Iowa City Today

Former University of Iowa head men’s basketball coach George Raveling died on September 2 at the age of 88.

Raveling led the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1983 to 1986, achieving two consecutive 20-win seasons and guiding the team to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. Over his three-year tenure, he recorded 54 wins.

While at Iowa, Raveling recruited notable players such as B.J. Armstrong, Roy Marble, Ed Horton, Greg Stokes, and Kevin Gamble. These recruits played significant roles in Iowa’s advancement to the Elite Eight in 1987 and later pursued professional basketball careers.

“We would like to extend our sympathies to the Raveling family,” said Iowa head coach Ben McCollum. “George leaves behind an amazing basketball legacy. He was truly a trailblazer for our sport who devoted his life to the game.”

Raveling began coaching as an assistant at Villanova from 1963 to 1969 before joining Maryland (1970-72), where he contributed to the Terrapins’ undefeated regular season in 1970-71. As a head coach at Washington State (1972-83), he took the team to two NCAA Tournaments before moving to Iowa. After leaving Iowa, he coached USC (1986-94) and earned several national coaching awards in the early 1990s.

He also served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic teams in 1984 and 1988. Raveling broke barriers as the first African American coach in both the ACC and PAC-8 conferences. In addition to his achievements on the court, he was present during key moments in American history; in 1963, he received and later donated Martin Luther King Jr.’s original “I Have a Dream” speech.

Raveling was inducted into both the College Basketball Hall of Fame (2013) and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (2015). In 2016, he received recognition from the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation Court of Honor.

His coaching career concluded with a total of 337 wins and six NCAA Tournament appearances. After retiring from coaching, Raveling became Nike’s global basketball sports marketing director, where he played a role in signing Michael Jordan out of North Carolina.

“He was my best friend… he was 1 of 1,” said Scott Howard, director of player personnel with the Denver Nuggets, who worked under Raveling at both Iowa and USC. “He was an amazing guy with a great sense of humor and had a great way about him.

“In my lifetime there was nobody that had the impact George had. He had the coaching impact and then he went to Nike where he was a world-wide basketball figure by the end of his career.”