George Raveling, the former striking Villanova -striking who coached basketball for more than two decades before he retired and moved to Nike, died, according to an announcement from his family on the Raveling website.
His family wrote that he was ‘confronted with cancer with courage and grace’ and ‘peacefully passed, surrounded by family’. He was 88.
Raveling, who coached in Washington State, Iowa and USC, was included in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
Countless coaches and people who were connected to the game expressed their grief at Raveling’s death on social media. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas wrote that Raveling was ‘a real guardian of the game’ and ‘an icon’.
Former Villanova coach Jay Wright described Raveling as “The best person, inspiring mentor, most loyal alum and a thoughtful loving friend.”
Missouri coach Dennis Gates wrote about Raving: “Who am I without your guidance, your love, your inspiration and your mentoring? Thank you coach, I will miss you and I love you.”
In a press release from Iowa, Scott Howard, director of player staff with the Denver Nuggets, said about Raveling: “He was my best friend … he was 1 of 1.” Howard, who served for two years as a graduate assistant and a voluntary assistant under Raveling in Iowa and later at USC, added: “He was a great guy with a great sense of humor and had a great way about him.”
In a statement, NABC -executing director Craig Robinson said that Raveling was “one of the most important role models for how coaches can use their influential platforms to influence social change and to promote the cause of racial equality.”
Born in 1937 in a divorced hospital in Washington, DC, Raveling became the first black coach in the ACC when Lefty Driesell employed him as an assistant in Maryland in 1969.
In 1972 he became the first black coach in the PAC-12 (then the PAC-8) when he was hired as the head coach in the state of Washington. He served as an assistant coach for both the American Olympic men’s basketball teams of 1984 and ’88, and earned both a gold and a bronze medal.
Despite all his achievements on the field, however, Raveling was best known for what he did later in life when he withdrew from coaching (and a short stint commentary) in 1994 and came to Nike, at the personal request of co-founder Phil Knight.
At the age of 63, Raveling had risen to the position of director of international basketball.
On his website, Raveling wrote about this time: “Despite the fact that I was an ex-basketball coach, a black man without a formal business background outside of an economic degree, I noticed that I led a large fortune 500 division.”
He mentioned the decades between the ages of 60 and 80 ‘the most productive of my life’.
His most impressive Nike -Rekrut came before he started working for the Sportswear Colos.
While he was an Olympic assistant, Raveling played a crucial role in Nike who signed a young Michael Jordan from the University of North Carolina, making a global brand that continues to thrive today. In the film ‘Air’ from 2023, who tells the story of Nike who persuades Jordan to choose De Swoosh, Raveling was played by Marlon Wayans.
Jordan wrote the attacker for the book of Raveling, “What Youre Made For”, which was published in 2025 and said that he was “proud of George to call a mentor and a friend.”
He added: “Without George there would not be Air Jordan.”
Despite the possession of basketball memorabilia from all over the world, one of the most appreciated possessions of Raveling was the physical copy of the speech “I have a dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who held King on August 28, 1963 on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
Raveling was 26 at the time and worked as a marketing analyst for Sun Oil Co. Random, Raveling, who was a colossal 6 feet 4 and more than 200 pounds, was asked by an organizer of March if he would be willing to do volunteer work as a guard. Raveling agreed.
Raveling was near Dr. King when the leader of the civil rights expressed the famous rule: “I have a dream.”
Raveling later explained: ‘At the end of the speech, then Dr. King ended and his speech began to fold while he walked away, I just said – I don’t know why, only impulsively said: “Dr. King, can I have that copy? “And he turned around and gave it to me. ‘
In 2021, Raveling donated the physical copy of the speech to Villanova.
Ravelen often made jokes that he did not believe in the idea of retirement. He stated that he contributes to society, regardless of his age, writing: “Our lives consists of two dates with a dash in between. It is our responsibility to have that dashboard count.”
(Photo: Streeter Lecka / Getty images)
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