# Buddy Jeannette

Harry Edward "Buddy" Jeannette (September 15, 1917 – March 11, 1998) was an American professional basketball player and coach.

## Biography

Jeannette was widely regarded as the premier backcourt player between 1938 and 1948. He was named to the First Team of the National Basketball League (NBL) four times, and won titles with the NBL's Sheboygan Red Skins in 1943 and Fort Wayne Pistons in 1944 and 1945. Jeannette also won a title with the American Basketball League's Baltimore Bullets in 1948.
Most of his playing career came prior to the formation of the modern National Basketball Association (NBA) in its predecessor leagues the National Basketball League (NBL) and Basketball Association of America (BAA) including three years as a player-coach for the original Baltimore Bullets of the Basketball Association of America (BAA). In the 1948 BAA playoffs, he became the first player-coach to win a professional championship. After his playing career ended in 1950, he coached the original Bullets for one more season. He then became the head coach at Georgetown University for four seasons, leading the team to an appearance in the 1953 National Invitation Tournament. Jeannette served as head coach of the Baltimore Bullets in the Eastern Professional Basketball League (EPBL) from 1958 to 1961.
Jeannette returned to the ranks of professional coaching in the NBA to lead the modern Baltimore Bullets twice, once for a full season and once as an interim coach. He later would coach the American Basketball Association's Pittsburgh Pipers for part of a season.
In 1994, Jeannette was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Jeannette attended Washington and Jefferson College, in Washington, Pennsylvania.

## Career playing statistics
### NBL

| † | Denotes seasons in which Jeannette's team won an NBL championship |

### NBL

Source

#### Regular season

| Year | Team | GP | FGM | FTM | FTA | FT% | PTS | PPG |
| 1938–39 | Cleveland | 26 | 54 | 65 | | | 173 | 6.7 |
| 1939–40 | Detroit | 26 | 46 | 54 | | | 146 | 5.6 |
| 1940–41 | Detroit | 23 | 75 | 54 | 86 | .628 | 204 | 8.9 |
| 1942–43† | Sheboygan | 4 | 24 | 14 | 17 | .824 | 62 | 15.5 |
| 1943–44† | Fort Wayne | 22 | 68 | 48 | 65 | .738 | 184 | 8.4 |
| 1944–45† | Fort Wayne | 27 | 85 | 82 | 111 | .739 | 252 | 9.3 |
| 1945–46 | Toledo | 34 | 99 | 105 | 136 | .772 | 303 | 8.9 |
| Career | Career | 162 | 445 | 422 | 415 | .730 | 1,324 | 8.2 |

#### Playoffs

| Year | Team | GP | FGM | FTM | FTA | FT% | PTS | PPG |
| 1940 | Detroit | 3 | 6 | 8 | | | 20 | 6.7 |
| 1941 | Detroit | 3 | 8 | 5 | | | 21 | 7.0 |
| 1943† | Sheboygan | 5 | 16 | 17 | | | 49 | 9.8 |
| 1944† | Fort Wayne | 5 | 12 | 10 | | | 34 | 6.8 |
| 1945† | Fort Wayne | 7 | 22 | 23 | | | 67 | 9.6 |
| 1946 | Fort Wayne | 4 | 7 | 5 | 6 | .833 | 19 | 4.8 |
| Career | Career | 27 | 71 | 68 | 6 | .833 | 210 | 7.8 |

### BAA/NBA
#### Regular season

| Year | Team | GP | FG% | FT% | APG | PPG |
| 1947–48† | Baltimore | 46 | .349* | .758 | 1.5 | 10.7 |
| 1948–49 | Baltimore | 56 | .367 | .784 | 2.2 | 5.6 |
| 1949–50 | Baltimore | 37 | .284 | .820 | 2.5 | 5.2 |
| Career | Career | 139 | .341 | .781 | 2.1 | 7.2 |

#### Playoffs

| Year | Team | GP | FG% | FT% | APG | PPG |
| 1948† | Baltimore | 11 | .492 | .881 | 1.1 | 8.8 |
| 1949 | Baltimore | 3 | .154 | 1.000 | 1.7 | 2.7 |
| Career | Career | 14 | .432 | .891 | 1.2 | 7.5 |

## Head coaching record

Sources

### BAA/NBA/ABA

| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
| Baltimore | 1947–48 | 28 | 20 | 48 | .583 | 2nd in Western | 11 | 8 | 3 | .727 | Won BAA Championship |
| Baltimore | 1948–49 | 60 | 29 | 31 | .483 | 3nd in Eastern | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 | Lost in Division Semifinals |
| Baltimore | 1949–50 | 68 | 25 | 43 | .368 | 5th in Eastern | – | – | – | – | Missed playoffs |
| Baltimore | 1950–51 | 37 | 14 | 23 | .378 | – | – | – | – | – | Fired |
| Baltimore | 1964–65 | 80 | 37 | 43 | .463 | 3rd in Western | 10 | 5 | 5 | .500 | Lost Division Finals |
| Baltimore | 1966–67 | 16 | 3 | 13 | .188 | – | – | – | – | – | Interim |
| Pittsburgh | 1969–70 | 45 | 15 | 30 | .333 | – | – | – | – | – | Missed playoffs |
| Career (BAA/NBA) | | 309 | 136 | 173 | .440 | | 24 | 14 | 10 | .583 | |
| Career (overall) | | 573 | 326 | 247 | .569 | | 24 | 14 | 10 | .583 | |

### College

Statistics overview :
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason |
| Georgetown Hoyas (college independent) (1952–1956) ||||||
| 1952–53 | Georgetown | 13–7 | – | – | NIT First Round |
| 1953–54 | Georgetown | 11–18 | – | – | none |
| 1954–55 | Georgetown | 12–13 | – | – | none |
| 1955–56 | Georgetown | 13–11 | – | – | none |
| Total: | Total: | 49–49 | | | |
| National champion   Postseason invitational champion   Conference regular season champion   Conference regular season and conference tournament champion  Division regular season champion  Division regular season and conference tournament champion  Conference tournament champion ||||||