Men's Basketball 10/7/2015 1:55:00 PM

Harry "The Horse" Gallatin (1927-2015)

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Truman State University men's basketball legend Harry Gallatin has passed away at the age of 88. Nicknamed "The Horse", Gallatin led the Bulldogs to a 59-4 record during his two seasons before proceeding to play and star in the National Basketball Association for the New York Knicks.

Gallatin's first season as a Bulldog, the 1946-47 campaign, would be one of the most memorable seasons for the purple and white. The team won its first 19 games before stumbling at Missouri State University in early February. The team rebounded the next day at Central Missouri with an eight point win and would win its next 11 games to reach the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball tournament.

Gallatin scored 25 points in the opener of the tournament against Delta (Miss.) State and advanced to the quarterfinals with a 76-58 win over Whittier College (Calif.). The team saw its season end at 30-2 with a six-point loss to Northern Arizona the following morning.

The following season, Gallatin and the Bulldogs continued their dominance, as they won their second straight Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Association championship. They would again be invited to play in the NAIB National Tournament but lost a back-and-forth first round battle with Arizona State, 68-66.

He finished his career with 816 points while finishing his degree in two years.

Gallatin is the only alumnus who has played in the NBA, playing nine seasons with the Knicks before spending his final season as a member of the Detroit Pistons. He held the NBA record for consecutive games played with 740, was a seven-time NBA All Star and in 1954 led the league in rebounding with an average of 15 per game. He still ranks fourth on the Knicks in rebounding with 5,935.

After his retirement, Gallatin was the head men's basketball coach at Southern Illinois-Carbondale for four seasons before returning to the pro level as the head coach of the St. Louis Hawks. He was named the 1962-63 NBA Coach of the Year.

He returned to the Big Apple to coach the Knicks and spent more two seasons on the Madison Square Garden sidelines.

Gallatin returned back to college athletics in 1967 and was named the Dean of Students at Southern Illinois Edwardsville. He organized and helped start the Cougars Athletics Department, coaching basketball for two years and serving as Athletics Director for five. His best run as coach came on the golf course at SIUE, as he guided the Cougars to 17 trips to the NCAA Division II Golf Championship tournament.

In 1991, Gallatin was inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Inductees that year also included former Indiana University men's basketball coach Bob Knight and NBA Commissioner Larry O'Brien.

Gallatin was in the second Truman Athletics Hall of Fame class in 1984 and his 1946-47 team was inducted in 2007. His number 44 was retired in a ceremony in Pershing Arena during the 2001 season. He returned to Kirksville nearly every year for Homecoming to visit with past teammates and the family of the late Ralph Pink, who recruited him to the school.

He was inducted into SIUE Hall of Fame in 2005, the MIAA Hall of Fame in 2010 and this past May was the latest Knicks inductee into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame.

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