DREXLER, Clyde

(b. 22 June 1962 in New Orleans, Louisiana), one of basketball's all-time great guards who was a ten-time National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star, a member of the 1992 Olympic "Dream Team," and a dominant player during the 1980s and 1990s.

Drexler, the third of seven children, was four years old when his mother, Eunice Drexler Scott, moved the family to Houston. A single parent, she made sure that all of her children understood the importance of getting an education and that they always completed their schoolwork thoroughly and accurately. In the 1980s she established the successful Drexler's Barbecue restaurant near the campus of the University of Houston. Drexler's father, James, worked for the Carbon Black Chemical Company.

At six feet, seven inches tall and 222 pounds, Drexler acquired the nickname "The Glide" because of his smooth and effortless high-flying moves to the basketball hoop. His professional basketball career began on a junior high school playground in Houston, where he made his first dunk shot. However, Drexler's interest in sports began earlier, with Little League baseball and basketball. His fascination with the dunk began when he was fifteen years old and six feet, one inch tall. The first time Drexler made his magic dunk shot he towered over two other opponents as he went toward the rim, even though the basket was a foot higher than regulations required.

Drexler initially declined to try out for the high school basketball team because he felt it would take too much time away from his studies. In Drexler's junior year at Sterling High School, the basketball coach persuaded him and his mother that he should play. Drexler's hard work, dedication, and competitive spirit led to his consistent improvement during his two years at Sterling. By the end of his second year he had played every position on the team. As a senior, he was named the team's Most Valuable Player (MVP) and made the All-Houston Independent School District team. Drexler graduated from high school in 1980.

For college, Drexler decided to stay near home in familiar surroundings and attended the University of Houston, where he first played with the center Hakeem Olajuwon and with Larry Michaeux. They became known as the Fraternity Dunk. Drexler described his team's semifinal game against Louisville at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Final Four as the highlight of his college career. In 1983 the Houston Cougars made it to their second Final Four Championship tournament. The team ranked among the nation's dominant college teams and was called Phi Slamma Jama for their above-the-rim acrobatics. Also in 1983 Drexler was named the Southwest Conference Player of the Year.

According to the Houston coach Guy Lewis, Drexler developed into one of the nation's best two-way guards. His leaping ability and smooth moves to the basket brought him to national prominence. Lewis described Drexler as a superlative defensive player due to his quickness, good hands, and great anticipation. Drexler was the focal point of Houston's transition game, excelling more as a scorer than as a shooter. He scored and rebounded in double figures in forty-five games during his college career, becoming the first Houston player to score more than 1,000 points, grab over 900 rebounds, and collect over 300 assists. Drexler also finished as a record holder in career steals with 268.

In 1983 Drexler decided to forego his senior year in college and entered the professional NBA draft pool. He was chosen in the first round (fourteenth overall) by the Portland Trail Blazers. His first two seasons in Oregon were a time of orientation to the professional game. In the 1985–1986 season, Drexler's third with the Blazers, he became an NBA All-Star, repeating this honor for ten successive seasons thereafter. Drexler stayed with the Trail Blazers for more than eleven seasons, going to the playoffs each year. Portland sports fans felt that Drexler did not always get the recognition he deserved because he was a quiet star in a city removed from intense media hype.

In Drexler's early years with the Trail Blazers, the team usually lost early in the finals. They gradually acquired additional talent and became one of the NBA's power-houses in the early 1990s. As Portland developed into a contender, recognition came to Drexler. The Blazers went to the NBA finals in 1990 and 1992 and the conference finals in 1991. In the 1990–1991 season Drexler earned All-NBA Second Team honors. The following season was his most memorable; he averaged twenty-five points (fourth in the league), became the second Trail Blazer in history to make the All-NBA First Team, and finished second to Michael Jordan in MVP balloting. The finale to his season was earning a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, with the Dream Team.

In the next two NBA seasons Drexler was hampered by injuries and his production fell. In the 1994–1995 season he indicated that he wanted to be traded, and in February 1995 Drexler was reunited with his college teammate Olajuwon, joining the Houston Rockets. Working together, the two powered the Rockets to the 1995 NBA Championship. However, hampered by injuries, Drexler announced that the 1997–1998 season would be his last as a professional player. In four seasons with the Rockets, Drexler averaged 19 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.4 assists. He joined Calvin Murphy, Moses Malone, and the Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich as the only former Houston players to have their jersey numbers retired (Drexler was 22). In his fifteen-season NBA career, Drexler scored 22,195 points for eighteenth on the career list, with 6,677 rebounds and 6,125 assists.

In 1998 Drexler returned to the University of Houston as the head basketball coach. In 2000 he announced his retirement from that position, explaining he had "enjoyed coaching the Cougars in the past two seasons. It gave me the opportunity to give back to my alma mater. I like being involved with basketball on a daily basis, but I felt that I needed to step away and spend more time with my kids. Right now I want to concentrate on my family." Besides spending time with his wife, Gaynelle, whom he married in December 1988, and their four children, Drexler continued his community involvement after retirement. While in Portland he served as an honorary spokesman for the Blazer Avia Scholastic Improvement Concepts Program, designed to encourage academic achievement. In Houston, he sponsored an inner-city youth summer basketball camp.

An extensive biography of Drexler is in African-American Sports Greats (1995). A complete NBA statistical record is posted at the website <http://www.nba.com/playerfile>.

Johnnieque B. Love