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Rudy Macklin
Durand “Rudy” Macklin, whose recruitment to LSU marked the beginning of the Tigers rise to the top of college basketball under Dale Brown, received his long overdue recognition as his jersey was retired to the rafters of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center during the 2009-10 season.
Macklin came to LSU from Louisville, Ky., surprising many by leaving his home state to play for Coach Brown and a program that was still looking for its true direction.
But ever since his first game at LSU, Macklin showed he would be the leader and leave a mark on the program that is still talked about to this day.
In that first game, he set a school rebounding record that no one has come close to, pulling down 32 boards in a win against Tulane.
After his magnificent LSU career, he became the school’s all-time leading rebounder with 1,276 rebounds (a 10.4 rebounds per game average). That figure remains on top of the school chart. He also became the second leading scorer all-time at LSU behind Pete Maravich (2,080 points, 16.9 points per game average).
He is just the second player to score 2,000 points at LSU, and still to this day remains in the top 20 in league scoring totals.
Much of his success and his two AllAmerican seasons in 1980 and 1981 were after returning from a serious knee injury that forced him to miss all but two games of the 1978-79 season.
In 1980, he averaged 17.6 points per game as the Tigers just missed winning the league title in a dramatic last-game overtime loss to Kentucky only to come back a week later and win the school’s only SEC title. The Tigers that year advanced to the Elite 8 before losing to Louisville.
In 1981, he was also named Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and led the Tigers to their first NCAA Final Four since 1953. He beat out a star-studded cast of players which included Georgia’s Dominique Wilkins, Kentucky’s Sam Bowie and other future NBA players such as Jeff Malone of Mississippi State, Dale Ellis of Tennessee, Eddie Phillips of Alabama and teammate Howard Carter.
In Macklin’s four years, LSU had records of 18-9, 23-6, 26-6 and 31-5. The Tigers won one SEC title, one SEC Tournament championship, advanced to the Elite 8 and the Final Four during the Macklin days.
One writer wrote of Macklin, “Macklin’s aggressiveness has never been questioned in the Southeastern Conference. If they gave an award for the hardest worker, Macklin would have been the consensus choice of his peers, who marvel at how much effort he puts into the game.”
Today, Macklin is still in Baton Rouge, heading the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports for over a decade and now serving as Director of the Office of Minority Health.
In 2000, he was honored as the school’s Living Legend at the SEC Basketball Tournament. In 2005 he was elected to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and in 2009 he was named a member of LSU’s All-Century team. LSU All-American 1980, 1981
Jersey Retired 2010
Member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame 2005
SEC Basketball Tournament Living Legend 2000
Member Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame 1987
Member LSU Hall of Fame 1990
Member Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame 2005
Member LSU All-Century Team 2009
Macklin’s Career Statistics
YEAR G-GS MIN-AVG FG-FGA PCT. FT-FTA PCT. REB-AVG. PF-D A PTS-AVG. 1976-77 26-26 975-36.0 161-310 .519 63-102 .618 306-11.8 81-5 26 385-14.8 1977-78 27-27 859-31.8 217-349 .620 79-123 .640 286-10.6 98-7 4 513-19.0 1978-79 2-2 52-26.0 19-32 .590 8-10 .800 24-12.0 8-0 1 46-23.0 1979-80 32-30 1038-32.4 232-383 .606 97-140 .693 309-9.7 94-5 7 563-17.6 1980-81 36-36 1147-31.9 223-357 .625 127-180 .706 351-9.8 113-4 28 573-15.9 TOTALS 123-121 3965-32.2 852-1431 .595 374-555 .673 1276-10.4 394-21 66 2080-16.9
