YouTube Gold: Adrian Dantley Highlights

A rare talent who overcame a major limitation

Adrian Dantley is one of those players who is easy to overlook as time marches on, but he was a special talent.

A 6-5 player from Morgan Wooten’s DeMatha High, Dantley went on to Notre Dame, where he was a key figure when the Irish ended UCLA’s legendary 88 game winning streak in 1974.

He went on to the NBA after his junior year, where he was drafted by the Buffalo Braves. He was traded several times during his 15-year career before retiring in 1992.

Dantley was a highly gifted but temperamental player who at times clashed with teammates and management. It’s not hard to understand - he was a gifted scorer and often he thought he should be taking more shots.

He was with the Pistons from 1986-1989 when they were a rising power but was traded to the Mavericks for Mark Aguirre just before the Pistons won back-to-back titles.

Dantley played a lot more inside than you would suspect and did it with a significant handicap: one of his legs was two inches shorter than the other. It’s one of the greatest accomplishments in NBA history really.

After his retirement, he found a surprising second career: he became a crossing guard at Northwood High School in Silver Springs, Maryland. He said he never considered himself a big shot and he liked helping the kids.