Rodney King Thorn (born May 23, 1941) is an American basketball executive and a former professional player, coach and Olympic Committee Chairman with a career spanning over 50 years. In 2018, Thorn was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Thorn attracted nationwide attention after a high school basketball career at Princeton High School in his hometown of Princeton, West Virginia that saw him average more than 30 points per game as a senior. He was a three-time all-state selection and was a two-time High School All-American.
Thorn was also a highly regarded high school baseball player, before a head injury took him away from the sport for a time.
Thorn was looking at colleges, including Duke University, when the West Virginia State Legislature passed a resolution designating Thorn as a state Natural Resource. This in order to persuade him to emulate native Jerry West and attend West Virginia University. Thorn did just that.
Thorn attended West Virginia University. He wore #44, the same number as Jerry West, who had just graduated. At WVU, he was an All-American guard in basketball, as well as playing three seasons on the WVU baseball team.
In 1960–61, as a sophomore (freshmen could not play varsity in his era), Thorn averaged 18.5 points and 12.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists for Coach George King and the 23–4 West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team.
Thorn improved and West Virginia finished 24–6 in 1961–62. The Mountaineers were invited to the 1962 NCAA University Division basketball tournament, where they lost to Villanova 90–75. Thorn averaged 23.7 points and 12.1 rebounds. He was the Southern Conference Player of the Year and a Second Team All-American selection, beside John Havlicek of Ohio State University, among others.
In 1962–63, Thorn averaged 22.5 points and 9.0 rebounds as a senior. West Virginia finished 23–8 and qualified for the 1963 NCAA University Division basketball tournament. In the NCAA's, they defeated Connecticut 77–71, as Thorn had 17 points and 7 rebounds. Thorn was outstanding in the Mountaineers' 97–88 loss to St. Josephs, scoring 44 points in the defeat. He then scored 33 points with 9 rebounds in a 83–73 win over New York University in the East Region third place game, his final collegiate game. Thorn was again selected as a Second Team All-American beside Bill Bradley, among others.
Overall, Thorn averaged 21.8 points and 11.1 rebounds in 81 games during his three seasons at West Virginia.
Thorn was the No. 2 overall pick of the 1963 NBA draft, drafted by the Baltimore Bullets.
In his rookie season 1963–64, Thorn was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team averaging 14.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists for the Bullets under Hall of Fame Coach Slick Leonard.
Following his first season, Thorn was traded on June 18, 1964. Baltimore traded Thorn, with Terry Dischinger and Don Kojis to the Detroit Pistons for Bob Ferry, future Hall of Famer Bailey Howell, Les Hunter, Wali Jones and Don Ohl. In 1964–65, Thorn averaged 10.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists for the Pistons. The team did not make the playoffs under Charles Wolf (2–9) and 24-year-old player/coach Dave DeBusschere (29–40).
Detroit, with Thorn averaging 13.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists, traded him on December 24, 1965. The Pistons sent Thorn to the St. Louis Hawks for John Tresvant and Chico Vaughn. Thorn averaged 8.8 points and 2.4 rebounds in 46 games with the Hawks as a reserve. Playing alongside Future Hall of Famers Richie Guerin (player/coach), Zelmo Beaty, Lenny Wilkens and Cliff Hagan, as well as Joe Caldwell, Paul Silas and Bill Bridges, Thorn saw his minutes reduced. The Hawks lost the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Division Finals 4–3 after having beaten Baltimore 3–0 to advance.
In 1966–67, Thorn averaged 8.8 points and 2.4 rebounds for the Hawks as they added Lou Hudson and finished 39–42. The Hawks defeated the expansion Chicago Bulls 3–0 in the playoffs, before losing to the San Francisco Warriors with Rick Barry and Nate Thurmond 4–2 in the Western Division finals. Thorn averaged 10.2 points in the series.
On May 1, 1967, Thorn was drafted by the expansion Seattle SuperSonics from the St. Louis Hawks in the NBA expansion draft. He concluded his career as a player with the Seattle SuperSonics (1967–1971).
Thorn averaged a career high 15.2 points with 4.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists, in 1967–68, as the expansion SuperSonics finished 23–58 under Coach Al Bianchi.
The SuperSonics improved to 30–52 in 1968–69, with Thorn averaging 11.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists at age 27.
Thorn's teammate from St. Louis, Lenny Wilkens became the player/Coach of the SuperSonics in 1969–70 and the team improved to 36–46, in Wilkens' first Coaching season. Wilkens would lead the SuperSonics to the NBA Championship in 1979, and would coach in the NBA until 2005, winning 1332 games in 32 seasons. Injured, Thorn averaged 2.9 points in 19 games.