(Basketball 1977-80)
Gerald Lavender lettered
four years in basketball at North Alabama from 1977-80. He scored 1,140 career points to
rank 14th among UNA's all-time scorers at the time of his induction. He pulled 1,033
rebounds to rank as UNA's all-time leading rebounder and is the only Lion player to ever
score 1,000 points and pull 1,000 rebounds. He set the UNA record for career games played
with 118 and played on three Final Four teams in his four years, including the 1979 NCAA
Division II National Championship team.
With Lavender in the lineup, the Lion teams were
24-7 in 1977, 17-9 in 1978, 22-9 in 1979 and 21-10 in 1980 for a combined 84-35
record over his four years. In addition the Lions won the 1977 Gulf South Conference
championship and NCAA regional championships in 1977, 1979 and 1980. He hit on 471
of 925 career field goals for 50.9 percent, 198 of 301 free throws for 65.7 percent, and
averaged 9.7 career points and 8.7 career rebounds. In 1979 he averaged 10.6 points and
10.2 rebounds. Lavender led the Lions in rebounding three straight seasons, with 265 in
1978, 315 in 1979 and 266 in 1980.
He is the only player in Lion history to lead the team
in rebounding three straight years. He led the team in field goal percentage in 1979 at
62.3 and was selected All-Gulf South Conference in 1980. A native of Northport, Ala., he
graduated from UNA with a B.S. degree in Social Work. He played two years of professional
basketball in Argentina with the Boca Juniors and, at the time of his induction, he served
as a primary counselor for Bradford Health Services in Birmingham.
