George Raveling, a Hall of Fame basketball coach who played a role in Michael Jordan signing a landmark endorsement deal with Nike, has died. He was 88.
Raveling's family said Tuesday in a statement that he had “faced cancer with courage and grace.”
“There are no words to fully capture what George meant to his family, friends, colleagues, former players, and assistants — and to the world,” the family statement read. “He will be profoundly missed, yet his aura, energy, divine presence, and timeless wisdom live on in all those he touched and transformed.”
Raveling, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015, had a career record of 335-293 from 1972-94 at Washington State, Iowa and Southern California. He had a losing record in his first season at each school before making multiple trips to the NCAA Tournament.
His success at those programs landed Raveling on the U.S. Olympic basketball staffs in 1984 and 1988.
Jordan was on the 1984 team that won gold at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and Raveling helped convince him to sign with Nike. He introduced Jordan to Sonny Vaccaro at Nike, which helped lead to a contract that gave Jordan his own brand, made him millions of dollars and changed the athletic apparel industry.
Marlon Wayans portrayed Raveling in the 2023 movie “Air” that focused on Nike's courtship of Jordan.
“For more than 40 years, he blessed my life with wisdom, encouragement, and friendship,” Jordan said in a statement. “He was a mentor in every sense and I'll always carry deep gratitude for his guidance. I signed with Nike because of George, and without him, there would be no Air Jordan.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called Raveling “a pioneering force” who helped make basketball an international game.
“During his long and impactful tenure at Nike, George traveled the world — mentoring multiple generations of players and coaches and promoting the sport that defined his identity,” Silver said in a statement. “He broke barriers as a college basketball coach and was a towering voice in our industry. I valued my friendship with George and admired how he led with poise, dignity and respect.”
Raveling also owned the original copy of the “I Have a Dream” speed by Martin Luther King Jr. He was working security at the 1963 March on Washington in which King delivered one of the most famous speeches in American history.
As King was exiting, Raveling saw him and asked if he could have the speech, and the reverend handed it to him. Raveling held on to the copy until 2021, when he donated it to his alma mater, Villanova.
He played at Villanova from 1957-60, averaged 12.3 points and 14.6 rebounds over his last two seasons. The Philadelphia Warriors drafted Raveling in the eighth round in 1960, but he didn't play in the NBA.
“The finest human being, inspiring mentor, most loyal alum and a thoughtful loving friend,” Jay Wright, who coached Villanova to national championships in 2016 and 2018, posted on X. “Coach Raveling lived his life for others, His heart was restless and kind and now rests In the lord!”
Current Villanova coach Kevin Willard said in a statement that he has "long appreciated the enormous impact Coach has made not just on our game, but on so many of us in it. I know Villanova held a special place in his heart and we are forever grateful for his contributions to this program.”
Raveling was involved in a serious car crash while coaching USC in 1994, breaking nine ribs, his collarbone and pelvis.
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FILE - Former Washington State basketball head coach George Raveling looks on during the school's ceremony to honor him during halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Washington State and Washington in Pullman, Wash., Feb. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Young Kwak, file)
PARIS (AP) — Valentino’s first couture show since house founder Valentino Garavani’s funeral in Rome opened under a somber shadow, with many guests fresh from the ceremony — then snapped it off with a jolt of pure theater.
VIP guests, including Sir Elton John and Kirsten Dunst, were guided through near-darkness to their “seats”: simple stools set against circular pods, each punctured by a small kinky-feeling viewing window.
When the show began, the blinds lifted; the classical music soundtrack cut by the sharp punctuation of barking dogs.
Inside the hubs, models appeared like mannequins behind glass — private viewing holes turned into a couture peep show.
The white, sterile-lit staging leaned into the idea of a curated gaze.
Each guest saw a slice, not always the whole: a face, a shoulder, a shimmer of fabric, then the next.
The set read like a sterilized, futuristic cell — clean, white, clinical — made more unsettling by the soundscape, which kept slipping from elegance into angry animal sounds.
It was a clever piece of showcraft: creative director Alessandro Michele, a maximalist by instinct, using restriction as a hook.
He didn’t flood the room with spectacle; he rationed it.
The often dazzling clothes, however, didn't always match the set’s ambition.
Michele delivered disco sheen — sparkle, gems, bedazzled headwear and layered gold collars with a faint circus edge — but the couture itself felt comparatively restrained, even cautious.
There were strong flashes: bold sleeves that swelled toward leg-of-mutton proportions; sequined surfaces that caught the light with that Valentino polish; and occasional provocation in the way the body was framed.
The skirts of giant billowing dresses nicely overwhelmed the human form.
But for a designer known for excess, the collection often played it safe.
Front row heat underlined the stakes.
The room pulled in a heavy mix of celebrity and brand power, from Dakota Johnson to Lily Allen and Tyla, plus global ambassadors and high-wattage fashion regulars.
The atmosphere said “event.”
The collection said “reset”: a designer calibrating his volume, testing how far he can bend Valentino’s couture codes without breaking them.
Michele can stage a show — that much is settled.
For Suzy Menkes, the emotion around this Valentino couture show was immediate.
Coming straight from Garavani’s funeral in Rome to Paris couture week, the fashion industry doyenne and former International Herald Tribune fashion critic said “people do feel emotional” because “it is an end of an era.”
She described a wider pattern, too: “one designer or elderly designer after another” has “gently disappeared.” But this, she suggested, felt like “a special one” — not only inside the industry, but beyond it.
Menkes said Valentino was “a designer that everybody could understand,” with “so many clients and famous people” that it wasn’t just “those who were contracted to fashion who knew of him.”
Asked about her own history with Valentino, she traced it back “about 45 years ago,” when she was a junior journalist — “he didn’t pay much attention” to her, she recalled, though he was “always polite,” surrounded by “an enormous number of people” from fashion and “social society.”
She acknowledged that “we’ve got some really good designers who are taking over and doing a terrific job,” but insisted the transition doesn’t feel identical: “it’s not the same character… it doesn’t seem to be the same person who was there before.”
Andrea Lattanzi, left, and Romana Maggiora Vergano pose for photographers upon arrival at the Valentino Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Elton John, center, and David Furnish, right, arrive at the Valentino Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Rei, left, and Liz from the group IVE pose for photographers upon arrival at the Valentino Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Elton John, center, and David Furnish, right, depart the Valentino Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Tyla poses for photographers upon arrival at the Valentino Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
