Former Iowa men’s basketball coach George Raveling dies at 88

George Raveling, who coached the Iowa men’s basketball team from 1983-1986, has died at 88 following a battle with cancer.

"There are no words to fully capture what George meant to his family, friends, colleagues, former players, and assistants -- and to the world," Raveling’s family said in a published statement Tuesday.

Raveling succeeded Lute Olson as the Hawkeyes’ coach, coming to Iowa after 11 seasons at Washington State where he was the first Black coach in the then-Pacific 8 Conference and was that league’s Coach of the Year three times.

He left Iowa to coach Southern California, where he stayed for eight years. He worked for Nike as its global basketball sports marketing director after his retirement at USC.

Raveling was 54-38 in his three seasons at Iowa. While there, he was an assistant coach for the 1984 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team coached by Bob Knight, and also was on the 1988 U.S. staff.

Raveling’s last two Iowa teams won 21 and 20 games and went to NCAA tournaments. All but two of the players Tom Davis won 30 games with in the 1986-87 season were recruited to Iowa by Raveling, including B.J. Armstrong and Roy Marble.

Raveling’s career record was 336-292. He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame two years later.

In 1963, Raveling was a guard at Martin Luther King’s March in Washington. He asked King for possession of the copy of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which now is at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

“We would like to extend our sympathies to the Raveling family,” said Iowa men’s basketball 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.”

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