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Norman Ellard Nixon (born October 11, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also played with Scavolini Pesaro in Italy. Nicknamed " Stormin' Norman", he is a two-time NBA All-Star. He won two NBA championships with the Lakers in 1980 and 1982, at the beginning of their Showtime era.
A gifted athlete, Nixon played basketball and football in high school at Southwest High School in Macon. He was named to all-state in both sports. In football, he played defensive back and tailback. He was offered a free-agent tryout by both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys.Livingston, Bill. "Little Guy Nixon Doesn't Fear Contact, Especially in Playoffs", The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 24, 1983. He was senior class president and named as the starting guard on the Georgia All-State team for 1973. He had also led Southwest to the 1973 state high school basketball championship under coach Donald "Duck" Richardson. He was on the track team, where he ran the 440 yard dash, and won a regional title in the high jump at 6 feet, 5 inches. Nixon also played the trumpet and was on the yearbook staff.
On January 27, 2001, during the halftime of a game against Xavier University (Cincinnati), the Duquesne University Department of Athletics retired the jerseys of five of its all-time greatest players. These included Nixon's #10 (also retired were Chuck Cooper, Sihugo Green, Dick Ricketts, and Willie Somerset).Duquesne University Men's Basketball History: "Retired Jerseys" . – Duquesne University Athletics. – Retrieved: September 17, 2007.
In 2019, Nixon approved his retired number 10 being worn by sophomore point guard Sincere Carry. The young Carry asked to wear it to honor a friend who wore number 10 in high school, and who had died that spring from gun violence.
In the 1978 (Seattle SuperSonics), 1979 (Seattle), and 1981 (Houston Rockets) playoffs, the Lakers were eliminated by the eventual Western Conference champion. But Nixon helped the Showtime Lakers win NBA championships in 1980 (4–2) and 1982 (4–2), both against the Philadelphia 76ers. Nixon led the team in scoring in the 1982 playoffs, averaging 20.4 points per game.
The Lakers lost in the 1983 NBA Finals, in which Philadelphia swept 4–0. In game one of the 1983 finals, Nixon had a violent collision with Andrew Toney of the 76ers early in the first quarter. He continued to play in games one and two despite a separated shoulder.
After the 1985–86 season, he spent much of his later career on the injured list, spending more than two full seasons on the injured list before retiring for good at the end of the 1988–89 season. During his time with the Clippers, the team never made the playoffs.
Nixon missed the 1986–87 season after stepping into a hole during a softball game in Central Park on July 23, 1986. He suffered severe damage to the tendon just above his left knee. Nixon ruptured his right Achilles tendon during a pre-season practice on November 4, 1987; the injury caused him to miss the entire 1987–88 season.Zeigler, Mark. – "After two career-threatening injuries, the Clippers' Norm Nixon still is planning to ... BOUNCE BACK". – San Diego Union. – March 23, 1988. Before his injuries, he played in 715 of 725 games available in his first nine seasons.
Nixon participated in some of the NBA's Legends Classic games that took place during All-Star Weekend in the late 80s and early 90s, before a leg injury forced him out of a game. The league later ended these games due to fear of injuries among veteran players.
Nixon became a sports agent at Premier Management Group Inc. He later established his own firm, Norm Nixon & Associates, representing such clients as Doug Edwards,Voisin, Ailene. – "Hawks' No. 1 choice makes a good first pick". – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. – July 9, 1993. Samaki Walker, Jalen Rose, Maurice Taylor, Teddy Dupay, Gary Grant, Gerald Fitch, the NFL's Peter Warrick, Larry Smith, and Al Wilson, and entertainers such as LL Cool J and TLC.Wertheim, L. Jon. – "Norm Nixon: An original Showtimer, he hasn't mellowed or slowed down". – Sports Illustrated. – July 11, 2005.Broussard, Chris. – "PRO BASKETBALL – Nixon Is Still Giving Assists as an Agent". – New York Times. – February 29, 2004.
With his wife, Nixon founded the Debbie Allen Dance Academy (DADA) in Culver City, California.
In his retirement years, Nixon concentrated on several business ventures. He served one season as radio commentator for the Clippers (2004–05), and was an analyst for KABC-TV's NBA post-game shows during the mid-2000s.
Subsequently, he was hired by Fox Sports West to take over Jack Haley's position as studio color analyst for all Lakers home games. He worked alongside studio host Bill McDonald during pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage.
Before they were married, both Nixon and Allen appeared in the 1979 film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh, which also featured NBA stars Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Full cast and crew for: The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979). – IMDb.
Nixon's son DeVaughn portrayed him in the HBO drama series .
San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers
Prior to the start of the 1983–84 season, Nixon was traded to the in exchange for the draft rights to guard Byron Scott and backup center Swen Nater. Lakers general manager Jerry West made the deal to free Johnson from sharing the ball with Nixon. In his first year with the Clippers, Nixon led the league in total assists with 914, and regular season games played (82). He made the All-Star team for the second time in the 1984–85 season.
Career accomplishments
During his NBA career, Nixon scored 12,065 points (15.7 points per game) and had 6,386 assists (8.3) in 768 games played. He was also remembered for faking a free throw at the end of a Lakers-San Antonio Spurs game on November 30, 1982, which caused a double lane violation.Swansburg, John. – "The NBA dares to trifle with the sports-time continuum". – Slate Magazine. The referees erroneously ordered a jump ball, instead of requiring Nixon to re-shoot the free throw. The Lakers got the ball and Nixon made a field goal to tie the game, where they prevailed in overtime. The last three seconds of the game were later replayed in April 1983.
Post-playing career
After retiring from the NBA in March 1989, Nixon played for Scavolini Pesaro of the Italian major-league Serie A in April and May.SPORTS: "Update". – USA Today. – April 11, 1989. In August 1989 Valerio Bianchini (who had coached Pesaro the previous season) head coach of Messaggero Roma tried to get Nixon to come play for the 1989–90 season.Voisin, Ailene. – "Soviet Finds Summer League Hard, but He's Living NBA Dream – Volkov a Sign of Changing Times". – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. – August 4, 1989.
Personal life
Nixon has been married to actress/producer/director/dancer Debbie Allen since 1984. They have four children. Tristan Fuller-Nixon and DeVaughn Nixon, sons of Nixon from previous relationships, and two together: Vivian Nixon, who became a dancer and Norman Ellard Nixon Jr., who became a basketball player (he attended Wofford College and Southern University).PEOPLE: "AND BABY MAKES FOUR". – The Dallas Morning News. – September 2, 1987.Mackall, Dave. – "Nixon fondly remembers Duquesne". – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. – May 31, 2007.Schiefelbein, Joseph. – "Spivery, Jaguars to begin practice". – The Advocate. – October 17, 2008. Nixon's sister-in-law is Phylicia Rashad / actress/director/singer. His biological sister is Tracy Nixon-Moore. His biological brothers are Larry Nixon, Ronald Nixon, Kenneth Nixon, and David Jackson.
NBA career statistics
Regular season
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1977–78
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers
|81||–||34.3||.497||–||.714|| 3.0||6.8||1.7||0.1||13.7
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1978–79
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers
| 82||–||38.4|| .542||–||.775||2.8||9.0|| 2.5|| 0.2||17.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1979–80†
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers
| 82||–||style="background:#cfecec;"| 39.3*||.516||.125||.779||2.8||7.8||1.8|| 0.2|| 17.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1980–81
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers
|79||–||37.5||.476||.167||.778||2.9||8.8||1.8||0.1||17.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1981–82†
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers
| 82|| 82||36.9||.493||.250||.808||2.1||8.0||1.6||0.1|| 17.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1982–83
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers
|79||79||34.3||.475||.000||.744||2.6||7.2||1.3||0.1||15.1
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1983–84
|style="text-align:left;"|San Diego
| 82|| 82||37.2||.462||.239||.760||2.5|| 11.1||1.1||0.0||17.0
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1984–85
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers
|81||81||35.7||.465||.333||.780||2.7||8.8||1.2||0.0||17.2
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1985–86
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers
|67||62||31.9||.438|| .347|| .809||2.7||8.6||1.3||0.0||14.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1988–89
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers
|53||30||24.9||.414||.276||.738||1.5||6.4||0.9||0.0||6.8
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 768 || 416 || 35.5 || .483 || .294 || .772 || 2.6 || 8.3 || 1.5 || 0.1 || 15.7
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| All-Star
| 2 || 0 || 19.0 || .571 || – || .500 || 1.0 || 5.0 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 12.5
Playoffs
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1978
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers
|3||–||30.7||.458||–||.667||3.0||5.3||1.3|| 0.3||8.0
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1979
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers
|8||–||40.9||.471||–||.733||3.5|| 11.8||1.4||0.0||15.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1980†
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers
| 16||–||40.5||.477||.200|| .804||3.5||7.8|| 2.0||0.2||16.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1981
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers
|3||–|| 44.3|| .510||–||.800|| 3.7||8.7||0.3||0.3||19.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1982†
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers
|14||–||39.2||.478||.333||.754||3.1||8.1|| 1.6||0.1|| 20.4
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1983
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers
|14||–||38.4||.477|| .429||.740||3.4||6.4||1.3||0.1||19.0
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 58 ||–|| 39.4 || .478 || .333 || .763 || 3.4 || 8.0 || 1.5 || 0.1 || 17.7
See also
External links
Categories: 1955 Births, Living People, 20th-century African-american Sportsmen, 21st-century African-american Sportsmen, American Expatriate Basketball People In Italy, American Men's Basketball Players, American Sports Agents, Basketball Players From Macon, Georgia, Duquesne Dukes Men's Basketball Players, Los Angeles Clippers Announcers, Los Angeles Clippers Players, Los Angeles Lakers Draft Picks, Los Angeles Lakers Players, Nba All-stars, Point Guards, San Diego Clippers Players
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