While other NBA All-Stars of yesteryear — from Kevin McHale to Isiah Thomas to Michael Jordan — have made rocky transitions to the front office, Geoff Petrie '70 never missed a beat. The former Princeton standout-turned-Portland Trail Blazer has twice won the NBA's Executive of the Year Award as the president of basketball operations for the Sacramento Kings.
This is a list of the greatest athletes in Princeton history, however, not the best sporting minds. Petrie was never in the same class as those hoops legends during his days as a player, was he?
Well, there's really no telling.
Petrie averaged 18.3 points per game during his Tiger career — the fourth-highest mark in school history. In 1969, he and head coach Pete Carril each reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time, on the heels of the first 14-0 Ivy League season in Princeton history.
In a game against Fordham in 1970, Petrie poured in 39 points, which stands as a Tiger record behind only Bill Bradley '65. It wasn't until Petrie left Princeton that he blossomed into a full-fledged scoring machine.
In the 1970 NBA Draft, Portland made him the eighth pick overall and the first pick in the history of the fledgling franchise.
"I think the greatest thing [about my NBA career] was being a part of an expansion franchise that grew into being part of the fabric of a new community," Petrie said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian last year. "When the league expanded to Portland, a lot of people didn't even know there was a Portland, Oregon."
Petrie was hard to ignore, however, as he immediately took the league by storm. The six-foot, four-inch shooting guard averaged 24.8 points per game during his rookie campaign to lead the Trail Blazers, becoming the first Portland representative at the NBA All-Star Game. Petrie shared 1971 Rookie of the Year honors with Boston Celtics' Hall-of-Famer Dave Cowens.
A prolific long-range gunner in the era before the three-point shot, Petrie's career scoring average of 21.8 points per game ranks 30th in NBA history, ahead of the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon, Kevin Garnett — and, yes, Isiah Thomas and Kevin McHale.
As Petrie's career advanced his game grew even more well-rounded, and he contributed 4.6 assists per game over six years while shooting over 45 percent from the floor and 80 percent at the free-throw line. Petrie never cooled off as a scorer, either, exploding for 51 points in a game not once, but twice. In 1974, Petrie earned a second trip to the NBA All-Star game.
Chronic knee problems stripped Petrie of his prime, however, and forced him to retire as a player following the 1976 season. Portland — the team he had built up to respectability in its nascent years in the league — went on to win its first NBA championship the year after Petrie retired.
"I wasn't really emotionally prepared for [my playing career] to end that way," Petrie said, "so that was a tough time for me. I was really just coming into my prime, or would have been, I guess."
Still, Petrie's legacy as a pro pales only in comparison to that of Bradley among former Tiger cagers. Like Bradley, Petrie has only added to his legacy since his playing days ended, joining Sacramento's front office in 1994 and building the team into one of the powerhouses of this past decade.
If his knees were the only thing keeping him from joining Jordan in the Hall of Fame as a player, his nose for talent already has him closing in on "His Airness."
In Friday's paper: No. 17: Ryan Boyle '04
In tomorrow's paper: No. 15: Theresa Sherry '04
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