WASHINGTON — Elgin Baylor was the Lakers’ 11-time NBA All-Star who soared through the 1960s with a high-scoring style of basketball that became the model for the modern player -- both on the court and off of it.
Baylor, who died of natural causes in Los Angeles at the age of 86, was one the greatest basketball players to ever come out of Washington D.C.
For his time, Baylor had a Michael Jordan-esque brand to him while at the height of his career for the Los Angeles Lakers. But for all that Baylor did on the court, there was a lot he did off that helped make his community and country a better place.
In the 1961-62 season, Baylor averaged almost 40 points a game while he was on military duty in the Army at Fort Lewis in Washington (state). He could play for the Los Angeles Lakers on weekend passes.
Baylor was also one of the first high-profile Black athletes to join the civil rights movement and refused to just "shut up and dribble" — years before anyone even used the phrase.
Growing up in segregated D.C., Baylor believed the best way to fight segregation was to make a dignified stand.
In 1959, During a Lakers game in West Virginia, Baylor and two other Black players weren't allowed to stay in the team hotel. Baylor said, "if we don't stay together, I'm not going to be a part of it."
With a silky-smooth jumper and fluid athleticism, Baylor played a major role in revolutionizing basketball from a ground-bound sport into an aerial show. He spent parts of 14 seasons with the Lakers in Minneapolis and Los Angeles during his Hall of Fame career, teaming with Jerry West throughout the ’60s in one of the most potent tandems in basketball history.
Baylor became the first NBA player to surpass 70 points with a 71-point game Dec. 11, 1960, against New York. Chamberlain set the record of 100 points in 1962.
Baylor averaged 38 points in the 1961-62 season despite doing active duty as an Army reservist. He scored 61 points in a playoff game against Boston in 1962, a record that would stand for 24 years until Jordan broke it.
Baylor averaged 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds during his 14-year career. He scored a total of 23,149 points in 846 games, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in May 1977.