The Fastest Player from Baseline to Baseline

He was called the fastest basketball player that could go from one baseline to the other during a basketball game.  The reference came from the great Bobby Knight, former head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers (his most famous stop in his career).  Coach saw him play in high school when he recruited Indiana for IU, in college (at Oklahoma City University) in the middle 1970’s when he played for the Chiefs, and finally as the starting point guard for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association.

The man’s name is Allan Leavell.  The six foot one and one hundred seventy pound point guard started his basketball career in Muncie, Indiana (Central High School) and signed with Oklahoma City University in 1975 by then Head Coach Paul Hansen.  Leavell played four years at Oklahoma City and was the 5th round draft pick of the Houston Rockets (104 player selected) in the 1979 NBA draft. He played ten seasons in the Association and is the all-time assist leader for the Rockets at 3339.  Leavell played in eight post-seasons (61 games) and was the starting point guard in the 1986 Rocket run for the Title where they lost in the Finals to the Boston Celtics. He also played in the 1981 Finals, also against the Celtics.  Leavell had a productive and successful career in high school, college, and the NBA.

Most long-time fans of the Association remember Allan Leavell. If you are a fan of recent years, Leavell was the fastest there ever was.