Elgin Baylor, Lakers nice and aerialist pioneer, dies at 86

Elgin Baylor modified the very route of basketball when he joined the NBA and introduced his vertical feats of athletic brilliance to a largely horizontal recreation.
He crammed scoresheets and sparked younger imaginations together with his trailblazing aerial fashion, and each high-flying participant of the previous 60 years has adopted his path.
Although the Lakers’ first famous person in Los Angeles by no means gained a championship ring, Baylor nonetheless looms excessive above the franchise and the sport he liked.
The Hall of Fame ahead died Monday of pure causes in Los Angeles with spouse Elaine and daughter Krystal by his facet, the crew mentioned. He was 86.
An 11-time All-Star who soared by way of the Nineteen Sixties with a high-scoring artistry that turned the mannequin for the fashionable basketball participant, Baylor performed a significant function in revolutionizing basketball from a ground-bound sport into an aerial present.
“Elgin was THE superstar of his era — his many accolades speak to that,” Lakers proprietor Jeanie Buss mentioned in an announcement.
With a silky-smooth jumper and fluid athleticism, Baylor spent components of 14 seasons with the Lakers in Minneapolis and Los Angeles, teaming with Jerry West in probably the most potent tandems in basketball historical past.
Baylor’s second profession as a personnel government for 22 1/2 years with the woebegone Los Angeles Clippers was far much less profitable, however he remained a beloved determine in Los Angeles and past. Baylor strengthened his ties once more to the Lakers over the previous decade, and the crew honored him with a statue outdoors Staples Center in 2018.
NBA Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor speaks at an occasion earlier than an NBA basketball recreation between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks in Los Angeles, on this Monday, Feb. 25, 2019, file photograph. Elgin Baylor, the Lakers’ 11-time NBA All-Star, died Monday, March 22, 2021, of pure causes. He was 86. The Lakers introduced that Baylor died in Los Angeles together with his spouse, Elaine, and daughter Krystal by his facet.(AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
“Elgin Baylor set the course for the modern NBA as one of the league’s first superstar players,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver mentioned. “In addition to his legendary playing career, Elgin was a man of principle. He was a leading activist during the height of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s and an influential voice among his fellow players.”
The 6-foot-5 Baylor performed in an period earlier than important tv protection of basketball, and confoundingly little of his play was ever captured on movie. His athletic brilliance is finest remembered by those that noticed it in individual. No one had a greater view than West, who as soon as referred to as him “one of the most spectacular shooters the world has ever seen.”
Baylor had an uncanny potential to hold in mid-air indefinitely, inventing photographs and improvising deception alongside his flight path. Years earlier than Julius Erving and Michael Jordan turned worldwide heroes with their equally acrobatic video games, Baylor created the blueprint for the fashionable famous person.
Baylor was the primary NBA participant to attain 70 factors in a recreation, and he nonetheless holds the single-game NBA Finals scoring document with 61 in opposition to Boston in 1962. He averaged 27.4 factors and 13.5 rebounds over his profession, and he even averaged a career-best 38 factors throughout a season through which he solely performed on weekend passes whereas on lively responsibility as an Army reservist.

“I spent a lot of time with him over the years,” Charles Barkley mentioned throughout CBS’ protection of the NCAA Tournament. “To me, he’s probably the most underrated great basketball player of all time. He always carried himself with great dignity and respect.”
Baylor performed excessive above most of his contemporaries, however by no means gained a championship or led the NBA in scoring largely as a result of he performed concurrently facilities Bill Russell, who gained all of the rings, and Wilt Chamberlain, who claimed all of the scoring titles. Knee accidents hampered the second half of Baylor’s profession, though he remained an everyday All-Star.
West and Baylor have been the primary within the lengthy custom of dynamic pairings with the Lakers, adopted by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar within the Nineteen Eighties earlier than Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal gained three extra titles within the 2000s.
“My first few years in the league, he cared for me like a father would a son,” West mentioned Monday. “We shared the joy of winning and the heartbreaking losses in the finals. He was a prince both on and off the court.”
Baylor’s Lakers misplaced six instances within the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics and one other time to the New York Knicks. Los Angeles gained the 1971-72 title, however solely after Baylor retired 9 video games into the season, dissatisfied together with his commonplace of play attributable to his ailing knees.
“Before there was Michael Jordan doing amazing things in the air, there was Elgin Baylor!” Johnson tweeted. “A true class act and great man.”
Elgin Gay Baylor was born in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 16, 1934. Named after his father’s favourite watch, an “Elgin” timepiece, Baylor turned infatuated together with his sport even earlier than he may afford a basketball, as a substitute studying to shoot with a tennis ball.
After struggling academically in highschool, Baylor performed at Seattle University from 1956-58, averaging 31.3 factors a recreation and main the crew to the 1958 NCAA championship recreation, the place it misplaced to teach Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats.
Baylor was the No. 1 NBA draft choose in 1958 by the Minneapolis Lakers, who have been close to chapter after a steep fall from their first championship period. Baylor instantly saved the Lakers together with his scoring and elegance.
He gained the Rookie of the Year award and led the Lakers to the NBA Finals, the place they misplaced to the fledgling Celtics dynasty within the first of the rivals’ 12 championship sequence conferences.
Baylor scored 64 factors on Nov. 8, 1959 — then the league single-game document, and the Lakers’ document for 45 years till Bryant broke it. He then turned the primary NBA participant to surpass 70 factors, scoring 71 on Dec. 11, 1960, in opposition to New York.
When the Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960, Baylor turned the centerpiece of their Hollywood revival. West additionally arrived from West Virginia in 1960, and so they instantly clicked, averaging 69.1 mixed factors per recreation and turning into lifelong pals.
Baylor performed in solely 48 video games in the course of the 1961-62 season due to his navy service, but the Lakers nonetheless gained the Western Conference by 11 video games. Baylor’s 61 factors in Game 5 of the finals put the Lakers forward 3-2, however they misplaced to the Celtics in additional time in Game 7 — the top of the Lakers’ struggling at Boston’s palms.
Frank Selvy missed a 10-foot jumper that might have gained the sport in regulation. In movie of that second, Baylor seems poised to get Selvy’s rebound, then disappears from the display. Baylor contended he was pushed out of bounds by Boston’s Sam Jones.
“I’ve always felt that was our championship,” Baylor instructed the Riverside Press-Enterprise in 2000.
He by no means received nearer to a hoop.
Baylor’s knee issues started within the 1963-64 season, however he remained a star throughout his gradual decline. He performed his final full season in 1968-69 and suited up solely sporadically till retiring at 37 within the fall of 1971. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1977.
The enlargement New Orleans Jazz employed Baylor as an assistant coach for his or her debut season in 1974, and he ultimately served as their head coach for components of three seasons.
The Clippers employed Baylor as their vice chairman for basketball operations in 1986, however the franchise was the mannequin of sports activities ineptitude for many of his keep — poor drafting, detached followers and skinflint monetary dealings. Most educated basketball individuals realized proprietor Donald Sterling was responsible for the franchise’s woes, whereas Baylor obtained each admiration for his tenacity and mock for the Clippers’ struggles.
A number of months after dropping that job in late 2008, Baylor filed a $2 million lawsuit in opposition to the Clippers, Sterling and the NBA, alleging he was fired due to his age and race. A Los Angeles County jury unanimously dominated within the Clippers’ favor in March 2011, refusing to award any damages. Sterling misplaced the Clippers three years later.
The Lakers embraced Baylor in recent times, and his statue unveiling introduced collectively a number of franchise greats. The statue options Baylor in his gold No. 22 Lakers uniform, a ball in his left hand as he rises towards the ring for one more second of improvisational brilliance.
Besides his spouse and daughter, Baylor is survived by a son and daughter, Alan and Alison, from a earlier marriage, and sister Gladys Baylor Barrett.
“Like everyone else,” Elaine Baylor mentioned, “I was in awe of his immense courage, dignity and the time he gave to all fans.”