On the first day of basketball practice in the 1946-47 season, John Hall, ’50, met George Yardley, a walk-on from Newport Harbor High School. “He worked as a hasher in a fraternity house,” Hall says. “In 2000, we attended the dish machine operators’ reunion at Encina.” As a sports writer for the Los Angeles Times, Hall would find plenty of occasions to write about his friend: Yardley had a seven-year professional basketball career with Fort Wayne, Detroit and Syracuse. In 1957-58, Yardley became the first NBA player to score 2,000 points in a season.
Yardley died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) on August 12 at his home in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 75.
Nicknamed The Bird for his thin frame, Yardley grew a foot to reach his full height of 6-foot-5 between high school and college. Known as a wonderful jumper and one-handed shooter, he was one of the only players dunking the ball back then. As a senior, Yardley scored 423 points in the 25-game season to break the Pacific Coast Conference scoring record held for 12 years by Hank Luisetti, ’38.
After earning his degree in civil engineering, Yardley was recruited by Stewart Chevrolet, an Amateur Athletic Union team coached by Luisetti. He met his wife-to-be, Diana Gibson, through a blind date arranged by their grandmothers. They courted for two weeks before George left for South America to tour with other AAU players—and they married a week after his return.
By 1960, Yardley was at the top of his game, having played in six consecutive All-Star games and earning $25,000 a year, more than anyone else on the Syracuse Nationals. He then honored a promise to his wife and quit basketball to spend more time with his growing family. He founded the George Yardley Co., a manufacturer’s representative for engineered products; and he patented a seal for the liquid oxygen fuel tank on the Atlas-Titan rocket. “He loved whatever he did,” recalls his son Rich, ’79. “He lived in the moment.”
Yardley played sports all his life, winning seniors’ titles in tennis and golf. Fellow Stanford basketball teammate Dick Schutte, ’49, laughs as he remembers playing golf with his affable but competitive friend, “By God, he wanted to beat you!” In 1996, Yardley was inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame.
He was known for generous community service and, after his ALS diagnosis in 2003, raised $120,000 for the ALS Association at a tribute dinner in April.
Yardley is survived by his four children, twin sons Rob and Rich and daughters Anne Yardley Caldwell and Marilyn Nagle; 14 grandchildren; and a brother, Robert.
