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Guard · 1980–81

Billy McKinney

Quickness earned him the nickname The Crazed Hummingbird. The 6-foot guard from Zion, Illinois left Northwestern as its all-time leading scorer, a record that stood for 35 years, and played in the NBA from 1978 to 1986 for the Kings, Jazz, Nuggets, Clippers, and Bulls, averaging 8.0 points. His Utah stop came in 1980-81.

Few players built a longer second career. McKinney worked front-office jobs for the Bulls, Timberwolves, Pistons, SuperSonics, Storm, and Bucks, and called games on radio for Minnesota. In April 2019 his hometown elected him mayor of Zion, and in 2024 Northwestern retired his No. 30.

HOW HE CAME & WENTUtah traded two second-round picks to Dallas for him on September 11, 1980, and traded him on to Denver for Carl Nicks that December.

Full name
William Mervin McKinney III
Utah Jazz tenure
1980–81
Position
Guard
Born
1955, Zion, Illinois
Height
6′0″ (183 cm)
Weight
161 lb (73 kg)
College
Northwestern
Drafted
1977, 6th round, Kansas City
Signature in the archive 1981-82 Topps - #69

No photograph of this signature is online yet.

With the Jazz

BILLY MCKINNEY · 1980–81 · PER GAME
SEASONTEAMGMPGPPGRPGAPGSPGBPGFG%3P%FT%
1980–81UTA3529.58.42.14.51.10.1.532.500.917
JAZZ TOTAL1 SEASON3529.58.42.14.51.10.1.532.500.917

Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗  ·  Wikipedia ↗

Did you know

BILLY MCKINNEY · 5 NOTES
  • Became an NBA general manager after retiring, working for Minnesota, Detroit and Seattle.
  • His Northwestern scoring record stood for 35 years until John Shurna finally passed him in February 2012.
  • He earned a degree in education at Northwestern, which shaped a second career spent developing other people's talent.
  • Phoenix took him 115th overall in the sixth round of 1977, and he answered by shooting 49.3 percent from the field as a guard.
  • Milwaukee hired him as director of scouting in 2008, the hire made by John Hammond, a fellow Zion-Benton High alumnus.