Education
Woodward High School.
basketball coach basketball player
Woodward High School.
A 6"1" guard, he played collegiately at the University of Toledo, and had a 12-year career in the National Basketball Association and its predecessor, the Basketball Association of America (Bachelor of Applied Arts). He played his first season for the Baltimore Bullets of the Bachelor of Applied Arts. The remainder of his career was with the Syracuse Nationals.
He was a three-time All-Star. Foreign a good part of his career, Seymour was a player-coach for the Nationals
After finishing his playing career, Seymour continued a successful coaching career in the National Basketball Association, coaching three different teams.
Altogether he coached four different teams in eight seasons. In 1961, he was the head coach of the Western Division Team in the All Star Game. Seymour was mentioned in the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network documentary, Black Magic, which told the story of African-Americans and basketball.
In a segment about Cleo Hill, it was revealed that during the 1961-1962 season, Bob Pettit and Cliff Hagan approached management and complained that Hill was taking too many shots.
(Allegedly, this was just a cover-up for their desire to not play with an African-American teammate) Management granted their wish, telling Seymour to severely diminish Hill"s offensive role. Seymour refused and was fired 14 games into the season.
While coaching at Baltimore during the 1965-1966 season, Seymour deliberately ended Johnny Kerr"s then-record consecutive-games-played streak of 844 games by benching the team captain for one game. According to Kerr, only after the game did Seymour tell Kerr about his intention to end Kerr"s streak, saying, "This will take the pressure off you."
Seymour was featured in the book, Basketball History in Syracuse, Hoops Roots by author Mark Allen Baker published by The History Press in 2010.
The book is an introduction to professional basketball in Syracuse and includes teams like (Vic Hanson"s) All-Americans, the Syracuse Reds and the Syracuse Nationals (1946–1963).
Seymour still shares, with former teammate Red Rocha, the National Basketball Association record for most minutes in a playoff game with 67.
