Mark Aguirre

Mark Anthony Aguirre (born December 10, 1959) is an American former basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

As a freshman in 1978–1979, he led the Demons to the Final Four, where they lost to Indiana State, led by future Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird.

The Chicago native played alongside Terry Cummings at DePaul, and found himself in the national spotlight during his three years at the university.

Aguirre averaged 24.0 points as a freshman in 1978–79, and led the Blue Demons to the NCAA Final Four.

He also was the USBWA College Player of the Year and James Naismith Award winner in 1980, and a two-time member of The Sporting News' All-America first team.

Over the next two seasons he scored 26.8 and 23.0 points per game, respectively, and was named College Player of the Year in 1980–81.

Aguirre was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic basketball team but was unable to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott.

He did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.

Aguirre declared for the NBA draft after his junior year at DePaul.

Aguirre was chosen as the first overall pick of the 1981 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks after playing three years at DePaul University.

Aguirre played in the NBA from 1981 until 1994 and won two championships with the Detroit Pistons after being traded to Detroit from Dallas in exchange for Adrian Dantley.

Aguirre was a three-time All-Star for Dallas.

In 1981, Aguirre was The Sporting News and Helms Foundation College Player of the Year.

The Dallas Mavericks selected him with the first overall pick in the 1981 NBA draft.

Aguirre averaged 20 points per game over the course of his 13-year NBA career.

He was selected as the first overall pick by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1981 NBA draft and remained with the Mavericks until 1989.

In his first season Aguirre was limited to 51 games and averaged 18.7 points, second on the team to Jay Vincent (21.4 ppg).

The Mavericks improved by 13 games in the win column and finished ahead of the Utah Jazz, but were still twenty games behind division-leading San Antonio Spurs.

Beginning with the 1982–83 season Aguirre reeled off six straight campaigns in which his average topped 22 points per game.

In the first of those seasons he scored 24.4 points per contest, tops on the team and sixth in the league.

The Mavericks continued their ascent, bettering their record to 38–44 to finish ahead of Utah and the Houston Rockets in the Midwest Division.

During the 1983–84 NBA season Aguirre averaged 29.5 points per game, second in the league to Dantley's 30.6 ppg.

He finished the season with 2,330 total points.

Although Aguirre was the Mavericks' main weapon, he was helped by the emergence of Rolando Blackman (22.4 ppg) and the contributions of role players Brad Davis and Pat Cummings.

Dallas finished second in the Midwest at 43–39, and the team made its first playoff trip, beating the Seattle SuperSonics in the opening round before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference semifinals.

In each of the next two seasons the Mavericks posted identical 44–38 records.

In 1984–85 they made a quick exit from the playoffs, bowing to the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round; in 1985–86 they defeated Utah and then took the Lakers to six games in the conference semifinals.

Aguirre averaged 25.7 and 22.6 points for those seasons.

In 1986–87 and 1987–88 he made the All-Star Team and averaged 25.7 and 25.1 points, respectively, during the regular season.

The Mavericks won more than 50 games each year.

The 1987–88 edition of the franchise went 53–29, beat Houston and the Denver Nuggets in the first two rounds of the postseason, then extended the Lakers to seven games before losing in the Western Conference Finals.

It was the longest postseason run in the Mavs' eight-year history.

Aguirre was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.

Aguirre's mother, Mary, was living in Arkansas when she became pregnant with him at the age of sixteen.

She moved to Chicago, Illinois, to be with her family who helped to raise Aguirre.

Aguirre did not meet his father until he was aged six.

Aguirre was raised in Chicago and played basketball at playgrounds on the city's west side.

He began his high school playing career at Austin High School in Chicago.

When his coach was fired, Aguirre transferred to George Westinghouse College Prep where he led the team to the Chicago Public High School League championship during his senior year.

While playing at DePaul University, Aguirre averaged 24.5 points over three seasons with the Blue Demons under coach Ray Meyer.