Hakeem Olajuwon

The Fan Teaser: Week 157 Solution

DouglasTHill2 Comments
As the 2025-26 NBA season begins it’s worth remembering there have been only four recorded quadruple-doubles since blocks and steals became official NBA statistics (1973-74 season). Only one of those occurred on the Opening Night of the NBA season and it’s a great one to highlight because he was the first to do it. Who’s pictured above and, for extra credit, who were the other three? (Hint: Two played for the same franchise.)

He was known during his playing days as “Nate the Great” but for at least the first night of the 1974-75 NBA season, Nate Thurmond was “Nate the Exceptional.”

An off-season acquisition by the Chicago Bulls, Thurmond shined before the raucus Chicago Stadium Opening Night crowd on October 18, 1974, when he recorded the first official quadruple-double in NBA history. Thurmond’s stat line that night included 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, and 12 steals in 45 minutes of action during the Bulls’ 120-115 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

  • Full Disclosure: Blocks and steals didn’t become official NBA statistics until the 1973-74 season so the chances of either Wilt Chamberlain or Bill Russell having achieved this rarified air previously were fairly high.

To date, however, it’s only been accomplished three more times in the past 50 seasons and Thurmond’s is still the only one to occur on Opening Night.

Those other three members of this most exclusive of clubs:

  • Alvin Robertson, San Antonio Spurs, February 18, 1986 – Over 36 minutes, Robertson scored 20 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, made 10 assists, and 10 steals, during the host Spurs’ 120-114 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
  • David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs, February 17, 1994 – Over 43 minutes, Robinson scored 34 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, made 10 assists, and blocked 10 shots, during the host Spurs’ 115-96 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
  • Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets, March 29, 1990 – Over 40 minutes, Olajuwon scored 18 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, made 10 assists, and blocked 11 shots during the host Rockets’ 120-94 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. An interesting side note, one of Olajuwon’s Milwaukee opponents that night was none other than Alvin Robertson.
Nate Thurmond
Nate Thurmond, seen here during the 1974-75 season with the Chicago Bulls, recorded the first quadruple-double in NBA history on October 18, 1974, against the Atlanta Hawks. (Photo by Dick Raphael/NBAE & Getty Images)

Check out Thurmond’s Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame biography at this link.

Also of note, how in the heck did any opponent get a shot off against the San Francisco Warriors the season and a half Thurmond and Chamberlain were teammates (1963-64 and part of 1964-65)!?!

Finally, we mentioned that Thurmond had been newly acquired by the Bulls prior to the 1974-75 season. He was traded by the Warriors to Chicago for Clifford Ray and a 1975 first-round draft pick that wound up being Joe Bryant, who might be better known as Kobe Bryant‘s father.

Enjoy this two minute retrospective of Thurmond’s career produced by the NBA shortly after his 2016 death.

Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.

The Fan Teaser: Week 24 Solution

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Are we dreaming or will we know the NCAA
Men’s Final Four by the time this weekend
is complete?

As part of the Houston Cougars’ Phi Slamma Jamma crew, Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon was the man in the middle for all three of the University of Houston’s most-recent Final Four teams (1982, 1983, and 1984).

A native of Lagos, Nigeria, Olajuwon’s post presence – especially on the defensive end – immediately gave veteran Houston Coach Guy Lewis a legitimate shot at a NCAA Championship.

In Olajuwon’s first season, the Cougars fell to eventual champion, North Carolina (led by Michael Jordan), 68-63, in the semifinals. In this second season, Houston dispatched Louisville in the semis, 94-81, before falling to North Carolina State on Lorenzo Charles’ putback dunk of Dereck Wittenberg’s miss. In 1994, the Cougars reached the finals by beating Virginia, 49-47 in overtime, before losing to the Patrick Ewing-led Georgetown Hoyas, 84-75, in the title tilt.

Despite averaging a rather pedesterian 13.3 points per game during his three collegiate seasons, Olajuwon went No. 1 in the 1984 NBA Draft to the Houston Rockets where he went on to star for 17 years before finishing his career in Toronto during the 2001-02 season. Along the way he won the NBA MVP in 1994, won NBA championships in 1994 and 1995, was named to the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players in History in 1996-97, and the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team in 2021-22.

Hakeem Olajuwon
Houston Cougars’ center Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon guards North Carolina State’s Thurl Bailey
during the 1983 NCAA Championship game in “The Pit” in Albuquerque, NM. NC State went on to win
on a putback dunk by Lorenzo Charles at the buzzer, 54-52. (NCAA Photo)

Just to review, The Fan Teaser comes courtesy of longtime buddy, Pat Schutte. The cropped photo below and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you by the early kickoff on Sunday.