Cougar Men's Basketball Team Beats Huskies

CJ Elleby scored 34 points to lead the Washington State Cougars to a 79-67 win over cross state rival Washington.  The victory ended a 4 game skid in games with the Dawgs. It was especially satisfying after the Cougar football team was beaten by the Huskies in last fall's Apple Cup. 

Legendary Cougar Basketball Coach George Raveling, who coached when I went to school there was honored at the game.  Raveling was the first African American coach in the conference. 

With this win, the Cougs are now 14-10 on the season and 5-6 in Pac 12 play. 

Cougar Basketball Will Honor Coach Raveling

On February 9 of this next year, the Washington State Cougars will honor Legendary Coach George Raveling.  I know it's  cliché, but Raveling put WSU basketball on the map.  Raveling was a product of the East Coast, growing up in Washington, DC and going to college at Villanova. He would become assistant coach at Villanova and then Maryland.

In 1972, Raveling was named basketball coach at Washington State University, the first African-American coach in what was then the Pac 8.  I can only imagine what a leap of faith it was for a man to cross the entire country to a relatively small and isolated town in Eastern Washington.  At the time, black coaches in any level of any sport were very rare. 

Raveling, who had a listed number in the Pullman phone book, was the basketball coach when I attended WSU from 1976 to 1981.

Raveling took the Cougars to the NCAA Tournament in 1980 and 1983.

Raveling would later coach at Iowa and then, USC.  He retired from coaching after a serious auto accident in 1984.

Raveling has been inducted into both the both Naismith Memorial Hall Of Fame and the College Basketball Hall Of Fame. 

George Raveling Tapped For Naismith Hall Of Fame

Congratulations to George Raveling for his selection to be in Basketball's Naismith Hall Of Fame.  George was the basketball coach when I was at WSU.   He was the first African-American coach in what was then the Pac-8.  That in it's self is rather amazing, considering it is in maybe the most Conservative area of any of  what was then an all  West Coast conference.  It was a much different world when Raveling assumed the head coaching position at WSU, but he stayed at the school for 11 seasons, which included 2 NCAA tournament appearances.  In addition to his coaching duties, he also wrote a syndicated newspaper column and was a popular banquet speaker.
 Raveling would later leave WSU for other opportunities, a serious accident forced him to step down as USC basketball coach.  He then went to work for NIKE.  Seattle Times columnist Bud Withers wrote a great article on what Raveling brought to WSU, click here.