Feb. 26, 2013
Greensboro, N.C. – Mark Price (1982-86), the point guard who led Georgia Tech’s basketball resurgence under head coach Bobby Cremins, is one of only four players in ACC history to earn first- or second-team All-ACC honors in each of his four varsity seasons. Price earned second-team All-ACC honors in 1983, leading the conference in scoring as a freshman and earning ACC Rookie of the Year honors. He then was named first-team All-ACC in 1984, 1985 and 1986 joining only North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, Virginia’s Jeff Lamp and Duke’s Johnny Dawkins as four-year All-ACC honorees.
A three-time All-American, he was a first-team selection in 1985. Price helped Tech post a four-year record of 85-41 after the program had been 14-40 in the two years before he arrived in Atlanta. Price also led the Jackets to earn a bid to the NIT in 1984 and NCAA appearances in 1985 and 1986, as Tech reached the NCAA East Regional finals in 1985 and the Southeast Region semifinals in 1986. Price was named the winner of the Everett Case Award as the Most Outstanding Player in the 1985 ACC Tournament in Atlanta as he led Tech to its first ACC Basketball Championship.
A finalist for the Wooden and Naismith National Player of the Year Awards in 1986, he was the first pick of the second round of the 1986 NBA Draft by Dallas, which promptly traded him to Cleveland. He went on to a 12-year career in the NBA, the first nine with Cleveland. A four-time NBA All-Star and named to the 1993 All-NBA first-team, Price played a total of 722 NBA games, scoring 10,989 points and averaging 15.2 points and 6.7 assists per game. His career free throw percentage of 90.4 is the best in NBA history. He also compiled a field goal percentage of 47.2 percent for his career and 40.2 percent from three-point range. After retiring from the NBA at the end of the 1998 season, he began an extensive career in coaching, including spending one season as an assistant to Cremins at Georgia Tech. Originally a native of Enid, Okla., he now resides in Orlando, Fla.
