Oklahoma basketball great Stacey King, one of a select few Sooners to have his jersey honored, has died at the age of 59.
The Chicago Bulls, the NBA franchise that King went on to star for, win championships with and become a broadcaster with, announced that King died on Sunday. The team said it was notified of King’s passing by a family member.
There were no other details available regarding King’s death as of Sunday.
King was an Oklahoma native, born in Lawton in 1967, and he went on to become a legend in his home state, starring at Oklahoma from 1985-89. He earned consensus first-team All-America honors as a senior at OU and was a second-team All-America selection as a junior.
During his junior season, King nearly helped Oklahoma to a national championship, averaging 22.3 points and 8.5 rebounds as the Sooners advanced all the way to the national title game. They lost to rival Kansas, but King had established himself as a star in college basketball and one of the best to ever lace up his sneakers in Norman.
King was also named Big Eight Player of the Year during his senior season, when he increased those scoring and rebounding averages from the year before, averaging 26.0 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.
His No. 33 jersey was honored by Oklahoma, putting him right there with the other all-time greats who have ever worn a Sooners uniform.
A crafty left-hander, which made King ever harder to defend, he was the sixth overall pick in the 1989 draft by the Bulls. King made his time as a professional player count before retiring in 1999. He helped the Bulls capture 3 straight NBA titles from 1991-93 as Chicago was launching its decade-long dynasty led by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
King was a key member of those title teams, and after he became a fan favorite in Chicago as a player, King did the same as a broadcaster for the Bulls. He became an Emmy-winning broadcaster for the team, proving he had talent with a microphone in front of him as well as with a basketball in his hands.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
