Basketball career

College and NBA years

A 6'7" forward born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Banks starred at Duke University, where he received the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Rookie of the Year award in 1978. Banks was the sixth African American player in Duke's history. He also received team MVP honors three times. His Duke career is noteworthy in other regards as well. In 1981, during Mike Krzyzewski's first year in the home game against the Blue Devils' heated rival, the North Carolina Tar Heels, he hit the game-tying shot as time expired, sending the crowd into a massive frenzy. Duke went on to win in overtime, ushering in a new era in Blue Devils basketball. Banks also won the ACC scoring title in 1981, over such ACC/NCAA All-Americans as James Worthy (UNC) and Ralph Sampson (UVA). He was inducted into the prestigious Duke Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Duke Hall of Honors in 1996. He was an NCAA two-time All-American during his tenure at Duke and finished in the top ten of almost every statistical category of Duke basketball.

He went on to play six seasons in the National Basketball Association with the San Antonio Spurs and the Chicago Bulls. He averaged 11.3 points per game spanning over 468 games in his professional NBA career. His career high of 44 points was achieved against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1983. He recorded his first NBA triple-double with the Chicago Bulls.

Italian and Israeli leagues

In the 1988-89 season he played in Italy for Arimo Bologna. He went from Italy to continue his career as a member of the Maccabi Rishon Lezion basketball club in Israel. In 1993 he continued his play in Israel as a member of Hapoel Herzliya and took them to the Israeli Cup Championship game.

Between these stints, Banks played the 1989-90 season with the La Crosse Catbirds of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), averaging 15.3 points in 40 games. The Catbirds would go on to win the CBA title that year.

Coaching

In 2009, Gene Banks became an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards. In 2012, Banks was reassigned from assistant coach with the Wizards to scout of the southern region of the eastern Atlantic Coast. He is credited with the development of such players as JaVale McGee, Andray Blatche and Kevin Seraphin.

Honors

Banks was inducted into the Duke Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2007, Banks returned to Israel and was announced and awarded by Maccabi Rishon LeZion to be the "best foreign player" to play with the club until 2007.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]