Allan Bristow
Allan Mercer Bristow Jr. is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive. Bristow played college basketball for the Virginia Tech Hokies, and was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round of the 1973 NBA draft. A 6 ft 7 in, small forward, he had a 10-year career in both the National Basketball Association and the American Basketball Association, playing for the Sixers, the San Antonio Spurs, the Utah Jazz, and finishing his playing career with the Dallas Mavericks. His nickname was "Disco".
In 1991, Bristow was hired to be the third head coach for the recently created Charlotte Hornets franchise, a position he held for five years. Led by players such as Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning, the Hornets were the first of the late-1980s expansion teams to be successful, reaching the playoffs in 1993 and 1995. Bristow resigned in 1996.
Bristow became the New Orleans Hornets' general manager in 2004, a position he relinquished in 2005.
In 1997, Bristow was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.
Virginia Tech career
After being an all-state player at Henrico High School, Bristow was recruited to play college basketball for Virginia Tech coach Howie Shannon beginning in the 1969–70 season. Bristow averaged 27.3 points and 17.1 rebounds per game as a freshman on the JV/Freshmen.. Bristow averaged 20.4 points and 13.1 rebounds per game for the 1970–71 Hokies that finished 14–11. He was second on the team in scoring that season to Loyd King, marking the only time that two Hokies ever averaged over 20 points in a single season.Don DeVoe took over as coach of the Hokies for the 1971–72 season, and Bristow led the team with 25.0 points and 13.4 rebounds in a 16–10 effort.
In 1972–73, the Hokies raced to an 18–5 regular season mark, and a berth in the NIT.. Tech beat three teams by four points in the preliminary rounds before facing Notre Dame under legendary coach Digger Phelps in the finals. Tech forced overtime against the heavily favored Fighting Irish, and then found themselves down by one as they took the ball in bounds with 12 seconds to play. Bobby Stevens took a shot from just above the foul-line with about six seconds left, and chased his own rebound down on the right corner where he turned and beat the buzzer for a 92–91 win. Bristow scored a total of 91 points in the four NIT games. Including the NIT, Bristow led the team with a 23.9 points per game average and also pulled down 11.6 rebounds per contest.
Bristow paced the Virginia Tech basketball team to the 1973 National Invitation Tournament championship, and became the fourth Tech basketball player to have his jersey retired by the university. Bristow still holds the Hokies’ single game marks of 52 points and 22 field goals which he accomplished in a 117–89 win against George Washington University. He also holds the record for most consecutive double-figure scoring games, reaching that mark in all 78 of his Hokie appearances. He finished as Tech's all-time scoring leader in 1973 with 1,804 points, and still stood seventh on the list at the beginning of the 2021–2022 season. Bristow also holds the Tech record for career scoring average at 23.1 points per game. He led the Hokies in rebounding all three of his varsity seasons and in scoring his final two years.
Bristow was named to the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1984 and his jersey was retired by the university in 1998.