Chet Giermak

Chet Giermak
College	The College of William & Mary
Conference	Southern (present day CAA)
Sport	Basketball
Position	Center
Jersey #	32 (retired)
Nickname	Spider
Height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Nationality	American
Born	May 25, 1928
High school	Lindblom Technical High School Chicago, Illinois

Chester Frank "Chet" Giermak (born 25, 1928) was an All-American college basketball player for the William & Mary Tribe men's basketball team from 1946-1950.^[1]

High school

Prior to matriculating at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, Giermak attended Lindblom Technical High School in Chicago, Illinois, where he was a four year stand-out center on the basketball team.^[2] In 1945, Giermak's senior year, he led Lindblom to the semi-finals of the All-Chicago high school basketball tournament and earned Second Team All-City for the center position.^[3] In April 1945, Chet enlisted into the Navy, where he spent the next 14 months serving as a corpsman.^[3]

College of William & Mary

After arriving on William & Mary's campus in September 1946, one year removed from high school, Chet Giermak was not a heralded basketball prospect. He began his collegiate career as a walk-on player, asking for a uniform from varsity coach Dick Gallagher (whom he later credited with teaching him "the finer points of the game").^[4][3] He made the junior varsity team but did not stay on it long. During the team's first intra-squad game, Gallagher noticed Chet's ability and immediately promoted him to the Tribe's varsity team.^[4]

Over the next four seasons, Giermak was consistently the nation's top scorer or close to it, using his lanky frame and deadly hookshot to amass a myriad of points.^[3][4][1][3] He recorded back-to-back seasons during his junior and senior years where he averaged 20+ points (21.8 & 20.8, respectively).^[5] On January 13, 1949, Chet scored 45 points against the University of Baltimore, establishing a new Blow Gymnasium record.^[6] This total set the all-time Virginia state collegiate mark, plus the national, conference and state individual single game marks for that 1948-49 basketball season.^[6] All of those records have since been broken. Seton Hall University's coach and basketball legend John "Honey" Russell once praised Chet's abilities by noting, "[t]his Giermak is better than Tony Lavelli."^[1]

Chester Giermak's 111-game career and its achievements earned him a spot into the William & Mary Hall of Fame.^[5] He is ranked among the all-time statistical leaders in many categories,^[5] and some of Giermak's more notable accomplishments include:^[1][5][3][7]

• 4 years All-State
• 3 seasons All-Southern Conference
• 2 years as team captain
• Numerous All-America honors
• 2,052 career points (school record)
• 740 single season points in 1948-49 (school record)
• His jersey number (#32) was retired years later

In the 1950 NBA Draft, the Rochester Royals selected Giermak as their ninth pick in the 4th round (45th overall)^[8] Though he was drafted, Chet never made the team's final cut and thus never played in an actual NBA game.

See also

• 1950 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} William & Mary Flat Hat student newspaper; March 7, 1950 issue. Accessed April 2, 2008.
2. ^ William & Mary Flat Hat student newspaper; December 13, 1949 issue. Accessed April 2, 2008.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} William & Mary Flat Hat student newspaper; February 4, 1947 issue. Accessed April 2, 2008.
4. ^ ^{a b c} William & Mary Flat Hat student newspaper; February 3, 1948 issue. Accessed April 2, 2008.
5. ^ ^{a b c d} 2007-08 W&M men's basketball media guide. Accessed April 2, 2008.
6. ^ ^{a b} William & Mary Flat Hat student newspaper; January 18, 1949 issue. Accessed April 2, 2008.
7. ^ VaSID Div. I Men's Basketball Records. Accessed April 2, 2008.
8. ^ 1950 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com. Accessed April 2, 2008.

Persondata
Name	Giermak, Chet
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 25, 1928
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death