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 Givens in 2010 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1956-09-21)September 21, 1956 (age 68) Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Listed weight | 205 lb (93 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Bryan Station (Lexington, Kentucky) |
| College | Kentucky (1974–1978) |
| NBA draft | 1978: 1st round, 16th overall pick |
| Drafted by | Atlanta Hawks |
| Playing career | 1978–1983 |
| Position | Shooting guard /small forward |
| Number | 21 |
| Career history | |
| 1978–1980 | Atlanta Hawks |
| 1982–1983 | Akita Isuzu Motors |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Career NBA statistics | |
| Points | 1,040 (6.7 ppg) |
| Rebounds | 456 (2.9 rpg) |
| Assists | 142 (0.9 apg) |
Stats at NBA.com  | |
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |
Jack "Goose" Givens (born September 21, 1956) is an American former professionalbasketball player. He playedcollege basketball for theKentucky Wildcats, earning consensus second-teamAll-American honors. He led the team to the1978 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship and was named that year'sFinal FourMost Outstanding Player due in most part to his 41-point performance in Kentucky's 94–88 victory overDuke in the championship game. He was a 6'5" (1.96 m), 205 lb (93 kg)forward. Givens played professionally for theAtlanta Hawks of theNational Basketball Association (NBA). He also played overseas in Japan.
Givens earnedKentucky Mr. Basketball andParade All-American honors after his senior year at Lexington'sBryan Station High School in 1974. In his freshman year at theUniversity of Kentucky, theWildcats finished as national runners-up, falling 92–85 toUCLA in the 1975 Final Four championship game. In 1978, Givens and Kentucky returned to the Final Four at theCheckerdome inSt. Louis, Missouri. After leading Kentucky to a semifinal victory over theArkansas, he scored a career-high 41 points and made 18 of 27 field goal attempts against Duke to help Kentucky clinch their fifth NCAA Championship in men's basketball.
Givens lettered four times in varsity basketball from 1974–75 to 1977–78. In that span, he scored 2,038 points in 123 games (16.6 ppg), ranking third on the school's all-time scoring list. He was named first team all-Southeastern Conference three times from 1976 to 1978 and was a consensus second-teamAll-American in 1978. Kentucky retired Givens' #21 jersey and a banner in his honor hangs in the rafters ofRupp Arena, Kentucky's home court.
Following his collegiate career, theAtlanta Hawks drafted Givens with the 16th overall pick in the1978 NBA draft. Over two seasons for the Hawks, Givens averaged 16.7 minutes per game adding 6.7 points on 40.1% shooting.
Givens played for theAkita Isuzu Motors basketball team of Japan, where he still returns regularly with his family to visit the friends he made there, in 1982–83.[1][2]
After his playing career, Givens was an NBA television color analyst for various networks and teams, most notably with theTurner Broadcasting System (TBS) and theOrlando Magic for both theSun Sports andFS Florida cable stations from the team's inception in 1989 to 2004 before being replaced byMatt Guokas. Following the death ofMike Pratt in 2022, Givens joined theUK Sports Network beginning in the 2022–23 season as an analyst for Kentucky men's basketball games.[3]
Givens is the CEO and President of Orlando Comets, a basketball organization that has placed over 60 players into NCAA basketball on full scholarships. In 2006, the Orlando Comets won the nationalAAU Championship in the 16 and under division.[4] Jack and his wife Linda have two children, Jeremy and Jaimie.[5]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) and Basketball Reference