Bob Lanier, who spent the final seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Milwaukee Bucks, dies at 73

Bob Lanier, the star big man acquired by the Milwaukee Bucks midway through the 1979-80 season who led the team to five division titles, died Tuesday at age 73 after a short illness.

Lanier played 14 seasons between the Detroit Pistons and Bucks, including the final 4½ with Milwaukee, and averaged 20.1 points and 10.1 rebounds for his career.

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, whose No. 16 jersey was retired by the Bucks just two months after he officially declared his retirement in fall of 1984, is the first player whose number has been retired by the Bucks to die.

The Bucks won division titles all five seasons Lanier was on board, starting with the 1979-80 season, when the 6-foot-10, 250-pound, 31-year-old was acquired by Bucks coach and GM Don Nelson in an exchange that featured two No. 1 overall draft picks. Milwaukee sent the No. 1 overall choice in 1977, Kent Benson, plus its 1980 first-round pick (which later became future Bucks head coach Larry Drew) to the Pistons for Lanier (the No. 1 overall choice in 1970).

Former Bucks forward Marques Johnson, the analyst for Bucks TV broadcasts on Bally Sports Wisconsin, recalled sharing an elevator with Lanier right after the deal and immediately trading good-natured barbs about who would get the ball.

"We hit it off right away," Johnson said Wednesday. "He was just such a loveable, friendly, supportive – he was my guy. He gave us, tangibly on the court, just an element of toughness that we didn't bargain for."

Said Nelson, at the time of the trade: "I just feel that when the team is so close to being a contender, you have to do what's necessary to get that one gray area strengthened. We're strong at all the other positions, so this should give us a chance of doing very well in the playoffs. This year. We're completely looking at this year. Lanier could put us there, that's all."

Milwaukee averaged 53 wins during the seasons Lanier was in town. He remains second in franchise history in career field-goal percentage (.541) behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He averaged 15.1 points per game in the postseason.

"He was a tough, take no-nonsense from anybody from the opposition sort of player," Johnson said. "And that carried over to us, and it gave us that guy that had your back, that big guy that you went to battle with and you knew if some stuff went down he was gonna be right in the thick of things. He wasn't the quintessential enforcer back in those days because he was too good for that.

"And I always thought that if we would have gotten him a year or two sooner before the knees were really bad; he wasn't the 25-point a game, 13-, 14-rebound a game Bob Lanier that he had been in his prime years. But he was still great. Just intelligent beyond comparison in terms of his understanding of the game, his understanding of people."

Although he never reached an NBA Finals in his storied career, Lanier did play in 45 playoff games with Milwaukee, more than double the amount during his tenure in Detroit. That included a 1983 sweep of the talent-rich Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"I can't describe it," Lanier said after the 4-0 series win. "I'm in a dream trying to figure out if this is all real. If I'm asleep, I don't want to wake up."

The Celtics eliminated the Bucks in the 1984 Eastern Conference finals, marking the final games of Lanier's career. He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1992.

Johnson laughed thinking back to three-point shooting competitions Lanier would win against Junior Bridgeman in practices, with Lanier setting down his cigarette to best one of the Bucks' best shooters. Johnson also said he could never beat Lanier in tennis.

"He was an incredible force of nature that I just really enjoyed my time with here in Milwaukee and he'll be sorely missed," Johnson said.

Lanier was a powerful figure off the court as well. He was the NBA Players Association president while in Milwaukee and Johnson said Lanier helped make the Bucks one of the more active teams in the union.

In their statement, the players association acknowledged Lanier's role in the historic 1983 collective bargaining agreement that included a revenue-sharing element with players – the first of its kind in major team sports. The agreement also created a ceiling and floor for team spending and averted a strike.

"Bob’s graciousness and compassionate nature made him truly special and we will always be grateful for his impact on and off the court," the union said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Bob’s family and friends during this time.”

Were it not for injuries, Lanier's place in basketball lore might be loftier. He sustained a broken leg in the NCAA Tournament in his final year of college at St. Bonaventure, costing the Bonnies a chance at the 1970 title and leading to the first of his eight knee surgeries. Bucks team doctor David Haskell once said the 36-year-old Lanier had the knees of an 80-year-old.

"My knees ache every day," Lanier said in 1984 as he was pondering retirement. "The older I got, the worse it got. It was like a bad toothache, and when I started running and getting into the game, I didn't think about it. As I got older, it became much more difficult to do. In my search for a championship, I may have overstayed my career. I might have played one year too much in trying to think that maybe this was the year."

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Lanier received a number of awards for leadership and citizenry, including the NBA’s J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in the 1977-78 season for outstanding community service and the 2007 National Civil Rights Museum Sports Legacy Award. He also chaired the NBA's Stay in School program for six years after his retirement.

"For more than 30 years, Bob served as our global ambassador and as a special assistant to David Stern and then me, traveling the world to teach the game's values and make a positive impact on young people everywhere," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. "It was a labor of love for Bob, who was one of the kindest and most genuine people I have ever been around."

In 2018, Lanier told one particularly impactful story to ExNBA.com about an experience he had in Milwaukee.

"I was still playing in Milwaukee and I was getting gas at a station on, I think it was Center Street. A guy came up to me and said, 'My dad is sick, and you're his favorite player. Could you come up to the house and say hello to him? The house is right next door.'

"So I went over, I went upstairs. The guy was laying there in his bed. His son said, 'This is Bob,' and he was like, 'I know.' And he just had a little smile, a twinkle in his eye. And he grabbed my hand and squeezed it and we said a little prayer.

"About two weeks later, his dad had died, and he left a card at the Bucks office, just saying 'Thank you for making one of my dad's final days into a good day.' "

Lanier's giant shoes became the stuff of legend. A bronze size-22 was added to the Hall of Fame collection before Lanier was even enshrined, though there was debate as to the actual size of his feet. In 1989, a Converse representative said he wore 18½, and the size-22 was a Korean size.

In one famous commercial for Miller Lite that Lanier did with fellow 1970 draft pick (and late-career Bucks player) Dave Cowens, the pair joked about his size-19 sneakers.

The Buffalo, New York, native was cut from his varsity basketball team as a sophomore but joined a local boys club and transformed into an all-city player as a junior, then all-state as a senior before earning a chance to play at St. Bonaventure.

“I accomplished most of the individual goals I ever dreamed of in this game,” he said in 1984. “But the ultimate reward is to be crowned champions. And if you don’t know what that feeling is, I think it leaves a void.”

When he retired just before the 1984-85 season with an announcement at the Milwaukee Hyatt Regency, he was 16th all-time in NBA scoring.

"Bob was one of the most popular players with Bucks fans and known throughout the community for his generosity and kindness," the Bucks said Wednesday in a statement. "We send our deepest condolences to Bob’s family and friends."

Lanier made eight all-star teams, including once with the Bucks, and was named MVP of the 1974 all-star game. He remains the Pistons' franchise leader in scoring average (22.7 points per game).

“As fierce and as dominant as Bob was on the court, he was equally kind and impactful in the community,” the Pistons said. “As an ambassador for both the Pistons organization and the NBA, he represented our league, our franchise and our fans with great passion and integrity. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Bob’s family and friends.”

In 1995, Lanier was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors for his old Bucks coach, Nelson, then took over as coach on an interim basis after Nelson resigned. Lanier went 12-25, and the Warriors found another coach after the season.

His son, Walter Lanier, remains an active pastor in Milwaukee and recently became president and CEO of the African American Leadership Alliance of Milwaukee

JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bob Lanier, Hall of Fame center for Bucks and Pistons, dies at 73