Alan Leroy Hairston (born December 11, 1945) is an American former professional basketball player and a college and high school head coach. His high school coaching career has garnered him multiple league, district and state championships, as well as numerous individual awards.

Al Hairston
Personal information
Born (1945-12-11) December 11, 1945 (age 78)
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight170 lb (77 kg)
Career information
High schoolMount Clemens
(Mount Clemens, Michigan)
CollegeBowling Green (1965–1968)
NBA draft1968: 5th round, 52nd overall pick
Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics
PositionPoint guard
Number25
Career history
19681970Seattle SuperSonics
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference

A 6'1" (1.85 m) guard from Bowling Green State University, Hairston was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the fifth round of the 1968 NBA draft and by the Kentucky Colonels in the 1968 ABA draft. Hairston appeared in two seasons for the Sonics, averaging 2.2 points per game.[1]

After a stint with the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers in 1970–71, Hairston was released. He went into coaching, serving as head coach at Seattle Central College (formerly Seattle Central Community College) 1975–79. He led the team to the Northwest championship in 1977.

By far, Hairston has made his biggest contributions to the sport of basketball as a prep coach. Widely regarded as one of the best prep hoops coaches in Washington state history, Hairston achieved great success at the helm of the historically dominant boys hoops program at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington, including guiding the program to five state titles from 1980 through 1991 (1980, 1983, 1986, 1987, and 1991), and two more state runner-up appearances during the same period (1989 and 1990). He also successfully coached the Kent-Meridian (Kent, WA) and Seattle O'Dea High School boys basketball programs to post-season appearances. In assuming the O'Dea post, he took over for the late Phil Lumpkin – also a former NBA basketball player and prep coaching star.

Hairston later served as head coach of the Seattle University men's basketball team (which competed as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics – NAIA) and as assistant coach of the University of Washington Husky men's basketball team under former head coach Bob Bender.

As an assistant Huskies coach during the 1997–98 season, Hairston helped guide a team led by future NBA player Todd McCullough and Donald Watts Jr. (son of former Seattle Sonic Slick Watts) to the NCAA Sweet 16. There, the Washington Huskies lost to a Jim Calhoun coached University of Connecticut team on a buzzer-beater by future NBA star Richard "Rip" Hamilton.

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Source[1]

Regular season

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Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1967–68 Seattle 39 7.0 .333 .571 .9 1.0 2.2
1968–69 Seattle 3 6.7 .375 1.000 1.7 2.0 2.3
Career 42 7.0 .336 .600 1.0 1.0 2.2

References

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  1. ^ a b "Al Hairston NBA stats". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 19, 2024.