Thurl Bailey

Explore about the Famous Basketball Player Thurl Bailey, who was born in United States on April 7, 1961. Analyze Thurl Bailey’s net worth, age, bio, birthday, dating, height-weight, wiki. Investigate who is Thurl Bailey dating now? Look into this article to know how old is Thurl Bailey?

Thurl Bailey Biography

Power forward/center who played in the NBA for 12 seasons, mostly with the Utah Jazz.

He was a leader on the NC State basketball squad that won the NCAA Championship as a huge underdog in 1983.

He played in Europe for several years before returning to the NBA for his final season in 1999.

He had six children with his wife Sindi.

He spent many years with the Utah Jazz, where he played alongside Hall of Fame forward Karl Malone.

Thurl Lee Bailey (born April 7, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player whose National Basketball Association (NBA) career spanned from 1983 to 1999 with the Utah Jazz and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Bailey has been a broadcast analyst for the Utah Jazz and the University of Utah— in addition to work as an inspirational speaker, singer, songwriter, and film actor.

Bailey attended North Carolina State University and was a leader in the Wolfpack’s miracle run to the 1983 NCAA Championship. That year, under head coach Jim Valvano, he led the Wolfpack in both scoring and rebounding. The Utah Jazz selected him as the 7th pick of the 1983 NBA draft. Jazz management reported that he was selected for the quality of his character, as well as the quality of his game. This was the beginning of 16 years of his playing professional basketball, 12 of those years were with the NBA.

Throughout his career, Bailey has also been involved in community service. He has directed basketball camps for youth since 1984 in which he teaches young people lessons about life and basketball. Bailey’s basketball camps often focus on students with serious illnesses or disadvantaged backgrounds. Bailey’s record of service has resulted in numerous awards for leadership and contributions to the community. Included in his awards are: the NBA’s prestigious Kennedy Community Award, the Utah Association for Gifted Children’s Community Service Award, Sigma Gamma Chi fraternity’s Exemplary Manhood Award, the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America’s American Champion Award and the Italian League’s 1998 All-Star Games Most Valuable Player.

Bailey was a starter with the Jazz for most of his first two seasons, but with the drafting of Karl Malone, Jazz coach Frank Layden made Bailey one of the first options off the bench. As a result, Bailey had his two finest NBA seasons in 1987-88 (19.6 ppg, played in all 82 games and started 10 times) and 1988-89 (19.5 ppg, 82 games, 3 starts).

On November 25, 1991, he was traded by the Jazz along with a 1992 second-round draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Tyrone Corbin. Bailey holds the unusual distinction of playing 84 combined regular-season games during the 1991-92 season for both teams. He played for almost three seasons in Minnesota until 1994 when he left the NBA and played in the Greek League (playing for Panionios) for the 1994–95 season. From 1995 to 1998 he played in the Italian League for Polti Cantù in 1995–97 and Stefanel Milano in 1997–98, before returning to the Jazz as a free agent on January 21, 1999. He retired after the end of 1998–99 season.

Bailey was raised Baptist. While playing basketball in Italy, Bailey decided to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was baptized by his father-in-law on 31 December 1995.

Bailey is a public speaker, a broadcast analyst for the Utah Jazz and the University of Utah, an actor, and a singer/songwriter. Bailey’s albums include Faith In Your Heart (1998), The Gift of Christmas (2001), and I’m Not the Same (2002).

Bailey gave the opening prayer at the 2008 Republican National Convention.

What's Thurl Bailey Net Worth 2024

Thurl Bailey Family