Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1997
More than 30 years after he played his final game for Wake Forest, Griffin remains in the Top 10 in points, rebounds, field-goal percentage and blocked shots.
Not highly recruited as a high school athlete in his small hometown of Fairmont, N.C., Griffin caught the attention of the Wake Forest coaches almost by accident - when he showed up one year at coach Carl Tacy's summer basketball camp. Griffin would go on to be a four-year starter for Wake Forest and a three-time All-ACC selection.
The Deacons' good fortune became apparent immediately when Griffin averaged 13.9 points and a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game as a freshman in 1975. He increased his scoring output every year thereafter on his way to becoming the fifth-leading scorer, as well as the fourth-leading rebounder, in school history at the time of his graduation.
As a junior in 1977, Griffin was named the ACC Player of the Year and an All-American while leading the Deacons to the NCAA Midwest Regional final. In 1978, Griffin became only the second Wake Forest player to lead the conference in scoring and rebounding in the same season. He was a first team All-America following his senior season on teams chosen by the U.S. Basketball Writers and The Sporting News.
Griffin led the Deacs in rebounding all four of his years at WFU. He was the team's top scorer three seasons.
One sportswriter of that era said "Perhaps the greatest compliment to be paid the big fellow (i.e. Rod Griffin) is that he has not been changed by it all."
Griffin finished his college career with 1,985 points, an 18.6 average. He also grabbed 947 rebounds, an 8.6 clip. He also blocked 113 shots during his career. Griffin's No. 32 jersey was retired following his senior season.
Following his college career, Griffin was selected in the first round (17th player overall) of the 1978 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets. His professional career spanned 15 seasons from 1978-93 in Italy, primarily with Basket Forli. He later became the club's head coach.
Griffin was born June 18, 1956. He was a charter member of the Robeson County Hall of Fame in 2009.
