Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On December 12, 1926, Hawkeye basketball legend Murray “The Rampaging Redhead” Wier was born in Grandview. A first-team All-American who once held the NCAA record for points per game, Wier went on to play for the fore-runner to the Atlanta Hawks, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks.
Born and raised in the small Louisa county town of Grandview, Wier attended the local high school until he transferred to Muscatine High School for his senior year. He led Muscatine High School to a district championship with a 50–37 win over their archrival, Davenport High School. The Des Moines Register and Iowa Daily Press Association named him a first-team all-state selection. After his breakout senior season, University of Iowa head men's basketball coach Pops Harrison offered him a full scholarship to play for the Hawkeyes.
A four-year starter at Iowa, he helped the Hawkeyes to a Big Ten Conference championship during his freshman season and a runner-up conference finish as a senior. Wier led the Hawkeyes in scoring in both his junior and senior years at 15.1 and 21.0 points per game (ppg), respectively. As a senior, his 21.0 ppg led the NCAA in scoring en route to Wier becoming the first officially recognized Major College division scoring leader. In the process, he set a then-Big Ten record of 272 points in conference play, was a first-team all-conference selection, and was dubbed the Big Ten's Most Valuable Player while gaining consensus first-team All-American status.
Drafted 48th overall in the 1948 Basketball Association of American draft by the Fort Wayne Pistons, he instead opted to play for the Tri-Cities Blackhawks of the National Basketball League. Before the 1949–50 season, the BAA and NBL merged to form the present-day NBA. In 1949–50, Wier's second season with the Blackhawks, he played for legendary Celtics coach and general manager Red Auerbach. After three years with the Blackhawks, Wier then spent one final season playing professional basketball when he joined the Waterloo Hawks of the National Professional Basketball League. When the league folded, he went on to become the longtime head coach at Waterloo East High School, where he posted a 374-104 record and a 1974 state championship. #IowaOTD #IowaHistoryDaily #IowaHistoryCalendar
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