Education
Stanford University.
Stanford University.
He was the first player in National Basketball Association history to score 2,000 points in one season, breaking the 1,932-point record held by George Mikan. Yardley was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996. The nickname was later shortened to "Bird".
After his three-year career at Stanford, Yardley played one year of Amateur Athletic Union basketball and served in the United States Navy for two years.
He was drafted by the National Basketball Association Fort Wayne Pistons in 1950. At 6"5", Yardley was a good-sized forward in 1950s basketball and was described as "an offensive-minded player with a knack for scoring" in his Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame biography.
Described as a "flamboyant" and "gregarious" player who "never did anything without flair", Yardley had a stellar 7-year career, making the National Basketball Association All-Star team every year except for his rookie season. He led the Fort Wayne Pistons to two National Basketball Association Finals before the team moved to Detroit in 1957.
In "57–58, the Pistons" first year in Detroit, Yardley led the league in scoring, averaging 27.8 points per game, and tallied 2001 points, just enough to make him the first National Basketball Association player to score 2000 points in a season.
That year, Yardley also set National Basketball Association records for most free throws attempted (808) and most free throws made (655), and was named to the All-National Basketball Association First Team for the only time in his career. Following a sixth All-Star season in 1959–1960, in which he averaged 20.2 points per game, George Yardley retired from basketball at the age of 31. He was the first player in National Basketball Association history to retire after averaging at least 20 Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company in his final year.
Although Alex Groza had a 21.7 Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company average in his final National Basketball Association season in 1951, his career ended as a result of a lifelong ban, instead of a voluntary retirement like that of Yardley"son
He made a brief comeback in the short-lived American Basketball League with the Los Angeles Jets in 1961-1962. Making use of his engineering degree from Stanford, Yardley started his own engineering company in California following his retirement from the National Basketball Association. In 1996, Yardley was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player.
In a touching tribute to Yardley, Pete Newell later said "George Yardley embodies what the Hall of Fame is all about. A marvelous athlete who made full use of his natural talents, a demeanor on the court a coach admires, and a life off the court and after his basketball career ended that has been very successful."
Yardley died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, at the age of 75.