1. Robert Dean Ferry was an American professional basketball player, assistant coach, and general manager in the National Basketball Association.
20 Facts About Bob Ferry
1. 2.
Bob Ferry played for the St Louis Hawks, Detroit Pistons, and Baltimore Bullets from 1959 to 1969.
3.
Bob Ferry then served as GM of the Bullets from 1973 to 1990, overseeing the franchise's only NBA championship in 1978.
4.
Bob Ferry was born in St Louis on May 31,1937, and was the oldest of four children.
5.
Bob Ferry's father, Willard, worked at Fisher Body; his mother, Elsie, was a housewife who was employed by Pet, Inc He attended Cleveland High School, where he played baseball, before concentrating on basketball.
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Bob Ferry graduated with a degree in General Studies that same year, and his number 43 was later retired by the Saint Louis Billikens.
7.
Bob Ferry was selected in the 1959 NBA draft as the territorial pick of the St Louis Hawks, who had the seventh overall selection that year.
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Bob Ferry made his NBA debut on October 24,1959, scoring one point on a free throw against the Minneapolis Lakers.
9.
Bob Ferry ultimately played ten seasons in the NBA with the Hawks, Pistons, and Bullets, scoring 5,780 points to go along with 906 assists and 3,343 rebounds.
10.
Bob Ferry was credited with advising the franchise to select Wes Unseld in the 1968 NBA draft.
11.
Bob Ferry was eventually promoted to general manager of the Bullets on June 13,1973.
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Bob Ferry won the NBA Executive of the Year Award in 1979 and 1982, and was one of only 11 league GMs to win the award in multiple seasons at the time of his death.
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Bob Ferry was one of four GMs in NBA history with at least 700 wins, 13 playoff appearances, and one championship, the others being R C Buford, Jerry West, and Jerry Krause.
14.
Bob Ferry quit as the Bullets GM on June 12,1990, on the heels of two subpar seasons, having come to a mutual agreement with Pollin that the franchise was in need of a change in administration.
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Bob Ferry then became a scout for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Hawks, and the Brooklyn Nets over the next quarter of a century.
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Bob Ferry had a brief stint on The NBA on NBC as an "Insider" alongside Peter Vescey in the early 1990s.
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Bob Ferry participated in a senior basketball league until he was in his 70s, and took up tennis and golf.
18.
Bob Ferry was married to Rita Brooks for over sixty years until his death.
19.
Bob Ferry died on October 27,2021, at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis.
20.
Bob Ferry suffered from melanoma and a heart condition, and was hospitalized for 12 days prior to his death at the age of 84.