Larry Nance Experience: 1977-81 Sport: Basketball

Larry Nance was a Clemson basketball player from 1977-81. He helped put Clemson on the basketball map by leading the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight in 1980, the only time Clemson has advanced to the regional finals of the NCAA Tournament. That year, Nance was named to the All-West Regional team, the only Tiger in history to make an NCAA Tournament All-Regional team.

Nance is still very prominent on the Clemson records lists. He ranks in the top 15 in six categories. He is 13th in points scored (1341), 11th in double-figure scoring games (70), seventh in rebounds (784), 10th in field goals made (553), eighth in blocks (98), and 10th in double-doubles (20). In 1980-81, Nance was named second-team All-ACC and honorable mention All-American. Nance was a popular Clemson player because of his unique ability to dunk the basketball, which he did 55 times during the 1980-81 season.

Upon leaving Clemson, Nance was selected as the 20th overall selection in the first round of the 1981 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns. In 1984, he won the first-even NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Over his career, Nance played in three All-Star games (1985-89-93). During the 1987-88 season, the Suns traded Nance to the Cleveland where he played the rest of his career. Nance flourished in Cleveland as he was rated as the top power forward in the NBA by USA Today heading into the 1992-93 season and was named second-team All-Defense in 1992-93. Nance announced his retirement, after 13 years in the NBA, in September of 1994 and later had his #22 jersey retired by Cleveland in 1995. A 1995 Clemson Hall of Fame inductee, Nance was inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in the spring of 2001. He currently works as a scout for the Cleveland Cavaliers.