David Greenwood adored basketball a lot in center faculty that he would play for 3 totally different groups in three totally different parks on the identical day, a number of occasions every week.
His brother, Al, could be within the automobile driving round with him between video games whereas David traded in his sweaty uniform for a recent one, repeating the method time and again.
“He was relentless,” Al mentioned, “because he loved the game.”
At dwelling, David would get tossed round in driveway video games by the cement contractor father who was twice his dimension, solely to maintain getting again up for extra contact. In practices, he shot blindfolded to excellent his kind, his brother having to let him know when he was near going out of bounds in order that he might get his bearings.
UCLA’s David Greenwood (34) shoots a basketball throughout a sport towards San Francisco on the Marriott Heart in Provo, Utah, on March 15, 1979
(Peter Learn Miller / Sports activities Illustrated by way of Getty Photographs)
Greenwood, the decided Compton child who went from a star highschool participant at Verbum Dei to one of many prime scorers in UCLA historical past to an NBA champion with the Detroit Pistons, died Sunday night time at a Riverside hospital from most cancers. He was 68.
True to the character of somebody who performed by way of debilitating foot accidents all through his profession, Greenwood didn’t inform household of his sickness till the top of his life.
“Everything happened so quickly,” mentioned Bronson Greenwood, David’s nephew. “It was kind of a shock.”
One of many all-time nice highschool gamers in Southern California, Greenwood and teammate Roy Hamilton had been among the many last gamers recruited by legendary UCLA coach John Wood. They had been shocked when Wood retired shortly after their senior season of highschool and was changed by Gene Bartow.
However they determined to stay with their commitments, lured partly by the pitch of a coach they’d by no means play for in school.
“He told me if I went to USC or UNLV or Notre Dame, I’d be an All-American,” Greenwood as soon as instructed The Occasions of Wood’s proposal. “But if I went to UCLA, I’d be able to test myself against 12 other high school All-Americans every single day. … It was kind of like, ‘Come here and test your mettle.’ ”
Greenwood’s work ethic continued to push him as a Bruin. His practices with the group had been adopted by an hour in one other fitness center, his brother feeding him passes. Alongside the best way, he by no means shortchanged himself or teammates.
School athletes chosen within the NBA draft pose with NBA commissioner Larry O’Brien, heart, at New York’s Plaza Lodge on June 25, 1979. The gamers are, from left: Calvin Natt, Northeast Louisiana, drafted by New Jersey; Sidney Moncrief, Arkansas, drafted by Milwaukee; Invoice Garthright, San Francisco, drafted by New York; O’Brien; Earvin Johnson, Michigan State, drafted by Los Angeles; Greg Kelser, Michigan State, drafted by Detroit; and David Greenwood, UCLA, drafted by Chicago.
(Related Press)
“If he said he was going to shoot 100 free throws,” Al mentioned, “it wasn’t 50, it wasn’t 65, it was 100 — and he didn’t stop until he got to 100.”
Having been dubbed “Batman and Robin” in highschool, Greenwood and Hamilton remained shut at UCLA, rooming collectively and biking to campus from the place they lived within the Fairfax District. Hamilton remembered Greenwood as a outstanding rebounder who whipped outlet passes to him to get quick breaks began.
“We would always know how to motivate each other,” Hamilton mentioned, “and connect with each other on the floor.”
Changing into a star by his sophomore season, Greenwood averaged a double-double in factors and rebounds as a junior and a senior, ending every season as an All-American. The 6-foot-9 ahead’s go-to transfer was beginning together with his again about 10 to 12 ft from the basket earlier than faking a technique and unleashing a spin-around jumper.
One among his favourite recollections as a Bruin, in accordance with his brother, was a comeback towards Washington State towards the top of his profession through which the Bruins worn out a late double-digit deficit, successful on Greenwood’s putback dunk solely seconds earlier than the buzzer.
The Bulls’ David Greenwood shoots over the Bullets’ Elvin Hayes throughout a sport in 1981 on the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. Greenwood performed for the Bulls from 1979-85.
(Focus On Sport / Getty Photographs)
UCLA by no means recaptured the Wood glory throughout Greenwood’s 4 seasons, reaching the Ultimate 4 his freshman yr and a regional last his senior yr. However Greenwood stays No. 15 on the college’s all-time scoring record, having tallied 1,721 factors.
After the Lakers chosen Magic Johnson with the primary choose of the 1979 NBA draft, the Chicago Bulls took Greenwood second as a part of their large rebuilding efforts. (Hamilton was additionally a lottery choose, going tenth to the Pistons.)
“He wasn’t exciting, he was steady,” Al Greenwood mentioned of his brother. “You knew you were going to get a double-double every night out of him regardless of what the score was.”
Greenwood began each sport in his first NBA season, averaging 16.3 factors and 9.4 rebounds whereas making the all-rookie group. The Bulls went 30-52, their loss complete greater than triple the 17 losses that Greenwood’s groups had absorbed in 4 seasons as a Bruin.
However he persevered by way of the dropping and a sequence of foot accidents brought on by a operating fashion through which his heels would hit the bottom earlier than his toes. Al remembered his brother coming again to Los Angeles to play the Lakers and taking his sneakers off at dwelling, saying it felt as in the event that they had been stuffed with damaged glass.
“That was how his feet felt a lot of the time, but he just played even when he shouldn’t have,” Al mentioned. “I always called him The Thoroughbred.”
Former UCLA standout David Greenwood talks about his profession throughout a Nationwide Collegiate Basketball Corridor of Fame induction occasion on Nov. 21, 2021, in Kansas Metropolis, Mo.
(Colin E. Braley / Related Press)
Greenwood would bear one Achilles’ surgical procedure on one foot and two on the opposite, by no means lacking a full season within the course of.
In October 1985, earlier than the widespread use of cell telephones, Greenwood discovered he had been traded to San Antonio for future Corridor of Famer George Gervin whereas listening to the radio. Late in his 12-year NBA profession, he was a shock playoff contributor for the Detroit Pistons once they received the 1990 NBA championship. Hamilton labored for CBS Sports activities as a part of the manufacturing group broadcasting the Finals that yr.
“Having my best friend in the world on the team and winning a title,” Hamilton mentioned, “that was a joy for me.”
Greenwood went on to personal a number of Blockbuster video shops and coached at his alma mater, guiding Verbum Dei to state championships in 1998 and 1999. His nephew recalled a gentle aspect, his uncle selecting him up and giving him tickle.
Greenwood is survived by his brother, Al; sister, Laverne; son, Jemil; and daughter, Tiffany, alongside together with his former spouse, Joyce. Companies are pending.
