@IrememberOurHistory®: Robert McAdoo​ was born September 25, 1951 (age 73)
in Greensboro, North Carolina.

He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall Of Fame in 1993.

McAdoo is an American former professional basketball player and coach.

He played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he was a five-time NBA All-Star and named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1975.

He won two NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers during their Showtime era in the 1980s. In 2000, McAdoo was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.

McAdoo played center for the majority of his career. In his 21-season playing career, he spent 14 seasons in the NBA and his final seven in the Lega Basket Serie A in Italy.

McAdoo is one of the few players who have won both NBA and the FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) titles as a player.

He later won three more NBA titles in 2006, 2012 and 2013 as an assistant coach with the Miami Heat.

Early Life
McAdoo was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. His mother, Vandalia, taught at his grade school, and his father, Robert, was a custodian at North Carolina A&T University.

McAdoo attended Ben L. Smith High School, where he not only participated in basketball and track but was also in the marching band as a saxophone player.

As a senior, he led Smith to the state basketball semifinals as well as to the state track tournament, where he set a new state high-jump record of 6 feet and 7 inches, beating out future North Carolina teammate Bobby Jones.

Out of high school, McAdoo initially lacked the academic test scores required by the Division I schools, so he chose to enroll at Vincennes University, then a junior college, in Vincennes, Indiana from 1969 through 1971.

Vincennes University won the NJCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship in 1970, with McAdoo scoring 27 points in the championship game. His roommate was teammate Foots Walker.

McAdoo was named a Junior College All-American as a sophomore in 1971.

At Vincennes, McAdoo averaged 19.3 points and 10 rebounds in 1969–70 and 25.0 points and 11.0 rebounds in 1970–71.

McAdoo played for Team USA at the 1971 Pan American Games, in the summer 1971, averaging 11.0 points per game.

"We didn't really recruit him," Coach Dean Smith of North Carolina said. "His mother called us to start it. She said all the other schools were recruiting him. Why weren't we?"

McAdoo enrolled at the University of North Carolina in 1971, the only junior college player Dean Smith recruited in his career. McAdoo, playing alongside Bobby Jones, led Smith's 1971–72 Tar Heels to a 26–5 record and the Final Four of the 1972 NCAA University Division basketball tournament.

McAdoo averaged 19.5 points and 10.1 rebounds. He was named first-team All-American. He also earned MVP honors at the ACC tournament.

Citing family hardship, McAdoo sought and won early eligibility for the 1972 NBA draft under the "hardship" clause that existed until 1977. McAdoo consulted with Coach Dean Smith, who encouraged him to go to the NBA.

McAdoo said, "When I left, a lot of people were very angry and upset. But Dean gave me his blessing. He told me, 'If they're going to offer you this kind of money,

I think you should leave to help you and your family.' I had his blessing. My mother was totally against it," McAdoo added, "but my father and Dean Smith were the guys who got me to move."

Accomplishments: Played for Vincennes (IN) Junior College from 1970–1971 and for University of North Carolina in 1972
*Mobile 6-ft.-9-in. center with an excellent shot
*Named All-ACC in 1972 * Led UNC to Final Four
*Honored as second-team AP All-American and second-team UPI All-American * Second pick in 1972 draft by Buffalo Braves
*Had his best professional years playing for Buffalo from 1973–1977
*Also played for New York, Boston, Detroit, New Jersey, Los Angeles Lakers, and Philadelphia before retiring in 1986
*Honored as NBA Rookie of the Year in 1973
*Selected NBA MVP in 1975
*Named All-NBA first team in 1975 and All-NBA second team in 1974
*Led NBA in scoring in 1974, 1975, 1976, averaging over 30 points per game each season * Averaged 34.5 points per game in 1975
*Played in NBA all-star games from 1974–1978
*Scored 18,787 career points in NBA, averaging 22.1 per game.
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Source: NC Museum Of History; Wikipedia