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George Glamack

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George Glamack
Glamack from the 1941 Yackety Yack
Personal information
Born(1918-06-07)June 7, 1918
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedMarch 10, 1987(1987-03-10) (aged 68)
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High schoolJohnstown
(Johnstown, Pennsylvania)
CollegeNorth Carolina (1938–1941)
Playing career1941–1949
PositionPower forward / center
Number99
Career history
1941–1942Akron Goodyear Wingfoots
1945–1947Rochester Royals
1947–1948Indianapolis Kautskys
1948–1949Indianapolis Jets
1948–1949Hammond Calumet Buccaneers
1950–1951Grand Rapids Hornets
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference

George Gregory Glamack (born Gjuro Gregorvitch Glamoclij[1], June 7, 1919 – March 10, 1987) was an American professional basketball player.

Amateur career

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Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he was of Serbian origin. His parents were immigrants from Belgrade; his father was a mechanic in a steel mill.[2][1] Glamack attended Greater Johnstown High School and Allentown Preparatory School.

A 6'6" forward-center, Glamack attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose basketball team was known as the White Phantoms.[2] Glamack, an All-American in 1940 and 1941, was nicknamed the Blind Bomber because a childhood football injury had left him blind in his right eye and with blurry vision in his left, forcing him to rely on the lines drawn on the court to determine his positioning when shooting.[3] One writer noted that "Glamack, who is ambidextrous when on the court, is also so nearsighted that the ball is merely a dim object, but apparently he never looked where he was shooting, depending upon his sense of distance and direction."[4]

He scored 45 points against Clemson in 1941, still the fourth-highest total in UNC history.[5] That year, he led UNC to a Southern Conference championship and the NCAA tournament. In both 1940 and 1941, he won the Helms Foundation Player of the Year, which was the only college basketball MVP award of the time. He is one of eight players to have his jersey number retired by UNC, the others being Jack Cobb, Lennie Rosenbluth, Phil Ford, James Worthy, Michael Jordan, Antawn Jamison, and Tyler Hansbrough. He scored 1,336 career points, the third-highest total in college basketball history to that point.[1] The 31 points he scored in his final game, against Dartmouth, was the single-game record in the NCAA tournament until 1951.[6]

Professional career

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Glamack entered pro basketball in 1941, playing one season for the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots of the National Basketball League, after which he was named to second-team All-NBL. He then joined the U.S. Navy for World War II. His partial blindness kept him from action overseas; during the war, he played basketball for the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.[1] Great Lakes featured an array of former college stars, including Dick Klein, Pete Newell, George Sobek, Ed Riska, Bob Davies, Bob Dietz, Forrest Sprowl, Wilbur Schumacher, and Forddy Anderson.[7] Under coach Tony Hinkle, Great Lakes went 34–3 in 1942–43 and 33–3 in 1943–44. While in the Navy, Glamack spent two years working for the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency.[8][9]

In 1945, he joined the NBL's Rochester Royals.[10] Glamack scored a team high 12.3 points per game, and the team finished with a record of 24–10. The Royals won the 1946 NBL championship, defeating the Sheboygan Red Skins, 3–0, and Glamack was named first-team All-NBL.[11] The following season, Glamack scored 8.5 points per game and the team finished with a record of 31–13,[12] the best record in the league. The Royals returned to the NBL finals in 1947 but lost to George Mikan and the Chicago American Gears. Glamack finished his NBL career as the league's ninth-highest career scorer.

In 1948, Glamack set the NBL record for more free throws made in a game, making 20 for the Indianapolis Kautskys against the Oshkosh All-Stars.[13]

That fall, the Kautskys moved from the NBL to the Basketball Association of America, becoming the Indianapolis Jets. But facing financial struggles, the Jets cut Glamack after only eight games, on November 25, 1948, after acquiring the less expensive John Mahnken from the Baltimore Bullets. Glamack was claimed on waivers by the Philadelphia Warriors but could not agree to a contract, so Glamack signed a contract with the NBL's Hammond Calumet Buccaneers for what would be the league's final season, 1948–49.

A few months later, Glamack sued the Jets franchise for $50,000 in unpaid salary and "damages to his business reputation."[14] The Jets declared bankruptcy and folded shortly before the 1949 merger of the BAA and NBL that created the modern National Basketball Association. (The NBL had already committed to an expansion franchise, the Indianapolis Olympians.)[15]

In 1950, after retiring from basketball and working as a refrigeration equipment salesman, he ran as a Republican candidate for sheriff of Marion County, Indiana, losing in the primary.[16][17] But he was already working to return to the sport — this time as an owner in the National Professional Basketball League, a new circuit created for teams that had been contracted out of the new NBA. After being granted a franchise, he tried unsuccessfully to place the team in Muncie, Indiana before settling on Grand Rapids, Michigan.[18]

Along with serving as president and general manager of the Grand Rapids Hornets, Glamack played for the team, alongside player/coach Bobby McDermott, fellow Tar Heel Fritz Nagy, the seven-footer Elmore Morgenthaler, 5'9" Ralph "Buckshot" O'Brien, Easy Parham, and two-time college All-American Blackie Towery. (He also served as head coach for nine Hornets games.) The team had lots of height for the era, with four players 6'6" or taller, but did not fare well, winning only six games against 13 losses before folding mid-season.[19]

Glamack later worked as a beer company executive and real estate broker.[1] He also served as an assistant coach at the Rochester Institute of Technology from 1957 to 1965.[20] He died March 18, 1987 in Rochester, leaving two daughters and a son, the Emmy-nominated animator Marko Glamack.[21][22]

NBL career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played  FGM  Field goals made
 FTM  Free throws made  FTA  Free throws attempted
 FT%  Free throw percentage  PTS  Total points
 PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
† Denotes seasons in which Glamack's team won an NBL championship

Regular season[23]

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Year Team GP FGM FTM PTS PPG
1941–42 Akron 24 87 82 256 10.7
1945–46 Rochester 34 151 115 417 12.3
1946–47 Rochester 44 141 90 372 8.5
1947–48 Indianapolis 57 215 162 592 10.4
1948–49 Hammond 43 169 163 501 11.7
Career 202 763 612 2138 10.6

Playoffs[23]

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Year Team GP FGM FTM PTS PPG
1941–42 Akron 3 11 15 37 12.3
1945–46 Rochester 7 34 20 88 12.6
1946–47 Rochester 10 35 28 98 9.8
1947–48 Indianapolis 4 24 20 68 17.0
1948–49 Hammond 2 5 5 15 7.5
Career 26 108 88 306 11.8

BAA career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played
 FG%  Field-goal percentage
 FT%  Free-throw percentage
 APG  Assists per game
 PPG  Points per game

Regular season

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Year Team GP FG% FT% APG PPG
1948–49 Indianapolis 11 .248 .764 1.7 9.3
Career 11 .248 .764 1.7 9.3

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Porter, David L. (July 30, 2005). Basketball: A Biographical Dictionary. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-0-313-06197-4. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  2. ^ a b Campbell, Orville B. (March 15, 1987). "'Mad Bomber' Loved Carolina". The Chapel Hill News. p. 28. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  3. ^ "George Glamack Bio - University of North Carolina Tar Heels Official Athletic Site". Archived from the original on May 31, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
  4. ^ Douchant, Mike (1997). Inside sports college basketball. Detroit : Visible Ink Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-57859-009-4. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  5. ^ "TarHeelIllustrated – No. 14: George Glamack". June 17, 2016.
  6. ^ "No. 14: George Glamack". northcarolina.rivals.com. June 12, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  7. ^ "Abundance of Talent Makes Court Coach's Job Tougher". The News Journal. November 24, 1942. p. 26. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
  8. ^ "Selected OSS Documents, 1941-1945, Microfilm Roll List and Index, Record Group 226, Entry 180" (PDF). Retrieved January 19, 2025. Glamack, George G.
  9. ^ "Glamack, George G. - [Serial Number] 7260115". National Archives. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  10. ^ "George Glamack".
  11. ^ "1945–46 Rochester Royals Stats".
  12. ^ "1946–47 Rochester Royals Stats".
  13. ^ Stranahan, Bob (January 28, 1948). "Glamack Sets NL Free Throw Record As Kautskys Win, 69-65". Indianapolis Times. Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  14. ^ Angelopoulos, Angelo (February 3, 1949). ""Anderson Packers" to Replace Jets?". The Indianapolis News. p. 14. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  15. ^ "Geo. Glamack, Former All American, Signs Contract With Bucs". The Times. December 7, 1948. p. 17. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  16. ^ "Glamack Enters Race for Sheriff". Indianapolis Times. Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program. January 14, 1950. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  17. ^ "Former Cage Star in Sheriff's Race". The Indianapolis News. January 14, 1950. p. 9. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  18. ^ Barnet, Bob (June 6, 1950). "Pro Basketball May Come to Town". The Star Press. p. 10. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  19. ^ "Grand Rapids' Pro Basketball Venture Comes to Abrupt End". The Grand Rapids Press. December 30, 1950. p. 20. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  20. ^ "1964 Techmila" (PDF). Rochester Institute of Technology. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  21. ^ "Glamack dies at 68; was pro basketball pioneer". Democrat and Chronicle. March 11, 1987. p. 7. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  22. ^ Barnes, Mike (June 19, 2020). "Mark Glamack, Emmy-Nominated Animator, Dies at 73". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  23. ^ a b "George Glamack NBL stats". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
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