Hayes, Elvin

Elvin Hayes, in full Elvin Ernest Hayes, (born Nov. 17, 1945, Rayville, La., U.S.), American basketball player who was one of the most prolific scorers and rebounders in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

After averaging 35 points per game in high school in Louisiana, Hayes went to the University of Houston (Texas), where he was named All-America three times. He averaged 31 points and 17.2 rebounds per game for Houston and was selected as the College Player of the Year in 1968. That year Hayes scored 39 points as Houston ended the 47-game winning streak of the University of California, Los Angeles, and Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in front of 52,693 people at the Houston Astrodome; it was the first nationally televised collegiate basketball game.

At 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), Hayes was known as the Big E. He was the first pick in the 1968 NBA draft and led the league in scoring as a rookie with 28.4 points per game for the San Diego (later Houston) Rockets. He also averaged 17.1 rebounds. Hayes was traded to the Baltimore (Md.) Bullets in 1972 and led the team, which by 1975 had moved to Landover, Md., and renamed themselves the Washington Bullets, to the 1978 NBA title.

When Hayes retired in 1984, he ranked as the second-leading scorer in league history with 27,313 points, an average of 21 per game, and was third in rebounds with 16,279 (12.5 per game). He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990 and was named one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players in 1996.