Courtesy of Villanova Basketball

Raveling played basketball at Villanova from 1957 to 1960. He went to have a historic career in college basketball.

George Raveling, a former Villanova basketball player and Hall of Fame coach, died on Monday, Sept. 1. He was 88 years old.

During his long career after graduating from Villanova in 1960, Raveling coached various college basketball teams and became Nike‘s global basketball sports marketing director.

The news was announced in a statement from his family on social media on Tuesday.

“[He] faced cancer with courage and grace,” the Raveling family said in the statement.

Raveling was born in 1937 at Garfield Hospital in Washington, D.C, a small, segregated hospital that had five floors. Four of the floors were for white people only, Raveling described on his website. He was born in the hospital’s basement. That moment foreshadowed his life’s work outside of basketball, fighting for civil rights. Civil rights was embedded in his life’s story.

“George Raveling was a Villanovan in the truest sense of the word,” Villanova University President Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, said in a statement. “He left a significant mark on Villanova University and the sport of basketball. He chose Villanova to be the steward of Dr. King’s famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, broke down racial barriers as a coach, and became a well-respected and admired figure amongst his professional and personal peers. George will be missed, and our prayers are with the entire Raveling family.”

Before Raveling sprouted into the basketball icon he is known as today, the sport did not enter his life until his teenage years. He did not begin playing basketball until ninth grade at St. Michael’s School for Boys in Hoban Heights, PA. He attended boarding school at St. Michael’s after losing both his parents at a young age. 

Finding basketball at the boarding school propelled Raveling to Villanova University, where he started three seasons on the men’s varsity basketball team under head coach Al Severance. At the time, rules prohibited freshmen from competing at the varsity level.

In three seasons from 1957 to 1960, Raveling collected 835 career rebounds, which still ranks 13th on the program’s all-time rebounding list. 

Raveling’s coaching career began in a familiar spot on 800 East Lancaster Ave. He spent six seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, starting in 1963. He spent three seasons as an assistant at Maryland before kicking off his head coaching career.

During his time as head coach across Washington State, Iowa and the University of Southern California, Raveling was a three-time Pac-10 Head Coach of the Year (1976, 1983, 1992) and was the National Association of Basketball Coaches Coach of the Year in 1992. He earned a gold medal with Team USA at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles as a coach.

Raveling’s coaching career earned him an induction into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 and the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

After retiring from coaching in 1994, Nike appointed him as its global basketball sports marketing director. He served in that role all the way up until his passing. Raveling was notably recognized for influencing Michael Jordan’s signing with Nike.

Much of the legacy Raveling built was around the game of basketball, but outside of the sport, he was committed to fighting for the rights of all African Americans.

Raveling stood just behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. He had signed up to work as a security guard for King during the March on Washington that day.

On those steps, King read aloud the historic “I Have a Dream” speech to over an estimated 250,000 people on the National Mall. At the conclusion of the speech, Raveling asked King for the typewritten copy of the speech. King handed it over to him.

The copy of the speech was sought after by many. Raveling received an offer of $3 million at one time for the speech, which he declined. Instead, he opted to donate it to his alma mater, Villanova. The University currently has it on a long-term loan with the Smithsonian and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

“Coach Raveling was a mentor to me and everyone in our Villanova Basketball Family. He was one of the most loyal and grateful Villanova alums of all time,” Villanova Special Assistant to the President and Former Head Coach Jay Wright said in the statement released by the school.