John Shumate, who sparked Notre Dame to the 1974 upset of UCLA that snapped the Bruins’ record 88-game winning streak, has died. He was 72.
Notre Dame announced that Shumate died on Monday.
Shumate played at Notre Dame from 1971-74 and was a first-team Associated Press All-America selection in 1974. The Phoenix Suns made Shumate the No. 4 pick in the 1974 draft, and he remained in the NBA through 1981 before beginning a lengthy coaching career at the college and pro levels.
“When you pay the price and do things the right way and you take care of yourself — your body, your mind — and stay true to yourself, good things can happen for you and to you,” Shumate said when Notre Dame inducted him into its ring of honor and put his No. 34 jersey in the Purcell Pavilion rafters in 2022. “I appreciate that.”
He collected 24 points and 11 rebounds while dueling with Bill Walton when Notre Dame stunned UCLA 71-70 on Jan. 19, 1974, ending the longest winning streak in Division I men’s basketball history. Shumate said he called his father, a Pentecostal minister, at about 4 or 5 a.m. the day of that game to express his concerns about the task he was facing.
“So my dad prayed for me over the phone,” Shumate recalled. “And you know what? When he was finished, I felt like I could go out and compete against the world.”
Shumate made a game-clinching rebound in the closing seconds and then threw the ball in the air as a celebration ensued.
“I’m still very proud of it, our guys and our team, the fact we could go out and pull off something that was so vital and important for, I think, college basketball,” Shumate said in 2022 as he discussed that game. “Because the Bruins were beating everybody. Nobody could compete with them. They were great. On that day, we were the best team.”
Shumate averaged 22.6 points and 11.6 rebounds while at Notre Dame despite dealing with all sorts of health issues during his college career. During his sophomore year, Shumate had a blood clot in his calf and had a virus infection around his heart that put him in intensive care and caused him to lose 45 pounds.
He capped his college career by averaging 28.7 points over three games in the 1974 NCAA tournament.
As an NBA player, Shumate averaged 12.3 points and 7.5 rebounds while playing for the Suns, Buffalo Braves, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs and Seattle SuperSonics. He made the NBA All-Rookie team in 1975-76.
He went into coaching and posted a 78-118 record at SMU from 1988-95. SMU’s 1992-93 team went 20-8 and reached the NCAA tournament.
Shumate coached the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury in 2003. He was an assistant coach at Notre Dame (1981-82 and 1986-88) and with the Suns (2009-10).