Tom Meschery

Tom Meschery
Personal information
Born (1938-10-26) October 26, 1938
Harbin, Manchukuo
Nationality Russian / American
Listed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight 215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school Lowell (San Francisco, California)
College Saint Mary's (1958–1961)
NBA draft 1961 / Round: 1 / Pick: 7th overall
Selected by the Philadelphia Warriors
Playing career 1961–1971
Position Power forward
Number 14
Career history
1961–1967 Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors
1967–1971 Seattle SuperSonics
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points 9,904 (12.7 ppg)
Rebounds 6,698 (8.6 rpg)
Assists 1,331 (1.7 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Thomas Nicholas Meschery (born Tomislav Nikolayevich Meshcheryakov (Томислав Николаевич Мещеряков); October 26, 1938)[1] is a Russian American former professional basketball player. He was a power forward with a 10-year National Basketball Association career from 1961 to 1971. He played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors and the Seattle SuperSonics. He led the league in personal fouls in 1962 and played in the 1963 NBA All-Star Game. His jersey, number 14, was retired by the Warriors.

Early years

Meschery was born as Tomislav Nikolayevich Meshcheryakov in Harbin, China. His parents were Russian emigrants who fled from the October Revolution in 1917. The Meschery family was later relocated to a Japanese internment camp near Tokyo during World War II. After the war, Meschery and his parents emigrated to the United States. It was also in this phase of his life where his father renamed the family "Meschery" due to the anti-Communist/anti-Soviet Red Scare under Joseph McCarthy, and Tomislav Nikolayevich was renamed Thomas Nicholas, which later was abbreviated to Tom.[1] Living in San Francisco, California, Meschery attended Lowell High School. After graduating in 1957, he went to Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961.

Professional basketball career

Standing 6 ft 6 in, Meschery also was a highly talented basketball player. After graduating from St. Mary's, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors as the 7th pick overall in the 1961 NBA draft. Meschery played alongside legend Wilt Chamberlain, to whom he later dedicated a poem. Meschery was the starting forward on the 1961 Philadelphia Warriors team in which Chamberlain scored 100 points. Meschery led the NBA in personal fouls in 1962 and played in the 1963 NBA All-Star Game.[2] Chamberlain left the Warriors in 1965, returning to his home town Philadelphia, to play with the 76ers. The Warriors however, strengthened by the arrival of Rick Barry, made it to the 1967 NBA Finals, in which they lost to Chamberlain's 76ers. After his NBA Finals appearance, Meschery was selected by the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics during the 1967 NBA Expansion Draft.

In the SuperSonics' inaugural season, Meschery led the team in rebounds (10.2 per game) as well as personal fouls.[3] He retired following the 1970–71 season, having played four seasons for the SuperSonics.

After retiring as a player, Meschery became head coach of the ABA's Carolina Cougars, which he guided to a record of 35–49 in the 1971–72 season before being replaced by Larry Brown.

Meschery has been inducted into the San Francisco High School Hall of Fame; Saint Mary's College Hall of Fame (his college jersey #31 retired); and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.

Post-basketball life

Meschery published his first book of poems in 1970, and returned to school after his coaching stint, receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1974. He studied poetry with Mark Strand, U.S. poet laureate at University of Washington. After receiving his teaching credentials at University of Nevada, Reno, Meschery taught high school English in Reno, Nevada, until his retirement in 2005. He is also a poet, whose works often relate to basketball, teaching, and being a Russian immigrant. In 2002, Meschery was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame.

Meschery is living in Sacramento, California with his artist wife Melanie Marchant Meschery. His son is Matthew Meschery who is the former lead vocalist of OPM. Meschery continues to write poems, fiction, and essays. He traces his love of writing to his Russian maternal ancestors, Alexei and Leo Tolstoy. Embarking on a new career as a novelist, Meschery has completed three novels in manuscript: Mr. Dolby's Dream, She's Got Game, and The Kid Has Hops and a Young Adult novel, also in manuscript, entitled The Society for the Prevention of Bullying. He has two newly published collections of poetry: Some Men and Sweat: New and Selected Poems About Sports. Meschery and his wife Melanie are presently collaborating on a book of poems and art about Saints.

His blog 'Meschery's Musings' discusses a variety of controversial subject relating to sports. Each blog ends with a sports poem. Meschery says he wishes to introduce the public to fine contemporary poems whose subject is sports in the same way Garrison Keillor makes poetry in general available to his listeners on his morning radio broadcasts.[4]

Works

References

  1. 1 2 TOM MESCHERY: THE FIRST RUSSIAN IN THE NBA
  2. ↑ "basketball-reference.com: Tom Meschery". Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  3. ↑ "basketball-reference.com: Seattle SuperSonics 1967-68". Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  4. ↑ Andrieson, David (October 13, 2007). "Sonics ushered Seattle into the big time 40 years ago Saturday". The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Jerry Steele		 Carolina Cougars Head Coach
1971–1972 		Succeeded by
Larry Brown
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