach) George Raveling, and Duke coaches. Dean Smith was recruiting me from North Carolina and he sent Bill Guthridge up here a lot, who eventually took over for him.
无毛视频淒ean finally came up himself my senior year. My dad was working so he took my mom and I out to eat at the Mount Vernon Inn. He asked me if I wanted a shrimp cocktail and I said I无毛视频檝e never had one so he said well let无毛视频檚 get you one, so Dean Smith bought me my first shrimp cocktail and it was here in Uniontown, Pa.
无毛视频淏ill Gibson was coaching Virginia at that time. He was from Mansfield, Pa. We had a lot of Pa. guys on that team, a lot of Western Pa. guys, too, like Frank DeWitt from Mt. Lebanon, Bob McKeag from Erie McDowell, Barry Parkhill from State College, of course Hobgood, myself, also Dan Bonner from Avonworth.无毛视频�
Freshmen were still not eligible to play NCAA Division-I varsity basketball when Gerard arrived at Virginia.
无毛视频淲e had to play freshmen ball,无毛视频� he pointed out. 无毛视频淚t was the following year freshmen became eligible to play four years. We无毛视频檇 play before the varsity team against the same school.无毛视频�
Once he became a sophomore Gerard was immediately inserted into the starting lineup.
无毛视频淢y sophomore year I made second team All-ACC,无毛视频� said Gerard who was forced to play a bit out of position with the Cavaliers. 无毛视频淚 played center for Virginia because we had some injuries at that position. I was only 6-7 and it was tough playing against North Carolina State and 7-2 (Tom) Burleson and Maryland and 6-10 Len Elmore. Clemson had Tree Rollins and Duke had a seven-footer, too.
无毛视频淚 hung with them because none of them could out-jump me.无毛视频�
Gerard had a memorable game against Rollins, who also went on play in the NBA, in an ACC tournament game when he totaled 31 points and almost 20 rebounds.
Gerard took another step up his junior year with the Cavaliers.
无毛视频淚 really improved a lot between my sophomore and junior year,无毛视频� Gerard said. 无毛视频淚 averaged about 10 rebounds and over 22 points a game and was the second-leading scorer in the ACC that season behind David Thompson of North Carolina State. Thompson was fabulous, the best college player I无毛视频檝e ever seen or played against. He was something else. They won the national championship in 1974.无毛视频�
While the NBA could not recruit college underclassmen at the time, the ABA allowed that practice and a few teams zoned in on Gerard.
无毛视频淧ro teams started to show interest in me, especially the ABA because the NBA couldn无毛视频檛 take undergraduates then,无毛视频� Gerard said. 无毛视频淚 ended up leaving Virginia between my junior and senior year. I signed a really big contract for that time, $950,000 for five years and I got a signing bonus check for $75,000.
无毛视频淭hat was really big money back in those days. Growing up I probably never had more than $20 in my pocket. Then all of a sudden I had all this money coming in while I was playing the game that I loved and was my passion.无毛视频�
That contract came from the Spirit of St. Louis.
无毛视频淭he Carolina Cougars had folded and became the Spirit of St. Louis and that无毛视频檚 the team that signed me and I played for them one year,无毛视频� Gerard said. 无毛视频淏ut then they had a big selloff and I went to Denver for the next two years.
无毛视频淭he first year with the Nuggets was the final year of the ABA so I then went into the NBA with them along with three other teams, the Indiana Pacers, the New York Nets and the San Antonio Spurs. I had a short stint in Buffalo, a couple years in Detroit, then had a couple years with Kansas City (now Sacramento) Kings. I get credit for seven years in the league total because they count my two ABA years.无毛视频�
Gerard played in the 1976 ABA All-Star Game his second year in the league, scoring 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds. His teams made the playoffs four times, including the ABA final in 1976 with the Nuggets, who lost a six-game series to the New York Nets who were led by a player named Julius 无毛视频淒r. J无毛视频� Irving.
Gerard recalled Irving with fascination and admiration.
无毛视频淲hen I was in Virginia I saw him. He came right out of UMass, in fact he played with (Laurel Highlands graduate) Jon Kruper at Massachusetts and Jon would come home in the summer and tell us, hey, I无毛视频檓 playing with this freshman kid up there and he无毛视频檚 the best player I无毛视频檝e ever seen in my life,无毛视频� Gerard recalled with a laugh. 无毛视频淲hen I was with Virginia, his first team in the ABA, the Virginia Squires, would play games in Richmond and all over the place. So I got to see him play in the ABA and he became my hero. I无毛视频檇 try to pattern a lot of my game after him, the finger rolls, the swoop to the basket, the dunking.
无毛视频淗e was something else. You did not want him coming at you with the ball on a fastbreak, because he was going to take off somewhere between the top of the key and around the free throw line, fly right by you and really embarrass you. He was a tremendous player and is a great guy, just a class act. To this day he无毛视频檚 a great ambassador for the NBA.
无毛视频淚 saw him sit at an NBA All-Star game once a few years ago and there was a line to get autographs from him after the game was over, it had to be about 200 people and a lot of them were kids. He sat there in the bleachers and patiently signed an autograph for every kid until the last one was gone. He was probably 70 at the time. Not many guys would do that.
无毛视频淚无毛视频檓 proud to know him and proud to call him a friend and was certainly thrilled to have the chance to play against him.无毛视频�
Gerard still looks at his playing days in the ABA and NBA with great affection.
无毛视频淭hat was such a great time in my life,无毛视频� he said. 无毛视频淚 was getting paid to play and practice basketball, flying around, even though it was commercial because we didn无毛视频檛 have all the luxury jets they have now, but we stayed in the best hotels and got a per diem every day we were on the road to eat.
无毛视频淚 was just so grateful to be there. Some of the guys would complain because maybe we were leaving Boston and had to play the Bulls that night and we had to be on a plane at 5 in the morning. I无毛视频檇 be thinking, man, come on, we无毛视频檙e getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to play basketball for two hours. I tried to stay humble. It left wonderful memories for me.无毛视频�
Gerard still follows his former teams, most particularly Laurel Highlands and Virginia.
无毛视频淚t was a pleasure to watch a great talent like Rodney and see Laurel Highlands win those two WPIAL championships,无毛视频� said Gerard, who also was on the roller coaster ride Virginia went on in 2018 and 2019, being the first top seed to lose to a 16 seed in the latter then winning the NCAA title the following year.
无毛视频淚 follow Virginia every game,无毛视频� Gerard said. 无毛视频淚 go down there once or twice a year during basketball season. They have reunions for the players to come back all the time. I got to know coach (Tony) Bennett. For them to have that redemption year after losing to the 16 seed was just a remarkable run.无毛视频�
Gerard also took note of the Denver Nuggets NBA championship two years ago.
无毛视频淚 was rooting for Denver. I saw Dan Issel and David Thompson on TV, my ex-teammates in Denver, and they were celebrating,无毛视频� he said. 无毛视频淭hat was just a good feeling and I无毛视频檓 sure Bobby Jones (another former Denver teammate) in his own quiet way at home was thrilled to see that happen, too. I was happy to see them win it. That was a good time in my life when I was in Denver.无毛视频�
Locally, Gerard is not only recognized in Rizz无毛视频檚 restaurant but also at the Uniontown Primanti Brothers restaurant as part of a mural inside that features Western Pennsylvania sports legends such as Arnold Palmer, Franco Harris, Roberto Clemente, Sidney Crosby and Bruno Sammartino as well as Uniontown legends Stu Lantz (who celebrated his 79th birthday Sunday) and the late Chuck Muncie.
无毛视频淵ou talk about a humbling experience,无毛视频� Gerard said. 无毛视频淭here are some great people on that mural and I无毛视频檓 on there with them. People were calling me and telling me they have a picture of me at Primanti无毛视频檚 on the wall right next to where they无毛视频檙e eating. I didn无毛视频檛 know anything about it.
无毛视频淚 called them and the manager said he wanted me to come out and sign it, so I did. That was pretty cool.无毛视频�
Gerard, who will turn 72 on July 27, currently lives in Uniontown with his wife Pam. He has a daughter Casey, a son, Walker, and a stepdaughter, Andrea.