George S. King, Jr.

George S. King Jr. was inducted into the inaugural College of Applied Human Sciences Hall of Fame in the fall of 2025. He was previously inducted into the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Hall of Fame in 1997.

A Charleston native, King earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston) in 1950 and a master’s degree in physical education from West Virginia University in 1957. He was later awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Charleston in 1983.

As a collegiate athlete, King led Morris Harvey to four NCAA tournament appearances and scored 2,535 points in 117 games. He averaged 31.2 points per game as a senior and was named West Virginia’s Amateur Athlete of the Year in both his junior and senior seasons.

King was selected in the eighth round of the 1950 NBA draft and went on to help lead the Syracuse Nationals to the 1955 NBA Championship. In total, he played six seasons in the NBA, finishing his career with the Cincinnati Royals. In 1956, he traveled through 11 Middle Eastern countries on behalf of the U.S. State Department, becoming the first American to lead basketball coaching clinics in Africa.

King returned to WVU as an assistant men’s basketball coach and served as head coach from 1961 to 1965. He guided the Mountaineers to a 102-43 record, three Southern Conference Championships, and three NCAA tournament appearances (1962, 1963 and 1965). He later became head coach at Purdue, compiling a 106-64 record and leading the Boilermakers to a Big Ten title and the NCAA Final in 1969. King served as Purdue’s athletic director from 1971 to 1992.

He was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.

King passed away in 2006 at the age of 78.