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'BIRD' BALL: Yardley scored
423 points in the 1949-50 season, breaking one
of Hank Lusetti's records.
Courtesy Stanford Athletics |
on the first day of basketball
practice in the 1946-47 season, John Hall, ’50,
met George Yardley, a walk-on from Newport Harbor High
School. “He worked as a hasher in a fraternity
house,” Hall says. “In 2000, we attended
the dish machine operators’ reunion at Encina.”
As a sports writer for the Los Angeles Times,
Hall would find plenty of occasions to write about his
friend: Yardley had a seven-year professional basketball
career with Fort Wayne, Detroit and Syracuse. In 1957-58,
Yardley became the first NBA player to score 2,000 points
in a season.
Yardley died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s
disease) on August 12 at his home in Newport Beach,
Calif. He was 75.
Nicknamed The Bird for his thin frame, Yardley grew
a foot to reach his full height of 6-foot-5 between
high school and college. Known as a wonderful jumper
and one-handed shooter, he was one of the only players
dunking the ball back then. As a senior, Yardley scored
423 points in the 25-game season to break the Pacific
Coast Conference scoring record held for 12 years by
Hank Luisetti, ’38.
After earning his degree in civil engineering, Yardley
was recruited by Stewart Chevrolet, an Amateur Athletic
Union team coached by Luisetti. He met his wife-to-be,
Diana Gibson, through a blind date arranged by their
grandmothers. They courted for two weeks before George
left for South America to tour with other AAU players—and
they married a week after his return.
By 1960, Yardley was at the top of his game, having
played in six consecutive All-Star games and earning
$25,000 a year, more than anyone else on the Syracuse
Nationals. He then honored a promise to his wife and
quit basketball to spend more time with his growing
family. He founded the George Yardley Co., a manufacturer’s
representative for engineered products; and he patented
a seal for the liquid oxygen fuel tank on the Atlas-Titan
rocket. “He loved whatever he did,” recalls
his son Rich, ’79. “He lived in the moment.”
Yardley played sports all his life, winning seniors’
titles in tennis and golf. Fellow Stanford basketball
teammate Dick Schutte, ’49, laughs as he remembers
playing golf with his affable but competitive friend,
“By God, he wanted to beat you!” In 1996,
Yardley was inducted into the National Basketball Hall
of Fame.
He was known for generous community service and, after
his ALS diagnosis in 2003, raised $120,000 for the ALS
Association at a tribute dinner in April.
Yardley is survived by his four children, twin sons
Rob and Rich and daughters Anne Yardley Caldwell and
Marilyn Nagle; 14 grandchildren; and a brother, Robert. |
