A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. How about this rather impressive NBA contact. – Obrey Brown
Curiously, there was a direct link to the NBA from that University of Redlands basketball program. That came from a role player in the late 1970s, early 1980s. His name? Rob Yardley, an outgoing, intelligent and seemingly Christian-living soul.
Basketball historians might recognize that name, Yardley. It was George Yardley, in fact, who was the first player in NBA history to score 2,000 points in a season.
What a cool connection — NBA to that smallish university in Redlands.
George Yardley, twice an All-American player at Stanford, was Rob’s dad.
In 1957-58, Yardley, then playing in Detroit, scored an NBA record 2,001 points. At 6-5, Yardley was a good-sized forward in 1950’s basketball, and was “an offensive-minded player with a knack for scoring,” he said in his basketball Hall of Fame biography.
Described in that bio as a “flamboyant” and “gregarious” player who “never did anything without flair,” Yardley had a stellar seven-year career, making the NBA All-Star team every year except for his 1953-54 rookie season.
He led Fort Wayne to two NBA Finals before that team moved to Detroit in 1957.
George came to Redlands on occasions, catching Rob coming off the Bulldogs’ bench. A few times, I’d chat with him. Like this: Which players do you remember playing with the best?
“Gene Shue, Dick McGuire, both those guys were all-stars when we played in Detroit. Good players, good teammates.”
Yardley, who averaged nearly 28 points in that 2,001-point season, noted an obvious point about that league he played.
“Boston, tough to beat. Once in awhile, we took ’em. Gene led us to a win over the Celtics back in, uh, ’58. Good game. St. Louis and Boston. Those were the best teams.”
That trade, landing in Syracuse from Detroit, came midway through the 1958-59 season. Syracuse? George wasn’t there all that long, retiring at age 31. That team moved on to Philadelphia to become the 76ers.
“For me, it was Ed Conlin. That’s who went to Detroit in that trade,” Yardley recalled. “Good player. It’s hard to go through that trade, to talk all that much.”
In 1957-58, the Pistons’ first year in Detroit, Yardley led the league in scoring, averaging 27.8. It surpassed talk center George Mikan’s previous record of 1,932 points while playing for Minneapolis.
“He wore glasses,” said Yardley.
That season, Yardley set NBA records with impressive free throws – 655-for-808, named All-NBA first team his lone time. Who else?
“Oh, wow … there was Dolph Schayes, (Bob) Cousy and (Bill) Sharman, Bobby Pettit.”
Following a sixth all-star season in 1959-60, averaging 20.2 points, Yardley retired at age 31. A decade, or so, prior to that NBA career, Yardley was a two-time All-American at Stanford.
A season after Yardley hit that 2,001 points, Pettit. St. Louis’ center, broke his scoring mark. It didn’t last long. By 1962, Wilt Chamberlain’s 1960 rookie season eclipsed that of both Yardley and Pettitt.
What was it like playing against Chamberlain?
Yardley smiled. “His team, Philadelphia – the Warriors – beat us in the playoffs. If we’d have won, it would have been Boston.”
That would have been teams with Chamberlain, then Russell.
Imagine George coming into Currier Gym at that Redlands university.
It seems logical that George led Rob onto a basketball court.
“No,” said the younger Yardley, who stood 6-foot-6, “he never did (pressure me) to play basketball. I thought I was going to be a tennis star, and he introduced me to tennis. I think he likes tennis more than basketball, anyway.”
Redlands, incidentally, was a highly dominant small college tennis program under top-level coach Jim Verdieck.
It was another coach, Gary Smith, that placed a basketball jersey on him.
One night, Rob came off Redlands’ bench to score eight points – hardly in Chamberlain’s class, or that of Pettitt, or even his dad – in a 63-52 win at Occidental College, a campus located just outside Pasadena.
Rob hit all four of his shots, eventually fouling out. He said, “I was a butcher out there. I kept leaning on defense. Coach Smith has told me a thousand times to keep my hands off the guy on the baseline.”
Think about it: George Yardley played against the likes of Chamberlain, Pettitt, Russell and Cousy, plus Mikan, Sharman, Elgin Baylor.
There were wire service photos of George Yardley going up against Russell and Cousy.
Any particular memories of those guys?
“Russell blocked a shot, or two,” he said, smiling. “I could go on from there. Cousy, gosh, dribbled like crazy.”
Fort Wayne drafted Yardley in 1950. He grimaced a little. “That league (NBA) wasn’t considered all that big back then. Me? I’m in Navy then, two years.”
Highlights? NBA?
“We got to the finals two years in a row. Lost to Syracuse one year (1954), then St. Louis the next (1955).”
Boston, he noted, “didn’t have Bill Russell just yet.”
This man wouldn’t brag about his career, not even close. Seven seasons, six NBA All-Star appearances.
One chat came at a Saturday night game in Redlands, Rob part of that team’s roster. George, a Newport Harbor High School product before Stanford, talked about an engineering business he owned. Rob, too, was a Newport Harbor product, hitting Orange Coast College before Redlands.
By contrast, Rob Yardley was neither an NBA player or even an All-SCIAC player at Redlands. For locals, it was an interesting Redlands Connection.
By 1996, meanwhile, George was inducted into Naismith Memorial’s Hall of Fame.
