Jan. 16, 2001

Harry "The Horse" Gallatin's No. 44 to be Retired Saturday

During halftime of the men's basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 20, the No. 44, worn by former Bulldog standout Harry Gallatin, will be retired from the Truman men's basketball team.

A banquet on Friday night in the Georgian Room in the Student Union Building on the Campus of Truman State University will take place honoring Gallatin.

Reservations for the banquet can be made by Thursday by calling the Truman Athletics Office at 785-4235. A reception will begin at 6 p.m. and the banquet at 6:30. Tickets are $10 per person.

As a Bulldog, he earned all-conference accolades in 1946-47 and 1947-48 and was named an NAIA first-team all-America in '47-48. During his two seasons as a Bulldog, Gallatin's teams compiled a combined record of 59-4. He was inducted into the Truman Athletics Hall of Fame in 1984.

On May 13, 1991, in Springfield, Mass., Gallatin was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, joining such former National Basketball Association standouts as Bob Pettit, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Walton.

Other members of the 1991 induction class were former University of Indiana coach Bob Knight, former NBA guard Nate "Tiny" Archibald, former NBA center Dave Cowens, the late Larry Fleisher, who founded the NBA Players Association, and the late Larry O'Brien, a former NBA commissioner.

Gallatin, the only Truman alumnus who has played in the NBA, starred for a decade on the professional level. He performed nine seasons for the New York Knicks and his final year for the Detroit Pistons.

At that time, he held the NBA record for consecutive games played (746) and was selected to compete in seven NBA all-star games. Gallatin was one of 25 candidates for the all-time NBA team.

While a member of the Knicks, he was dubbed "The Horse" because of his durability, aggressiveness and hard work.

A native of Wood River, Ill., Gallatin was a good high school rebounder and helped Roxana High School win a district championship. He was an all-district selection and served as a co-captain of his team.

Gallatin learned about Truman from Ralph Pink (now a retired Truman professor) who had watched him play in three-on-three pickup games. Pink recommended Gallatin to then head coach Boyd King.

Until the past two decades, Gallatin ranked in the top 10 on the all-time school single season scoring list (816 points). Because teams of his time usually won by wide margins, Bulldog starters played only about half the minutes during games. Then too, Gallatin and several other players were good students and graduated from college in only two years. Consequently, they had little opportunity to rewrite school records.

During Gallatin's collegiate career, Truman notched a pair of league titles and made two trips to the NAIA tournament. The Bulldogs lost in the third round of the 1947 national tournament and in the second round of the 1948 tournament.

They were the first Truman basketball team to advance to national competition, and they recorded the school's first MIAA basketball championship since 1926-27. Both squads posted 19 straight victories, the longest winning streak in the history of Bulldog basketball. The 1946-47 team compiled a school-record 30 victories.

In recognition of his athletic ability, scholarship, leadership, citizenship and ambition, Gallatin received the 1948 Stickler Cup as a senior.

He was a first-round draft pick for the New York Knicks, coached by Joe Lapchick. The Knicks lacked a big center so they built their success on Gallatin. During his professional career, Gallatin averaged 13 points in 682 regular season games and led the NBA in rebounding in 1954 (1,098). He played in 64 play-off games in eight years where he averaged 12 points, and played in seven all-star games. Gallatin was named all-NBA first-team in 1954 and to the second team in 1955.

When he first started his professional basketball career, he also played four years of baseball in the Chicago Cubs organization. Gallatin had also competed in baseball while at Truman.

After his retirement from professional basketball in 1958, Gallatin was appointed basketball coach at Southern Illinois-Carbondale, where he logged a four-year record of 79-35.

Then, he was hired to guide the St. Louis Hawks of the NBA, leading them to a 48-32 record in his first season at the helm. For his efforts with the Hawks, Gallatin was named 1962-63 NBA Coach of the Year.

After a three-year stint with St. Louis, Gallatin returned to New York in 1964-65, this time as coach. However, his old team did not have a great deal of talent and was plagued by injuries, according to Gallatin, who stayed only two seasons with the Knicks, leaving 21 games into the 1965-66 campaign.

In 1967, he became Dean of Students at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, near his hometown. The administration asked him to organize intercollegiate athletics, and he started with soccer, basketball, baseball and golf. Gallatin coached basketball for two years and served as athletic director for five years.

He took a full-time teaching position in 1972 at SIUE. A year later, he was named the men's golf coach, and his teams made 17 trips to the NCAA Division II National Championships.

The 1991 Cougars were ranked as high as sixth nationally. Gallatin is a former chairman of the Division II golf committee.

He retired as an instructor in 1991 and as SIUE golf coach in 1992.

Gallatin is a member of the Truman Hall of Fame, the Missouri Basketball Hall of Fame, the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame and the NAIA Hall of Fame.

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