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Gators restore Vernon Maxwell's UF stats

On3 imageby: Keith Niebuhr11 hours agoOn3Keith

Florida basketball great Vernon Maxwell, an elite scoring guard and Gainesville native, once again is the Gators’ all-time leading scorer. The University of Florida announced Thursday it was restoring his final two seasons of individual statistics, which had been wiped from the record books due to the program’s NCAA issues in the late 1980s.

That gives Maxwell 2,450 points during his four seasons at Florida (1985-88).

“It’s time,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin told Chris Harry of FloridaGators.com. 

Maxwell now officially is the third all-time leading scorer in SEC hoops history. At the time his UF career concluded he was No. 2 behind only legendary LSU guard “Pistol” Pete Maravich.

Maxwell was informed of UF’s decision earlier this week.

“I fell on the floor. I was ecstatic,” Maxwell told Harry. “Man, I am just so happy. This is a blessing for me and my family. Honestly, I never, ever thought this was going to happen.”

All-time SEC scoring leaders

1Pete Maravich366719681970LSU
2Allan Houston280119901993Tennessee
3Vernon Maxwell245019851988Florida
4John Stroud232819771980Ole Miss
5Chuck Person231119831986Auburn
6Ernie Grunfeld224919741977Tennessee
7Tony White221919841987Tennessee
8Reggie King216819761979Alabama
9Jeff Malone214219801983Mississippi State
10Dan Issel213819681970Kentucky

Maxwell, now 60, arguably is the best-ever homegrown athlete to play for the Gators in any sport. At Gainesville’s Buchholz High, he was first-team all-state in both basketball and football as a senior. He chose to play hoops for coach Norm Sloan’s Gators over N.C. State and then-coach Jim Valvano.

At Florida, he was a star from the jump.

As a freshman, he averaged 13.3 points a game, third on the team behind guard Andrew Moten and All-SEC center Eugene McDowell. Maxwell led the team in scoring each of the next three seasons with averages of 19.6, 21.7 and 20.2.

For much of his time at UF, he was the centerpiece of a backcourt that included Moten and point guard Ronnie Montgomery. The group, known as the “M&M’s,” help put UF basketball on the map.

For the 1986-87 season, Maxwell, Moten and Montgomery were joined by touted 7-foot-2 freshman center Dwayne Schintzius, another instant hit. Maxwell was the star for a team that won 23 games, became the first in UF history to reach the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 before losing a close game to the eventual national runner-up, Syracuse.

Maxwell, a sleek 6-4, 180 pounds, was twice first-team All-SEC. He later helped the Houston Rockets win the NBA championship as a starting guard and scored 10,912 career points in the NBA.

As Harry noted, however, “In his post-UF career, however, Maxwell became a key figure during an NCAA investigation that ultimately placed the Gators’ on unsanctioned probation. Florida was forced to vacate three NCAA Tournament victories (two in ’87, one in ’88) that Maxwell participated in. But UF’s athletic director at the time, Bill Arnsparger, took the extra and unique step of stripping Maxwell – and only Maxwell – of all his individual statistics during those two years, including 1,404 points over 67 games. Among the multitude of NCAA probation cases over the years, Maxwell became the rare player singled one by their respective institution to have their individual stats wiped from the books.”

But now, the man affectionately known to friends and family in Gainesville as “Hawk” is soaring once again.

You can read more about Vernon Maxwell HERE.

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