Nate Thurmond

Bulls.com

Opening Night, October 18, 1974 – Chicago Stadium
Atlanta Hawks vs. Chicago Bulls

One of the NBA's greatest defensive big men of all-time, Nate Thurmond averaged exactly 15 points and 15 rebounds a game over an illustrious 14-year career.

A seven-time All-Star and five-time All-Defensive First or Second Team member, Thurmond was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985, and was later named as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players in history in 1997. Yet as great a player as he was, Thurmond was somewhat overlooked, especially by the media during his playing days as he toiled mostly during the era of Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and towards the end of his career, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Nevertheless, Big Nate owns the unique distinction of posting the NBA's first recorded quadruple-double, achieving the feat on October 18, 1974 in his very first game playing for the Chicago Bulls.

As far as in-game records go, it simply doesn't get any rarer than posting a quadruple double. To achieve such a feat a player has to reach double digits across four statistical categories from points, assists, rebounds, blocks or steals. Until this day no one officially had ever done so — that is until Thurmond wrote the book in posting 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 blocks to lead the Bulls to a 120-115 overtime victory against the Atlanta Hawks.

Born July 25, 1941 in Akron, Ohio, Nathaniel Thurmond stood 6'11" and weighed 225-pounds during his prime. He was an All-American center out of Bowling Green State University. The San Francisco Warriors tabbed him with the 3rd overall pick in the 1963 NBA Draft, and he quickly became a team fixture, playing 11 seasons in the Bay area.

As a rookie, Thurmond primarily backed up Wilt Chamberlain, but also played alongside him at times at power forward. That season Thurmond averaged 7 points and 10.4 rebounds, earning a place on the league's All-Rookie team. The Warriors reached the NBA Finals that year, but fell to the Boston Celtics in five games.

Halfway through the following season (1964-65) Chamberlain was traded to Philadelphia and Thurmond was asked to step in as the Warriors' full-time man in the middle. He then went on to average 16.5 points and 18.1 rebounds in over 41 minutes a game that year.

Thurmond was the epitome of consistency as he averaged at least 20 points a game for five consecutive seasons beginning in 1967 through 1972, and grabbed at least 17 rebounds a night for six straight seasons from 1964 through 1970. However, by the end of the 1973-74 season, Thurmond, who was then on his way to turning 33-years old, began to see his numbers slip to 13 points a game, yet he still proved a defensive superstar, averaging 3 blocks and 14.2 rebounds.

Just before the start of the 1974-75 season the Warriors began calling teams to gauge interest in Thurmond as team believed Big Nate's best days were behind him. Golden State quickly found a willing trading partner in Chicago's Dick Motta who was not only the Bulls head coach, but also the team's general manager. Motta had grown frustrated at seeing his hardnosed, blue collar squads win 50 or more games during the regular season only to fall in the playoffs every year to archrivals sporting superstar centers (in particular, Chamberlain then with the Los Angeles Lakers and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with the Milwaukee Bucks). Motta was convinced Chicago needed a frontline center of their own and jumped at the opportunity to land the future Hall of Famer in exchange for 25-year old pivot, Clifford Ray.

Unfortunately the trade did not work out well for the Bulls as Thurmond's strengths were clearly best suited near the basket but Motta's offensive schemes demanded his centers play up top, setting picks and passing the ball from the free throw line to teammates cutting towards the hoop. Although Thurmond posted a career high 4.1 assists and led the Bulls with averages of 11.3 rebounds and 2.44 blocks per game, his scoring fell to 7.9 points a game and his shooting percentage crashed to a career-worst .364. By the time the playoffs rolled around, he was no longer a starter and played less than 20 minutes a game.

But for at least one night — Opening Night against the Atlanta Hawks inside the old Chicago Stadium in front of a somewhat underwhelming crowd of 7,351 fans — Big Nate was the toast of Chicago.

Although the crowd that night was somewhat sparse in number, they were nonetheless loud. Many years later Thurmond remembered sensing a great deal of excitement in the air as the Bulls came out for pregame warmups.

"There was nothing like playing at the old Chicago Stadium," Thurmond recalled. "Something about that organ music always got me jacked up. For my very first game in Chicago, climbing the stairs (the Bulls locker room was located beneath the arena floor) and walking onto the court, hearing the home crowd yell my name was something special."

Thurmond played all but three minutes (49) that night and was 8-of-12 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line in notching 22 points. He thoroughly dominated the paint, pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds and blocking 12 shots. He also established a career-best of 13 assists in leading Chicago to victory.

"I never saw Nate play better, and I think I know why," recalled Clyde Lee years later, who played for Atlanta that night and was also a former teammate of Thurmond's with the Warriors. "The (Bulls) fans got behind him right from the start, and that gave Nate a lift. He never was appreciated for being a great center all those years in San Francisco. So when the Bulls fans yelled out his name during the pregame introductions and during the game, you could see it fired him up, and he sure picked up the Bulls that night."

Since Big Nate's maiden quadruple-double the feat has only occurred (officially) four other times in history. The next player to post a quadruple-double was Alvin Robertson of the San Antonio Spurs on February 18, 1986 against the Phoenix Suns. Robertson's stat line was 20 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals, in leading the Spurs to a 120-114 victory.

Four years later Houston Rockets Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon notched two quadruple-doubles in the same month!

On March 3, 1990 Olajuwon powered the Rockets to a 129-109 victory over the Golden State Warriors with 29 points, 18 rebounds, 10 assists and 11 blocks. A couple of weeks later on March 29, 1990, Hakeem the Dream led Houston to a 120-94 win over the Milwaukee Bucks behind 18 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists and 11 blocks.

The last player to post a quadruple-double was fellow Hall of Famer David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs who put up 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 blocks against Detroit on February 17, 1994 in leading the Spurs to a 115-96 victory over the Pistons.

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The NBA’s First Recorded Quadruple-Double

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Nate Thurmond was the missing piece, the final brick for the Bulls first NBA championship tower. Everyone was sure of it, and certainly Bulls owner Arthur Wirtz, who agreed to include the then stunning amount of $500,000 to the Golden State Warriors along with center Cliff Ray and a No. 1 draft pick in trade for Thurmond.

The Bulls had been just seven feet away from perhaps two or three NBA titles in the previous four years, eliminated each season by either Wilt Chamberlain and the Los Angeles Lakers or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Bulls had arguably the best offensive forward tandem in the league in high scoring Bob Love and Chet Walker. They had the most feared defensive backcourt in the league in Jerry Sloan and Norm Van Lier.

Just get me a center, coach Dick Motta lamented again and again.

Wirtz in 1974 went all in, first making a determined effort to coax Chamberlain out of retirement. When that failed, the Bulls turned to Thurmond, whom Abul-Jabbar always said was his toughest opponent. The Warriors once even traded Wilt to keep Thurmond, who then helped the Warriors to a pair of NBA Finals appearances, who was one of five players in NBA history to both average at least 20 rebounds in a season and at least 15 rebounds per game for his career.

And Nate the Great, as he was known then despite his humble nature and easygoing demeanor, both belying his ferocity on the court, delivered in his first game as a Bull.

The city was excited about the trade, and it was a thrilling opener as the Bulls defeated the Atlanta Hawks in overtime. Thurmond recorded the first quadruple double in NBA history with 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 blocks.

Chet Walker added 25 to offset exciting Atlanta rookie John Drew with 32 points.

The statistical achievement wasn't much noted then as newspapers reported Thurmond with 22 points and 14 rebounds. That was the first season the NBA recorded blocks as an official statistic. By then, both Chamberlain and Bill Russell had retired, and they might have had season long triple doubles with blocks. Still, Nate showed he could be a force and had almost five times as many blocks that season as any teammate and was third overall in the league.

And that was even with losing his starting job to Tom Boerwinkle midway through the season.

Thurmond ended up a reserve as the Bulls suffered their most devastating playoff loss that season, falling to the Warriors and Ray in the Western Conference finals after leading 3-2 with Game 6 at home. It was the famed Mother's Day Massacre for the Bulls in losing an early lead at home. The Bulls then lost Game 7 in Oakland.

It was the end of that great Bulls run without much to show.

The Bulls were 24-58 the next season when after 13 games Thurmond was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, his home state team. He did help the Cavs in their Miracle of Richfield run to the conference finals in 1976 and then retired after the 1976-77 season.

Thurmond, a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, died Sunday. He was 74.

"Great guy," said former Bull Walker. "Just a terrific person. Great basketball player. Motta just didn't know how to use him. He couldn't make the adjustments to get Nate in our system."

It was a lost opportunity for the Bulls and for Thurmond, who also believed he was that final piece of the championship puzzle for that great Bulls team.

They'd averaged 53 wins the previous four seasons, either second or third to powerful Lakers and Bucks teams winning at least 60 games each season, and even a record 69 for the Lakers. But Motta reasoned the Bulls had won 57 games with Tom Boerwinkle and Ray splitting center one season. Imagine what they could do with Nate Thurmond? Motta predicted a title.

Thurmond grew up in Akron, Ohio and played on a high school team with future Hall of Famer Gus Johnson of the Bullets. Even as the Warriors had Chamberlain, they drafted Thurmond, who played forward with Wilt in the first dual towers of a pair of NBA seven footers.

Wilt was traded back to Philadelphia and Thurmond became a seven-time All-Star, five times all-defense, and that was at a time with the likes of Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Willis Reed, Wes Unseld, Bob Lanier and Abdul-Jabbar playing center. It was the greatest NBA era for big man, and Thurmond was as dominant as any, though lesser known, in part, because of his general decency and avoidance of headlines and bold pronouncements. He just played.

Even when Motta benched him that season, and even going on to blame Thurmond, Thurmond remained dignified and professional. Thurmond told the Chicago's Tribune's Bob Logan, "The last thing I would do is rock the boat with a team trying for a championship."

Thurmond did what he was asked to start that 1974-75 Bulls season, scoring in double figures in 11 of the first 12 games to go along with his rebounding and blocks numbers. But with Van Lier and Love contract holdouts and starting the season late, the Bulls were 5-7. Thurmond took the brunt of the blame.

Thurmond never complained as Boerwinkle returned to start during the season and in the playoffs. Thurmond averaged 7.9 points and 11.3 rebounds in limited time with the Bulls in his only full season with the team. Abdul-Jabbar had broken his hand that season smashing a basket support in anger and Wilt had retired. It seemed there for the Bulls.

They put things together late to win their Midwest Division, though with just 47 wins and one game behind Western Conference regular season leader Golden State with 48 wins. The Bulls defeated Kansas City in six games, and then lost to the Warriors in seven in the conference finals. The Bulls would not return to the conference finals until 1989.

The next season the Bulls made a bid for Abdul-Jabbar, who had asked the Bucks to trade him to Los Angeles or New York. They offered Thurmond, Boerwinkle. Love, Van Lier and two reserves. But as older players, the Bucks and Abdul-Jabbar weren't interested.

Thurmond was traded back home to Cleveland, where he was warmly welcomed and replaced the injured Jim Chones to lead the team to the 1976 conference finals. The Cavs along with the Warriors retired his number.

So Thurmond became a footnote in Bulls history, but his class, professionalism, dignity and civility were a credit to him and his career. He gave Chicago basketball hope for perhaps the last time until Michael Jordan came along. And he always was a man to admire.

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Remembering Nate Thurmond

In 2006, Nate Thurmond sat with Brett Ballantini to discuss his most "Memorabull" game.

October 18, 1974 | Chicago Stadium
Chicago Bulls 120, Atlanta Hawks 115 (OT)

It's been 32 years since I made my debut with the Chicago Bulls, and what an entrance it was—better than my wildest expectations: 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, and 12 blocked shots. I notched the first "official" quadruple-double in NBA history. And as I look back on it now, it feels a little strange to be known as the first person ever to get a quadruple-double in an NBA game.

Don't get me wrong: I'm truly honored. It's certainly a rare accomplishment. It took 12 years before the feat was ever accomplished again, and only three guys have posted a quadruple-double since I had mine.

But you know and I know and any good basketball fan knows that there were plenty of quadruple-doubles back in the 1960s. When I first came into the league, I played alongside with Wilt Chamberlain, and there were nights he and I were playing volleyball out there on the floor, blocking shots, deflecting passes, tipping rebounds. So it's fairly obvious that Wilt had plenty of chances to get double figures in four categories; think about after he was traded from the San Francisco Warriors back to Philadelphia—Wilt led the league in assists with the 76ers! Or what about his move to the Los Angeles Lakers, when he was less a scorer and more a complementary player?

Bill Russell could also fill the stat sheet and was a threat for a quadruple-double on a nightly basis. He was a great shot-blocker and passer, besides being a tremendous overall defender.

Another guy people don't often think much about in terms of quadruple-doubles is Mr. Triple-Double himself, Oscar Robertson. I'm sure the Big O had games of 10 or more steals.

And hey, don't forget about me. You think I never had a quadruple-double before 1973-74, when the NBA first started recording blocks and steals? Let me put it this way: I had 12 blocks in my quadruple-double game, and it was my 12th year in the league. That's with two bad knees and more than 30,000 minutes pounding NBA floors, night after night. You bet I had plenty of quadruple-doubles before 1974. I'm not trying to brag, but there were games where it was ridiculous the number of shots I blocked. When I was young, there were nights when guys couldn't come close to getting shots off on me. Only Russell could have blocked more in his career.

I'd really like to know where I stand with blocks for my entire career. When you look at the list of career blocked shots leaders today, Russell and I are nowhere to be found. Quite frankly, that list is filled with pretenders to the title, all because the NBA didn't record blocks for any of Bill's and the majority of my career. Sure, I could put up points, but my game was really defense, so I'm a little disappointed that most of my blocks were never recorded.

Twelve years into my career, you might not have expected me to still be a force in the game. But the year before I was traded to Chicago, I was playing almost 40 minutes per game, and I averaged 13.0 points, 14.2 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks.

Why would the Warriors trade me, then? Well, I knew the Bulls were very hot to get me, believing that adding a top-flight center would allow them to better compete against the other top teams in the league, particularly Milwaukee, who had a young Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in the pivot.

I probably should have known something was up before the trade. I'd had a foot injury the year before, and the Warriors sent me to someone who wasn't our regular team doctor. I didn't think anything about it at the time, but I found out later that he was Chicago's team doctor, secretly checking me out for the Bulls.

Make no mistake, I didn't want to leave San Francisco. It had been my home for more than a decade. San Francisco was a place I felt very comfortable and I knew I was going to live there after I was done playing. I certainly would have liked to have finished my career there. Back then, most players liked the idea of playing their entire careers with one team, unlike today, with free agency and such.

But on the other hand, I also didn't want to play somewhere I wasn't wanted, so I was excited to make my opportunity with Chicago work—and prove to the Warriors that I still had a lot of gas left in the tank. I left San Francisco with a lot of pent-up emotions.

Ultimately, I figured that if I was going to be traded, Chicago would be a great place to go. I had a positive attitude about the trade—it certainly wasn't as if I was going to an expansion team. The Bulls were title contenders, and who knew? With me, maybe the Bulls could win it all. We had a great group of guys on the team, and that helped me ease into things. We had two terrific starting forwards, in Bob Love and Chet Walker. Why Chet isn't in the Hall of Fame, I'll never know, and Bob, he could play on both ends. Nobody credits his defense, but Butterbean Bob guarded Rick Barry as well as anybody. Bob and Chet's skills really complemented each other, too.

Our guard play was also extraordinary. Jerry Sloan and Norm Van Lier were the heart and soul of the team, and those guys would regularly have dogfights at every practice. They always came to play, and that was the exact same attitude I always tried to bring to the court.

The man I was going to take playing time from, Tom Boerwinkle, was an extremely underrated player and an excellent passing center. He was one of those guys who really knew how to use his body, or, as I like to say, "stayed in your way" - he was a lot like Wes Unseld in that sense. Tom wasn't the best athlete, but he used what he had and was a darn good NBA center.

Having the center pass the ball out of the high post was a key to coach Dick Motta's offense, but that wasn't a strength of mine. I had always played down low, but Motta wanted me to play in a different position, playing a very different way than I ever did before. That was a big sacrifice to ask of a 12-year veteran, but I really wanted to fit into his system, and I wanted to win, so I gave it my best shot. I certainly would've like to have gotten more looks down by the hole, but Dick didn't want change his system, and, really, why should he? They had been close to winning it all for a number of years, and I figured my arrival would lead to good things. I really thought I would get better at what Motta was asking me to do, but it just didn't happen. I didn't fit in as well as I thought I would.

People have asked if I felt pressure coming to a team that was so tight-knit, especially since I was the guy who was expected to deliver a title. Not really: I welcomed the high expectations. I'd been in pressure situations before; I was a confident player who approached the game always looking to add to my skill and expertise. Of course, as the season went on and I didn't play as well as I expected to or wanted, then I began feeling pressure.

For all the promise heading into the 1974-75 season, there was also some cause for concern. Walker, Van Lier and Love all were holding out during the preseason. Back then, holding out was uncommon, so I didn't know what to make of the situation—I just knew that we were down three very important players.

Guys like Bobby Wilson at guard would end up getting valuable experience early on and a lot of playing time while we were undermanned, but c'mon, these guys who were missing were integral parts of the team. It was disappointing and frustrating. Walker would rejoin the team in time for the start of the season, but the other two (Van Lier and Love) lingered into November. But, as we took the floor on October 18, 1974, I could sense excitement in the air. There was nothing like playing at the old Chicago Stadium. Something about that organ music always got me going. We'd run upstairs from the locker room, and that organ would jack us up. For my very first game in Chicago, climbing the stairs up to the court and hearing the home crowd yell my name is an unforgettable memory.

Because of the holdouts, we had a starting lineup much different from what you'd imagine: Van Lier was replaced at point guard by Rick Adelman, and Love's forward spot went to Matt Guokas. Talk about a starting five with a high basketball IQ—right there you had three future NBA head coaches. Plus, there was Chet Walker, who could have gone far in a career on the bench, as well as me.

As for this first game of the 1974-75 season, my most memorable one as a Bull, it wasn't what you would have expected, either. Atlanta wasn't the strongest team, aside from star swingman John Drew, but even though they were more undermanned than we were, dressing only eight guys, the Hawks played a tough game.

Atlanta and Drew, who would end up with 32 points and 12 rebounds, jumped out on us quickly and took a 31-23 lead at the end of the first; we'd be playing catch-up for the remainder of the game. We played strong, out passing (36 assists) and out rebounding (53 boards) Atlanta by a wide margin. We also shot almost twice as well as the Hawks did, .633 to .324. Those guys were in disarray, dribbling down the floor, launching shots, not really playing team ball.

So how in the world did Atlanta stay ahead of us? Well, they took almost 25 more shots than we did—102 shots in the game! We also played pretty sloppy (26 turnovers) and rough, tying the all-time franchise record with 38 fouls.

Chet was his usual brilliant self, keeping us in the game with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Little-known guard Wilson was also a standout that night, scoring 20 points on nine-of-12 shooting before fouling out. Sloan had an off-game and also fouled out.

But, aside from my quadruple-double effort, the hero for the Bulls that night was forward Bill Hewitt. In probably the greatest game of Bill's career—he wouldn't last the season with us—he scored 15 points in 40 hard minutes of work.

Looking back, I remember I was busy and was very active in the game, but I didn't think about it in terms of a quadruple-double. We went into overtime, won the game, and I remember thinking it was a great way to start the season. That's what made it so special. One thing I distinctly remember was going back to my apartment after the game—I was just dead. I didn't realize I had numbers spread out like that, across four categories until the next morning. It was my 12th year, and from that standpoint, the quadruple-double was just another game. But, as I look back now, I realize just how special a performance it was. At the time, nobody even talked about triple-doubles, so no one was really aware that I'd done something unprecedented. But I'm very happy that someone went back and discovered I was the first player ever to record a quadruple-double.

Of course, I wish I could have kept playing at the quadruple-double pace I started with that first game. It just wasn't meant to be, just as our dreams of a first NBA title in Chicago weren't meant to be.

But that first game, let me know I still had a little bit more to give to the game of basketball.

Nate Thurmond is a Hall-of-Famer and was named as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all time in 1996. But that's not all, as Nate "The Great" is also a restaurateur. In fact, if you're ever in the Bay Area and your stomach starts grumbling, do yourself a favor and stop by Big Nate's Barbecue, at 1665 Folsom St. in San Francisco, and tell 'em Bulls.com sent you.

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Nate Thurmond: My Most Memorabull Game

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