Ronnie Lester
Ronnie Lester is an American former professional basketball player and basketball executive. Lester was an NCAA All-American at the University of Iowa, leading Iowa to the 1980 NCAA Final Four. Lester was a member of the 1979 USA Basketball team that won the gold medal in the 1979 Pan-American Games. Lester was the No. 10 overall selection in the first round of the 1980 NBA draft. After an injury-filled career, which included winning an NBA title with the 1985 Los Angeles Lakers, Lester worked as a scout for the Lakers, and eventually became the team's assistant general manager. After 24 years in the Lakers organization, with seven NBA titles, Lester served as a scout for the Phoenix Suns from 2011 to 2015.
Early life
Born in Canton, Mississippi, Lester grew up in a public housing project in Chicago, Illinois. Growing up in the Stateway Gardens housing project near Comiskey Park in Chicago, Lester was raised by his single mother Nadine, along with his with three sisters. Lester attended Dunbar Vocational High School, graduating in 1976.High school career
Lester started on the varsity team at Dunbar High School of the Chicago Public League as a 5'6" sophomore. In between his sophomore and junior year, Lester grew to 6'2". He averaged ten points and ten assists per game in his junior campaign.As a senior, Lester averaged 27.0 points per game, playing alongside teammate Ken Dancy, who was a future 1980 NBA draft pick. Lester led the Dunbar Mighty Men to the Chicago Public League Championship playoffs, where they lost 75–60 to Morgan Park High School, with University of Illinois recruit Levi Cobb.
At the beginning of his senior in high school, colleges had shown little interest, until University of Iowa coach Lute Olson and others began seeing his talents during his senior season. Olson was the first to recognize Lester's abilities and began recruiting him.
"As a junior in high school, we had two 20-point scorers. I may have averaged 10 points that season because I needed to get them the ball," Lester said. "The next season those guys had left and I was scoring close to 25 points a game. Iowa was the first school to show a big interest in recruiting me," said Lester.
Lester ultimately chose Iowa after being recruited by Arizona, Creighton, Louisville, Nebraska and Texas-El Paso. Said Lester of Olson and Iowa: "They stuck by me and made me feel I was their number one option."
Every Friday after practice in Iowa City, Olson, accompanied sometimes by his wife Bobbi, would drive to Chicago to visit Lester. "He lived in an area that probably not a lot of people wanted to go into and visit with him and his mom," Olson said in 2015, recalling his recruiting of Lester.
"My recruiting visit felt good," Lester recalled. "I met all the players that I would be playing with and those guys were really warm and welcoming to me. I knew I had a chance to play as a freshman. I didn't want to go somewhere where I sat and couldn't play the first year."
Lester made a recruiting visit to the University of Arizona "It was after the visit here and he had already made up his mind that is where he wanted to go to school," Olson recalled. "His mom said Ronnie called from Tucson and said 'I don't want to go here, they have funny looking trees.' He was talking about the Saguaro Cactus. I'm glad he didn't like funny-looking trees."
Collegiate and USA Basketball career (1976–1980)
After Basketball Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson recruited him to Iowa, Lester made his presence felt immediately after arriving on campus in Iowa City, Iowa. He started as a freshman and played a key role in Iowa's successes over his four seasons. At Iowa, Lester would earn All-American honors in 1979, First Team All-Big Ten honors in 1978 and 1979, lead the Iowa Hawkeyes to a share of the 1979 Big Ten title and to the Final Four of the 1980 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.Starting for Iowa as a freshman, Lester made an immediate impact, averaging 13.4 points, 3.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds in 1976–1977. Iowa finished 18–9, as Lester was second on the team in scoring, behind Bruce "Sky" King's 21.0 points, and he led the Hawkeyes in assists.
As a sophomore in 1977–1978 Lester averaged 19.9 points, 6.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds, as Iowa finished 12–15 with a young team. Lester joined Magic Johnson, Michigan State; Walter Jordan, Purdue; Mike McGee, Michigan; Kelvin Ransey, Ohio State and Mychal Thompson, Minnesota on the All–Big Ten First Team.
In 1978–1979, Lester averaged 18.7 points, 5.3 assists and 2.3 rebounds as a junior, as Iowa finished 20–8. Iowa captured the Big 10 Championship and advanced to the 40–team 1979 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament, eventually won by Big Ten rival Michigan State with Magic Johnson over Indiana State with Larry Bird.
Lester was named First Team All–Big 10 for the second consecutive year, along with Joe Barry Carroll, Purdue; Magic Johnson, Michigan State; Greg Kelser, Michigan State; Kelvin Ransey, Ohio State and Mike Woodson, Indiana. Lester was named All–American Second Team and All-American Third Team.
Team USA (1979)
Lester represented the US as a member of the 1979 Team USA that went 9–0 and won the gold medal in the Pan-American Games. Lester averaged 10.7 points in the tournament, scoring 20 points against the Virgin Islands and 14 against Cuba. The team was coached by Bobby Knight and assistant Mike Krzyzewski. The roster included Hall of Famers in Isiah Thomas, Kevin McHale and Ralph Sampson, as well as Mike Woodson, Kyle Macy, Ray Tolbert, Danny Vranes and Michael Brooks.1980 Final Four team
In 1979–1980, the Iowa team made the 48–team NCAA tournament with an 18–8 record, despite playing a good portion of the season without Lester, who suffered a knee injury in the seventh game of the season. Lester averaged 14.8 points and 4.2 assists on the season, in which his talents and subsequent injuries were on display.Iowa was playing the University of Dayton in the championship game of the Dayton Classic on Dec. 22 with a 7–0 record and won the game, 61–54, but lost Lester for much of the rest of the regular season on a play with 7 minutes remaining in the game.
"It was a play in the open court," Lester recalled of his first knee injury. "There was one guy back on defense, and I was trying to beat him to the basket. I got past him, or even with him, when I pushed off with my leg to put the ball up. I got a little push to my back, and my knee buckled. I was examined on the floor by a physician and he thought I should have surgery. But, when I got back to Iowa City, it was decided otherwise. I came back later, but hurt the knee again in practice, and wound up playing just a few Big Ten games. It was the first time I'd been hurt to the extent that I couldn't play up to my capabilities."
While Lester was sidelined, the Iowa team faced further injuries and adversity. With Lester injured and unable to play, fellow guard Kenny Arnold remained in line–up, playing the entire season with a broken right thumb, while leading the team in total points and assists as a right–handed player. Future NBA player, freshman Bobby Hanson broke a bone in his left hand and played with the injury, while fellow freshman Mark Gannon was lost for most of the season with a knee injury. At the time of his injury, Iowa was undefeated and ranked among the top ten teams in the nation. Aside from players, Iowa lost assistant coach Tony McAndrews who had been severely injured in a plane crash during the season and did not return that season.
Lester's knee improved and he returned for the end of the regular season, with Iowa having lost three of its previous four games. Iowa had been so decimated by injures, the team, which relied mostly on six players in Lester's absence, was labeled the "Fabulous Few." Steve Waite, North Carolina transfer Steve Krafcisin, Vince Brookins and Kevin Boyle provided key play, along with Arnold and Hanson. Lester led Iowa to victories over Michigan, at Michigan and at the Iowa Fieldhouse over Illinois in the season finale, to leave Iowa with an 18–8 record. Lester's #12 jersey was retired by Iowa in a ceremony at the finale against Illinois.
With an 18–8 record, Iowa received an at–large bid and a #5 seed in the East Regional of the 48–team 1980 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament. Lester had 17 points and 8 assists as Iowa beat Virginia Commonwealth 86–72 in the opening round. Lester then had 17 points and four assists in just 28 minutes, as Iowa defeated North Carolina State and coach Norm Sloan 77–64 in the sweet sixteen.
In the elite eight, Iowa faced #1 seed Syracuse under coach Jim Boeheim, with Louis Orr and Danny Schayes. With Lester having seven assists and nine points on only 10 shots, Iowa had five other players in double digits as they defeated Syracuse 88–77.
In the East Regional Final against the Georgetown Hoyas, Iowa trailed by as many in 14 points in the second half. However, they came back to defeat Coach John Thompson's squad, led by Sleepy Floyd, 81–80. Lester had eight points and nine assists, taking just seven shots, with his playmaking and distribution helping Iowa to shoot 31 of 51 for the game, along with making 19 of 20 free throws. Iowa won on a dramatic last second basket and free–throw by Steve Waite to advance to the Final Four.
In the NCAA National Semi–Final, Lester injured his knee 12 minutes into the game, after scoring 10 of Iowa's first 12 points on 4 for 4 shooting and 2 for 2 from the line. It was his final collegiate play. Lester did not return as Iowa fell to eventual NCAA champion Louisville 80–72. When Olson was asked about Iowa's chances to win the NCAA Tournament had Lester not been injured, "My feeling was yes, I feel we could have won," Olson said. "That was a fun team to coach." Overall, Iowa was 15–1 with Lester fully in the lineup and 8–9 in his absence.
"I would have liked to have played and see what happened, but those things happen," Lester said of his injury in the Final Four.
"We had really high-caliber young men," Olson reflected about the 1980 Final Four team. "We had a great leader in Ronnie, even though he would say about three words a month. It was a high-character group, a group that was really together. It was all about the team, it wasn't about individuals. That's what made them really, really special."
“It was frustrating getting hurt from the beginning and missing half my senior year,” Lester said of the Final Four season. “It’s a team game. Our guys rallied to win some big games that year to stay in contention. For me personally, it was frustrating. But we had great team success and that’s what it’s about, winning and losing as a team.”