| Sources |
- [S33] Kentucky Birth Records, 1847-1911, (www.ancestry.com).
Name: Michael B Silliman
Date of Birth: 5 May 1944
County: Jefferson
Mother's Name: Margaret Banners
Volume Number: 058
Certificate Number: 28761
Volume Year: 1944
- [S926] Find-A-Grave, (www.findagrave.com).
Michael Barnwell Silliman
Birth: May 5, 1944
Death: Jun. 16, 2000
COURIER JOURNAL OBITUARY ? 06/17/2000
Michael B. Silliman, a former St. Xavier High School basketball star who later led the 1968 U.S. basketball team to an Olympic gold medal, died yesterday at Baptist Hospital East of an apparent heart attack. Silliman, 56, is considered by many to be one of the finest players in Kentucky high school basketball history. He led St. X to the 1962 state title, then became an All-American at Army and captained the 1968 Olympic team. "Coach (Bob) Knight says to this day that Mike Silliman is the best player he has ever coached," said Lexington Herald-Leader columnist Billy Reed, who remembered covering Silliman in his early years at St. X. "I've heard (Knight) say that many, many times." Silliman also was prominent after his basketball career. He became a mortgage banker and developer who worked with companies that constructed several buildings in the Louisville area. He owned the old Silliman Development Co. and was developer of the Hunnington Place Office Building and Shopping Center and the downtown One Corporate Plaza office building, now known as the Louisville Gas & Electric Plaza. He was vice president of Faulkner Hinton & Associates and former manager of corporate real estate development for HFH Commercial Real Estate Services.While Silliman was at St. X, he became one of just five players ever named top vote getter in consecutive years for The Courier-Journal's all-state team. He averaged 24.1 points a game as a senior in high school, was named Kentucky's Mr. Basketball in 1962 and was the city's top scorer. He also averaged 20 rebounds a game as a senior and finished his high school career with 1,972 points. A first-team member of The Courier Journal's all-state team three years in a row, Silliman scored 23 points in a 62-58 win over Ashland in the state championship game as a senior. He didn't play in the Kentucky-Indiana All-Star series because he had to be at West Point. "I never saw a better player," Joe Reibel, who coached Silliman his senior year at St. X, told the newspaper several times over the years. The 6-foot-6 Silliman had 55 full college scholarship offers and was heavily recruited by the University of Kentucky. He would have been the center on the team that turned out to be called "Rupp's Runts." Coach Adolph Rupp called him a "terrific prospect," but Silliman instead went to Army, where he had a banner career. He led the West Point freshman team to a 17-0 season and finished his three-year stint on the varsity team with 1,342 points. He left the school as its all-time leading scorer and still ranks seventh on that list. In his only college game in Louisville, Silliman scored 30 points in the 84-56 loss to the University of Louisville. Silliman was a member of coach Knight's first team at Army during his senior season, when he averaged 22.2 points and 10.7 rebounds. He was captain and a starter on the Olympic team that won the 1968 gold medal. Silliman had six points in the 65-50 win over Yugoslavia in the championship game in Mexico City. He played one year as a professional ? 36 games in 1970-71 for the Buffalo Braves of the National Basketball Association. Basketball wasn't Silliman's only sport. He also played baseball for Army and played high school baseball and golf. Silliman was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988 and into the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1990. "He was hard working, unselfish, but very talented," Reed said. "If you made a list of the top 15 players in Kentucky high school basketball, Mike would be there." Silliman's survivors include a son, Michael Scott Silliman; a daughter, Marian Elizabeth Silliman; two brothers, Gregory R. and Daniel C. Silliman and two sisters, Susan S. McDaniel and Janet S. Cundiff. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 3345 Lexington Road, with burial in Calvary Cemetery. Visitation will be at Highlands Funeral Home, 3331 Taylorsville Road, from 3 to 7 p.m. tomorrow and 5 to 8 p.m. Monday. Memorial gifts can be sent to St. Xavier High School.
Burial:
Calvary Cemetery
Louisville
Jefferson County
Kentucky, USA
Created by: Francie Ede
Record added: Aug 06, 2009
Find A Grave Memorial# 40366465
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1944 - 2000 (56 years)
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