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.
